I've been using WildBlue via GotSky now for about six months. About the middle of November the dynamic addresses being assigned no longer resolve. This causes all sorts of problems and is highly irresponsible on the part of the system administrator. In my case it means that I can no loner send secure authenticated mail via my firms SMTP server as we use POP over SMTP to authenticate out going mail. Judging by some of the recent forum entries, I suggest somebody crack open a book on BIND and fix it.

No offense, but isn't this an issue more appropriately addressed to GotSky? Some of these outfits are just resellers, but I see GotSky publicly represents itself as an ISP. If this in fact is the whole truth, it suggests they have resources to address your concerns. I suspect however, they farm this sort of thing out to NRTC tech support

//greg//

Sorry Greg, but I have to disagree. It's a WildBlue issue. Here is why.

My current IP address is:72.173.59.240 (dynamic)

badger@kato:~$ nslookup -sil 72.173.59.240
Server:         12.213.224.61
Address:        12.213.224.61#53

** server can't find 240.59.173.72.in-addr.arpa: SERVFAIL

As you can see it does not resolve.

When I do a whois you can see who owns the adress.

OrgName:    Wildblue Communications, Inc.
OrgID:      WBC-39
Address:    5970 GREENWOOD PLAZA BLVD
City:       GREENWOOD VILLAGE
StateProv:  CO
PostalCode: 80111
Country:    US

NetRange:   72.173.0.0 - 72.173.255.255
CIDR:       72.173.0.0/16
NetName:    WB-DEN2
NetHandle:  NET-72-173-0-0-1
Parent:     NET-72-0-0-0-0
NetType:    Direct Allocation
NameServer: DNS01.WILDBLUE.NET
NameServer: DNS02.WILDBLUE.NET
Comment:    Abuse contact: abuse@wildblue.net, Tel: (720)554-7575
Comment:    NOC cotact: wbnoc@wildbluecorp.net, Tel: (720)554-7575
RegDate:    2005-12-14
Updated:    2006-07-20

RTechHandle: SYE1-ARIN
RTechName:   YE, SHIN
RTechPhone:  +1-720-554-7400
RTechEmail:  sye@wildbluecorp.com

OrgTechHandle: SYE1-ARIN
OrgTechName:   YE, SHIN
OrgTechPhone:  +1-720-554-7400
OrgTechEmail:  sye@wildbluecorp.com

# ARIN WHOIS database, last updated 2006-12-22 19:10
# Enter ? for additional hints on searching ARIN's WHOIS database.

Now if it was just a matter of several addresses or better yet if I had a static address I could put a a pass through on the mail server at work. But for that broad a range it would be suicide.

As far as GotSky being  a ISP they have a long way to go. I work for Seattle's oldest ISP (Eskimo North) where we actually make an effort to adhere to the Internet RFC regulations like RFC 1038

wrote on Dec 23^rd, 2006 at 7:34pm:

Sorry Greg, but I have to disagree. It's a WildBlue issue.

I don't doubt it may ultimately turn out to be a Wildblue issue, but they're simply not going to talk to a NRTC customer - that's you - particularly if you're using a GotSky or NRTC mail server. That's why I said you have to take it up with GotSky. There's absolutely nothing anybody here can do about it

I personally am inclined to believe it's a latency issue.

//greg//

The latency wouldn't affect the PTR issue because an external site going to resolve your IP address into a hostname isn't going to go over a satellite link to your machine, it's going to go to your providers name servers.

WildBlue need to restore inverse DNS to these IP addresses. It looks like the entire block needs it.

The ARIN database maps IP addresses to the name servers of the
organization in control of that IP space.  They then have to populate their name server to provide a hostname in response to an IP address lookup.

They may not have done it on purpose, as it's probably the most common mistake made when adding a new block of IP addresses to accommodate growth. I've even done it. What's not so common is to tell support and still have nothing done after a month. It's one of those 'Whoops' mistakes that take very little time to fix.

Bottom line is poor service indeed. And if they did do it on purpose for shame.

wrote on Dec 26^th, 2006 at 1:39am:

The latency wouldn't affect the PTR issue because an external site going to resolve your IP address into a hostname isn't going to go over a satellite link to your machine, it's going to go to your providers name servers.

First off, there was a firmware update pushed to all WB modems on November 17th, good chance that included those under GotSky purview. Latency complaints jhave skyrocketed since then.

You originally said "In my case it means that I can no loner send secure authenticated mail via my firms SMTP server as we use POP over SMTP to authenticate out going mail."

Most email clients default to timeouts based upon terrestrial standards. The effects of latency over a satellite path can and will cause an SMTP email client to timeout. If your friend's email client was working ok on default settings prior to the 17th, he may merely need to extend the "wait for server response" while Wildblue works on the latency issue.

But I'm still unclear as to what you think you may achieve by approaching the matter here.

//greg//

Isn't this forum to inform and exchange information on WildBlue? Or did I miss something when I joined.

I'm beginning to believe you may have latency of the brain.

Sure latency can play havoc with mail, but since I can read the mail  logs on the machine I'm trying to sent to and see the reason for the denial I know it isn't latency, it's no reverse DNS.

It's simple enough to confirm what I'm saying by having someone not using WildBlue do a nslookup on your IP address. It won't reverse. That's not a mail problem.

The End

wrote on Dec 26^th, 2006 at 6:10am:

The End

Thank you

//greg//