checkdnsrr always returns false on windows

Question

I am using checkdnsrr on Windows with PHP 5.3 and it always returns false.

dns_get_record, however, works.

echo ("test.com dns check: ". checkdnsrr("test.com","NS")); //false!!
print_r(dns_get_record("test.com",DNS_NS)); //returns the right data

Any ideas?

Answer 1

This functionality is not available on versions of PHP on windows before 5.3.0

See the changelog at php.net's manual page for checkdnsrr for information. Also check the comments for replacements.

Answer 2

I guess I found something (tried on windows, PHP 5.3.0, from CLI) :

When I do this :

$tests = array('A', 'MX', 'NS', 'SOA', 'PTR', 'CNAME', 'AAAA', 'A6', 'SRV', 'NAPTR', 'TXT', 'ANY');
foreach ($tests as $type) {
  echo "  Type = $type : ";
  var_dump(checkdnsrr("test.com", $type));
}

I get this :

C:\bin\php-5.3\tests>c:\bin\php-5.3\php.exe test-dns.php
bool(true)
test.com dns check:
  Type = A : bool(false)
  Type = MX : bool(false)
  Type = NS : bool(false)
  Type = SOA : bool(false)
  Type = PTR : bool(false)
  Type = CNAME : bool(false)
  Type = AAAA : bool(false)
  Type = A6 : bool(false)
  Type = SRV : bool(false)
  Type = NAPTR : bool(false)
  Type = TXT : bool(false)
  Type = ANY : bool(false)

So, none of the tests gives "true" :-(

But when I try with another domain :

$tests = array('A', 'MX', 'NS', 'SOA', 'PTR', 'CNAME', 'AAAA', 'A6', 'SRV', 'NAPTR', 'TXT', 'ANY');
foreach ($tests as $type) {
  echo "  Type = $type : ";
  var_dump(checkdnsrr("pascal-martin.fr", $type));
}

(tested on this one because I know what's on it, and wanted to test for a specific idea ^^ )

I get :

C:\bin\php-5.3\tests>c:\bin\php-5.3\php.exe test-dns.php
bool(true)
test.com dns check:
  Type = A : bool(true)
  Type = MX : bool(true)
  Type = NS : bool(true)
  Type = SOA : bool(true)
  Type = PTR : bool(true)
  Type = CNAME : bool(true)
  Type = AAAA : bool(true)
  Type = A6 : bool(true)
  Type = SRV : bool(true)
  Type = NAPTR : bool(true)
  Type = TXT : bool(true)
  Type = ANY : bool(true)

So, the function seems to be working... For at least some domains !

Why could that be ?

Maybe there's something not configured on the DNS server of test.com ? And that something is configured on pascal-martin.fr ?

I don't know DNS systems well enough to tell :-(

Here a couple of outputs from some commands (from Linux) :

$ dig pascal-martin.fr

; <<>> DiG 9.5.1-P2 <<>> pascal-martin.fr
;; global options:  printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 22164
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;pascal-martin.fr.              IN      A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
pascal-martin.fr.       86400   IN      A       213.186.33.2

;; Query time: 29 msec
;; SERVER: 212.27.40.241#53(212.27.40.241)
;; WHEN: Fri Aug  7 00:00:47 2009
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 50

and :

$ dig test.com

; <<>> DiG 9.5.1-P2 <<>> test.com
;; global options:  printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 62572
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;test.com.                      IN      A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
test.com.               7200    IN      A       204.12.0.50

;; Query time: 136 msec
;; SERVER: 212.27.40.241#53(212.27.40.241)
;; WHEN: Fri Aug  7 00:00:51 2009
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 42

Seems to be almost the same... so not a problem here ?

Let's try another one :

$ host pascal-martin.fr
pascal-martin.fr has address 213.186.33.2
pascal-martin.fr mail is handled by 100 mxb.ovh.net.
pascal-martin.fr mail is handled by 1 mx0.ovh.net.

And :

$ host test.com
test.com has address 204.12.0.50

Well, here, there is a difference ! Might the problem be caused by the fact that test.com resolves to an IP, but has no MX entry ? Or something like this ?

Maybe it is : when I use dns_get_record to test for MX DNS entries, I have no result for test.com :

array(0) {
}

But I have two for pascal-martin.fr :

array(2) {
  [0]=>
  array(6) {
    ["host"]=>
    string(16) "pascal-martin.fr"
    ["type"]=>
    string(2) "MX"
    ["pri"]=>
    int(100)
    ["target"]=>
    string(11) "mxb.ovh.net"
    ["class"]=>
    string(2) "IN"
    ["ttl"]=>
    int(14481)
  }
  [1]=>
  array(6) {
    ["host"]=>
    string(16) "pascal-martin.fr"
    ["type"]=>
    string(2) "MX"
    ["pri"]=>
    int(1)
    ["target"]=>
    string(11) "mx0.ovh.net"
    ["class"]=>
    string(2) "IN"
    ["ttl"]=>
    int(14481)
  }
}

Well, I don't really know "why"... But at least here are a few pointers...

I can't find anything else in the php documentation ; so, I don't know if it's intended behaviour or not :-(

Anyway : good luck !

---

EDIT : well, there might really be some kind of problem under windows, because when I try with Linux, I get :

For test.com :

$ php temp.php
  Type = A : bool(true)
  Type = MX : bool(false)
  Type = NS : bool(true)
  Type = SOA : bool(true)
  Type = PTR : bool(false)
  Type = CNAME : bool(false)
  Type = AAAA : bool(false)
  Type = A6 : bool(false)
  Type = SRV : bool(false)
  Type = NAPTR : bool(false)
  Type = TXT : bool(false)
  Type = ANY : bool(true)

And, for pascal-martin.fr :

$ php temp.php
  Type = A : bool(true)
  Type = MX : bool(true)
  Type = NS : bool(true)
  Type = SOA : bool(true)
  Type = PTR : bool(false)
  Type = CNAME : bool(false)
  Type = AAAA : bool(false)
  Type = A6 : bool(false)
  Type = SRV : bool(false)
  Type = NAPTR : bool(false)
  Type = TXT : bool(false)
  Type = ANY : bool(true)

So, not the same thing (always true or always false) I got on windows...

Maybe there something like, on windows, the function is always looking for MX entry, not taking into account the second parameter ?
(Just a really wild guess ^^)

Answer 3

Any progress on a solution?

Answer 4

I think this is an error I'm having the same problem in Windows and I'm using PHP 5.3.0.