[Mailer@IU.AI.SRI.COM: Undeliverable message]

[Mabry Tyson <TYSON@WARBUCKS.AI.SRI.COM>]

I maintain a mailing list with a couple of addresses that go to
BCO-MULTICS.  I have for some time been getting back lots of failures of
the following type.  In checking this out, I found that the NIC reports
three servers (ALTURA.HONEYWELL.COM, PULSAR.HONEYWELL.COM, and
EUROPA.HONEYWELL.COM).  In querying the three servers just now, I found
that ALTURA gave a correct response when queried for the address of
BCO-MULTICS.HBI.HONEYWELL.COM, PULSAR gave a Non-Existent Domain reply,
and EUROPA didn't respond.  When I checked again a little later, PULSAR gave
the correct response for BCO-MULTICS.HBI.HONEYWELL.COM.

Our mail system depends upon the domain system to provide correct responses.
If a server for HONEYWELL.COM reports that BCO-MULTICS.HBI.HONEYWELL.COM
is an non-existent domain, then the mail gets returned.

I have seen this type of error (where incorrect answers were given sometimes)
before in domain servers at MIT.  If your domain servers may be the
same as theirs, then I can point you to the people there that tracked
down what was going on.

This problem has apparently been occuring for a long time (weeks or months).

    Date: Wed, 31 Aug 88 13:39 PDT
    From: Pony Express Mailer <Mailer@IU.AI.SRI.COM>
    Subject: Undeliverable message
    To: slug-admin@Warbucks.AI.SRI.COM
    Reply-To: Postmaster@IU.AI.SRI.COM

    Pony Express is unable to deliver mail to the following recipients:

	    BCO-SLUG @ BCO-MULTICS.HBI.HONEYWELL.COM
	    SLUG%pco @ BCO-MULTICS.HBI.HONEYWELL.COM

    Reason for failure is:

	    No such domain BCO-MULTICS.HBI.HONEYWELL.COM

    Undelivered message follows:

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