title: Server can't find: SERVFAIL or REFUSE DNS
body: <p>I'm trying to setup a DNS Server using Debian but I keep getting errors when I do nslookup like SERVFAIL or REFUSED.
  I want to use 3 virtual machines (VM1, VM2 and VM3) and call them that by those names in the DNS Server, I'm using VMWare Workstation 11.</p>
  
  <p>Here is my configuration:</p>
  
  <p><em>named.conf.options</em></p>
  
  <pre><code>options {
  directory "/var/cache/bind";
  additional-from-auth no;
  additional-from-cache no;
  
  // If there is a firewall between you and nameservers you want
  // to talk to, you may need to fix the firewall to allow multiple
  // ports to talk.  See http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/800113
  
  // If your ISP provided one or more IP addresses for stable 
  // nameservers, you probably want to use them as forwarders.  
  // Uncomment the following block, and insert the addresses replacing 
  // the all-0's placeholder.
  
   forwarders {
      192.168.207.2;
      192.168.207.133;
  };
  
  //========================================================================
  // If BIND logs error messages about the root key being expired,
  // you will need to update your keys.  See https://www.isc.org/bind-keys
  //========================================================================
  dnssec-validation yes;
  allow-recursion{127.0.0.1;};
  auth-nxdomain no;    # conform to RFC1035
  listen-on-v6 { any; };
  };
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><em>named.conf.local</em></p>
  
  <pre><code>    zone "linux.local"{
      type master;
      file "etc/bind/db.linux.local";
  };
  
  zone "207.168.192-in-addr.arpa"{
      type master;
      file "etc/bind/db.207.168.192";
  };
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><em>db.linux.local</em></p>
  
  <pre><code>;
  ; SOA 
  ; 
  $TTL 1h 
  @   IN SOA vm1.linux.local. root.linux.local. ( 
          1 ; Serial number (YYYYMMDDnn) 
          1h ; Slave refresh 
          15m ; Slave retry 
          2w ; Slave expire 
          1h ; Cache TTL
       ) 
  ; 
  ; NS RECORDS 
  ; 
  @   IN   NS  vm1.linux.local.  
  ; 
  ; A RECORDS 
  ;
  
  linux.local.    IN A 192.168.207.133 
  @       IN A 192.168.207.133 
  vm1         IN A 192.168.207.133 
  vm3         IN A 192.168.207.135
  vm2     IN A 192.168.207.130 
  vmware      iN A 192.168.207.2
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><em>db.207.168.192</em></p>
  
  <pre><code>$TTL 1h 
  @ IN SOA vm1.linux.local. root.linux.local. (
      1;
      1h;
      15m;
      2w;
      1h;
  ) 
  
      IN  NS  vm1.linux.local. 
  133 IN  PTR     linux.local. 
  133     IN  PTR     vm1.linux.local. 
  135     IN  PTR     vm2.linux.local.
  130 IN  PTR     vm3.linux.local. 
  2   IN  PTR     vmware.linux.local.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Here is the nslookup for VM1 and linux.local:</p>
  
  <pre><code>root@debian:/etc/bind# nslookup vm1
  Server:     192.168.207.133
  Address:    192.168.207.133#53
  
  ** server can't find vm1: REFUSED
  
  root@debian:/etc/bind# nslookup linux.local
  Server:     192.168.207.133
  Address:    192.168.207.133#53
  
  ** server can't find linux.local.linux.local: SERVFAIL
  </code></pre>