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adrianTNT
Asked: 2011-10-07 15:04:03 +0800 CST

Why do I get search.com instead of "host not found"?

  • 772

On my VPSs with LeaseWeb, whenever I reach an non-existent host, I get search.com domain name, and if I ping a non-existent domain from SSH, I don't get "host not found" but replies from IPs like these: phx1-ss-2-lb.cnet.com

My host is doing something, what exactly? Can I disable this?

It looks like search.com fetches all traffic to nonexistent domains, must have some advertising deal with my host maybe ?!

It messes up my mail server, sending emails even if host doesn't really exist, then gets jammed with bounces from @xx.xx.cnet.com

I am also waiting for a reply from my host but I want to know what you think.

domain-name-system

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Sounds like NXDOMAIN hijacking.

    What DNS servers is your device using, and can you change them to a non-hijacking recursive lookup server?

    • 13

  2. Sounds like NXDOMAIN hijacking to me as well.

    Replace the name servers in your /etc/resolv.conf and use Google's instead:

    8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4

    • 4