Bind9 is not listening, port 53 is closed

Hello All,

Ubuntu 16.04

I have recently setup an email server, I'm able to connect to my server with the IP address but I'm unable to figure out why Bind is not listening. Using a port checker I have found port 53 is closed and netstat doesn't show named listening on any port. I've been searching forums to try to figure out why named isn't listening but I'm not able to find any trouble shooting guides to try and narrow down my problem.

What I know, fresh Ubuntu 16.04.1 install, then installed iRedMail, Samba server, and Bind9. I use an AT&T 5286AC gateway with the server setup for DMZ, the server interface is setup in DHCP as the gateway assigned the DMZ device with the public IP address. I used a mix of guides to setup bind on my server, mainly ubuntu bind9serverhowto and known good bind configuration example files.

When I test my DNS the server IP address returned is my gateway's IP address

Code:

dig -x 127.0.0.1

; <<>> DiG 9.10.3-P4-Ubuntu <<>> -x 127.0.0.1
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 12229
;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 4096
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;1.0.0.127.in-addr.arpa.                IN      PTR

;; ANSWER SECTION:
1.0.0.127.in-addr.arpa. 3600    IN      PTR     localhost.

;; Query time: 15 msec
;; SERVER: 192.168.1.254#53(192.168.1.254)
;; WHEN: Sun Feb 05 10:35:07 CST 2017
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 74

The result of "netstat -tulpn | grep named" or "netstat -tulpn | grep :53" is nothing

Here is my bind options

Code:

       directory "/var/cache/bind";
[...]
        dnssec-validation yes;
        dnssec-enables yes;
        dnssec-lookaside auto;

        auth-nxdomain no;    # conform to RFC1035
        listen-on-v6 { any; };

Here is the result of "dig @myIPaddress ns2.website.me"

Code:

 
; <<>> DiG 9.10.3-P4-Ubuntu <<>> @myIPaddress ns2.website.me
; (1 server found)
;; global options: +cmd
;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached

Here is the result of "dig @localhost ns2.website.me"

Code:

; <<>> DiG 9.10.3-P4-Ubuntu <<>> @localhost ns2.website.me
; (4 servers found)
;; global options: +cmd
;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached

My first question is how do I know if Bind is even running? What can I do next to figure out why its not listening on port 53.

 

After posting this I found a couple of typos mainly "dnssec-enables yes;" preventing bind from starting even though when I ran /etc/init.d/bind9 start I was getting [OK]. It appears that the DNS server is working correctly now.