Quoting Michael Paoli (Michael.Paoli@cal.berkeley.edu):
Try again, and please reenable.
Done, and successful.
$ whois balug.org | grep '^Name Server' Name Server: NS1.DREAMHOST.COM Name Server: NS2.DREAMHOST.COM Name Server: NS3.DREAMHOST.COM $ whois sf-lug.org | grep '^Name Server' Name Server: NS2.HE.NET Name Server: NS3.HE.NET Name Server: NS1.LINUXMAFIA.COM Name Server: NS4.HE.NET Name Server: NS.PRIMATE.NET Name Server: NS5.HE.NET $ whois sf-lug.com | grep '^Name Server' Name Server: ns2.he.net Name Server: ns3.he.net Name Server: ns.primate.net Name Server: ns4.he.net Name Server: ns5.he.net Name Server: ns1.linuxmafia.com $
So, is 198.144.194.238 a 'hidden master' for domains balug.org, sf-lug.org, and sf-lug.com (providing AXFR to slave nameservers but not declared publicly authoritative)?
Let me know if so, and I'll annotate that in my /etc/named.conf.local file. The downtime _looked_ like someone had moved nameservice to a new master DNS IP and not advised me as admin of a slave nameserver, because not only was there no AXFR or ping response, but the absence from public WHOIS data seemed suspicious.