I'm trying to resolve names that only the second nameserver in /etc/resolv.conf knows about. The first nameserver is a public one and the second is of my company, reacheable through a VPN. My company is using internally two domain names: one that doesn't exist in Internet and another one that somebody has recently registered.

When I ask for a name of the domain that doesn't exist in Internet, the first nameserver replies "Server Failure" and the resolver system tries the second nameserver which knows the name, so it works. The problem is when I ask for a name of the domain that now exists in Internet: the first nameserver replies "No such name" and the resolver system stops and doesn't ask the second nameserver.

I cannot change the order of the nameservers for two reasons: the VPN with my company is not always up so the second nameserver is not always reachable, and also I don't want to ask my company nameserver about sites I visit in Internet in my non-professional life.

Does somebody know how to configure the resolver system so it asks the second nameserver when the first one replies "No such name"?

I think that the main problem is to use valid domain internally. It would be better to use something.lan (and i suggest you so).
The only way to solve your problem now is to set up a nameserver locally. Wich will forward to the right nameserver the queries.

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That's exactly what I told to the management when they decided to use names for the internal servers that could be used in Internet, which finally has happened. But you known, for the managers I'm just an IT guy that say silly and incomprehensible things... Now, the option of changing the internal domains is very complicated, as we have about 500 servers and that's a lot of work and a probable source of many problems.

Meanwhile, your solution is good, thank you for the idea, but we'd have to setup a DNS server inside every company laptop, which is also not an easy task, but is easier than changing the internal domains.

I'll do that if there's no other options, but my questions is still open: is there a way to change the resolver system's default behaviour of not asking the next nameservers when the first one replies "No such name"? Maybe there's a way and this way could be even easier to implement in all laptops.

Maybe you can start the migration right now. You can make a new ".lan" domain and use both while the migration isn't complete. It can be the easiest way and you can go on "migrating" for a long while.

Sorry, I don't know an answer about that. I don't think is possible without rewriting resolver code.

I was afraid you'd say that: there's no option, as it is hardcoded.

I'll study the two solutions (changing the internal domain name of all servers, or install named on all laptops). At first glance, first one seems more complicated but better (and forever), second one seems easier but it is an ugly workaround.

Thanks for your help.