Superfluous name server listed at parent

dns-hostingdomain-name-system

The domain in question is lhlc.org.uk. The name resolves correctly but when using Pingdom DNS Check it says that errors were found: http://dnscheck.pingdom.com/?domain=lhlc.org.uk&timestamp=1374325758&view=2

If it works correctly, is this even a problem?

The error given states that 'Superfluous name server listed at parent'. I've spent ages trying to work out what is causing this. My initial thoughts were that the NS records were incorrect but I've double checked them and they appear correct.

Additional Information:

The name servers for the domain are ns5.whealmedia.com -> ns9.whealmedia.com. They are setup as vanity name servers with DnsMadeEasy. whealmedia.com is setup with a similar configuration but is using name servers ns0.whealmedia.com -> ns4.whealmedia.com and backup DNS with DynECT. This domain doesn't appear to have any problem: http://dnscheck.pingdom.com/?domain=whealmedia.com&timestamp=1374326429&view=2

Best Answer

There may be lingering problems with cached NS records that web tools are using, as the TTL on the NS records served up by the .UK TLD is 172800 seconds (48 hours). Below are some diagnostics against what the authoritative nameservers are currently responding with.

Here's what the UK TLD has to say:

$ dig @ns1.nic.uk +norecurse lhlc.org.uk. NS

; <<>> DiG 9.7.3 <<>> @ns1.nic.uk +norecurse lhlc.org.uk. NS
; (2 servers found)
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 2363
;; flags: qr; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 5, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;lhlc.org.uk.                   IN      NS

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
lhlc.org.uk.            172800  IN      NS      ns8.whealmedia.com.
lhlc.org.uk.            172800  IN      NS      ns5.whealmedia.com.
lhlc.org.uk.            172800  IN      NS      ns6.whealmedia.com.
lhlc.org.uk.            172800  IN      NS      ns9.whealmedia.com.
lhlc.org.uk.            172800  IN      NS      ns7.whealmedia.com.

;; Query time: 110 msec
;; SERVER: 195.66.240.130#53(195.66.240.130)
;; WHEN: Sat Jul 20 13:53:07 2013
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 133

What NS records are those nameservers providing?

$ for server in ns{1..9}.whealmedia.com; do dig @$server +norecurse +short lhlc.org.uk. NS; done | sort | uniq -c
      9 ns5.whealmedia.com.
      9 ns6.whealmedia.com.
      9 ns7.whealmedia.com.
      9 ns8.whealmedia.com.
      9 ns9.whealmedia.com.

What are the current SOA records for those servers? 

$ dig +nssearch lhlc.org.uk
SOA whealmedia.com. infrastructure.whealmedia.com. 2008010105 43200 3600 1209600 180 from server ns6.whealmedia.com in 58 ms.
SOA whealmedia.com. infrastructure.whealmedia.com. 2008010105 43200 3600 1209600 180 from server ns7.whealmedia.com in 85 ms.
SOA whealmedia.com. infrastructure.whealmedia.com. 2008010105 43200 3600 1209600 180 from server ns8.whealmedia.com in 57 ms.
SOA whealmedia.com. infrastructure.whealmedia.com. 2008010105 43200 3600 1209600 180 from server ns9.whealmedia.com in 41 ms.
SOA whealmedia.com. infrastructure.whealmedia.com. 2008010105 43200 3600 1209600 180 from server ns5.whealmedia.com in 39 ms.
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