# DNS problem: SERVFAIL looking up CAA for ga

**URL:** <https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/dns-problem-servfail-looking-up-caa-for-ga/102262>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [September 18, 2019, 3:37am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/dns-problem-servfail-looking-up-caa-for-ga/102262 "2019-09-18T03:37:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Magnus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Magnus](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/Magnus)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 3:37am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/dns-problem-servfail-looking-up-caa-for-ga/102262/1 "2019-09-18T03:37:13Z")

</div>

Please fill out the fields below so we can help you better. Note: you must provide your domain name to get help. Domain names for issued certificates are all made public in Certificate Transparency logs (e.g. [https://crt.sh/?q=example.com](https://crt.sh/?q=example.com)), so withholding your domain name here does not increase secrecy, but only makes it harder for us to provide help.

My domain is:

```auto
www.magnusbrzenk.ga

```

I ran this command:

```auto
sudo certbot --apache

```

It produced this output:

```auto
Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log
Plugins selected: Authenticator apache, Installer apache
No names were found in your configuration files. Please enter in your domain
name(s) (comma and/or space separated) (Enter 'c' to cancel): www.magnusbrzenk.ga
Obtaining a new certificate
Performing the following challenges:
http-01 challenge for www.magnusbrzenk.ga
Enabled Apache rewrite module
Waiting for verification...
Cleaning up challenges
Failed authorization procedure. www.magnusbrzenk.ga (http-01): urn:ietf:params:acme:error:dns :: DNS problem: SERVFAIL looking up CAA for ga

IMPORTANT NOTES:
 - The following errors were reported by the server:

   Domain: www.magnusbrzenk.ga
   Type: None
   Detail: DNS problem: SERVFAIL looking up CAA for ga

```

My web server is (include version):

```auto
Apache/2.4.29 (Ubuntu)

```

The operating system my web server runs on is (include version):

```auto
Ubuntu 18.04

```

My hosting provider, if applicable, is:

```auto
AWS Lightsail

```

I can login to a root shell on my machine (yes or no, or I don’t know):

```auto
Yes

```

I’m using a control panel to manage my site (no, or provide the name and version of the control panel):

```auto
No

```

The version of my client is (e.g. output of `certbot --version` or `certbot-auto --version` if you’re using Certbot):

```auto
certbot 0.31.0

```

Also:

```auto
I figured I'd give AWS lightsail a trial, so I redirected a free domain I set up 
(magnusbrzenk.ga) from a preivous target to a new target on AWS lightsail. 
Certbot worked fine with this domain with the previous target, but now it keeps failing with
`DNS problem: SERVFAIL looking up CAA for ga`. Any ideas what this is all about? 

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![\_az](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/22d042/32.png) [@\_az](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/_az)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 3:42am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/dns-problem-servfail-looking-up-caa-for-ga/102262/2 "2019-09-18T03:42:09Z")

</div>

It looks like the registry operator for the `ga` TLD (Freenom?) is having some issues. [I can reproduce](https://acme-staging-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/acme/authz-v3/8780809) your issue with a different domain of mine (`acmedev.ga`).

Until they fix their nameservers, there is one workaround available to you, and that’s to create your own CAA record:

```
magnusbrzenk.ga. 360 IN CAA 0 issue "letsencrypt.org"
```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Magnus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Magnus](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/Magnus)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 4:28am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/dns-problem-servfail-looking-up-caa-for-ga/102262/3 "2019-09-18T04:28:27Z")

</div>

OK, thanks for the info. Doesn’t look like freenom will let me create CAA records. I’ll check back in a day or two.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Magnus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Magnus](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/Magnus)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 3:41pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/dns-problem-servfail-looking-up-caa-for-ga/102262/4 "2019-09-18T15:41:35Z")

</div>

OK, it’s working now 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/original/3X/c/a/ca6c06ea1ea201324bba7048c6841ce60236468d.png) [@system](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2019, 3:41pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/dns-problem-servfail-looking-up-caa-for-ga/102262/5 "2019-10-18T15:41:36Z")

</div>

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