Alright. I am running Ubuntu LTS 12.04 and am trying to configure a local caching/master DNS server so I am using Bind9.

First, here are some things via default DHCP:

/etc/network/interfaces

cat /etc/network/interfaces
# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

# The primary network interface - STATIC
#auto eth0
#iface eth0 inet static
#   address 192.168.2.113
#   netmask 255.255.255.0
#   network 192.168.2.0
#   broadcast 192.168.2.255
#   gateway 192.168.2.1
#   dns-search uclemmer.net
#   dns-nameservers 192.168.2.113 8.8.8.8

/etc/resolv.conf

cat /etc/resolv.conf
# Dynamic resolv.conf(5) file for glibc resolver(3) generated by resolvconf(8)
#     DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE BY HAND -- YOUR CHANGES WILL BE OVERWRITTEN
nameserver 192.168.2.1
search uclemmer.net

ifconfig

ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:14:2a:82:d4:9e  
          inet addr:192.168.2.103  Bcast:192.168.2.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::214:2aff:fe82:d49e/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:1067 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:2504 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:153833 (153.8 KB)  TX bytes:214129 (214.1 KB)
          Interrupt:23 Base address:0x8800 

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:915 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:915 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:71643 (71.6 KB)  TX bytes:71643 (71.6 KB)

ping

ping -c 4 192.168.2.1
PING 192.168.2.1 (192.168.2.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_req=1 ttl=64 time=0.368 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_req=2 ttl=64 time=0.224 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_req=3 ttl=64 time=0.216 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_req=4 ttl=64 time=0.237 ms

--- 192.168.2.1 ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 2997ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.216/0.261/0.368/0.063 ms

ping -c 4 google.com
PING google.com (74.125.134.102) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from www.google-analytics.com (74.125.134.102): icmp_req=1 ttl=48 time=15.1 ms
64 bytes from www.google-analytics.com (74.125.134.102): icmp_req=2 ttl=48 time=11.4 ms
64 bytes from www.google-analytics.com (74.125.134.102): icmp_req=3 ttl=48 time=11.6 ms
64 bytes from www.google-analytics.com (74.125.134.102): icmp_req=4 ttl=48 time=11.5 ms

--- google.com ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3003ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 11.488/12.465/15.118/1.537 ms

ip route

ip route
default via 192.168.2.1 dev eth0  metric 100 
192.168.2.0/24 dev eth0  proto kernel  scope link  src 192.168.2.103

As you can see, with DHCP everything seems to work fine.

Now, here are things with static IP:

/etc/network/interfaces

cat /etc/network/interfaces
# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
#auto eth0
#iface eth0 inet dhcp

# The primary network interface - STATIC
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
    address 192.168.2.113
    netmask 255.255.255.0
    network 192.168.2.0
    broadcast 192.168.2.255
    gateway 192.168.2.1
    dns-search uclemmer.net
    dns-nameservers 192.168.2.1 8.8.8.8

I have tried dns-nameservers in various combos of *.2.1, *.2.113, and other reliable, public nameservers.

/etc/resolv.conf

cat /etc/resolv.conf 
# Dynamic resolv.conf(5) file for glibc resolver(3) generated by resolvconf(8)
#     DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE BY HAND -- YOUR CHANGES WILL BE OVERWRITTEN
nameserver 192.168.2.1
nameserver 8.8.8.8
search uclemmer.net

Obviously, when I change the nameservers in the /etc/network/interfaces file, the nameservers change here too.

ifconfig

ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:14:2a:82:d4:9e  
          inet addr:192.168.2.113  Bcast:192.168.2.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::214:2aff:fe82:d49e/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:1707 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:2906 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:226230 (226.2 KB)  TX bytes:263497 (263.4 KB)
          Interrupt:23 Base address:0x8800 

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:985 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:985 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:78625 (78.6 KB)  TX bytes:78625 (78.6 KB)

ping

ping -c 4 192.168.2.1
PING 192.168.2.1 (192.168.2.1) 56(84) bytes of data.

--- 192.168.2.1 ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 3023ms

ping -c 4 google.com
ping: unknown host google.com

Lastly, here are my bind zone files:

/etc/bind/named.conf.options

cat /etc/bind/named.conf.options
options {
    directory "/etc/bind";

    //
    //
    //
    query-source address * port 53;
    notify-source * port 53;
    transfer-source * port 53;

    // If there is a firewall between you and nameservers you want
    // to talk to, you may need to fix the firewall to allow multiple
    // ports to talk.  See http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/800113

    // If your ISP provided one or more IP addresses for stable 
    // nameservers, you probably want to use them as forwarders.  
    // Uncomment the following block, and insert the addresses replacing 
    // the all-0's placeholder.

    // forwarders {
    //  0.0.0.0;
    // };
    forwarders {
         // My local
         192.168.2.113;

         // Comcast
         75.75.75.75;
         75.75.76.76;

         // Google
         8.8.8.8;
         8.8.4.4;

         // DNSAdvantage
         156.154.70.1;
         156.154.71.1;

         // OpenDNS
         208.67.222.222;
         208.67.220.220;

         // Norton       
         198.153.192.1;
         198.153.194.1;

         // Verizon
         4.2.2.1;
         4.2.2.2;
         4.2.2.3;
         4.2.2.4;
         4.2.2.5;
         4.2.2.6;

         // Scrubit
         67.138.54.100;
         207.255.209.66;
    };

    //
    //
    //
    //allow-query { localhost; 192.168.2.0/24; };
    //allow-transfer { localhost; 192.168.2.113; };
    //also-notify { 192.168.2.113; };
    //allow-recursion { localhost; 192.168.2.0/24; };

    //========================================================================
    // If BIND logs error messages about the root key being expired,
    // you will need to update your keys.  See https://www.isc.org/bind-keys
    //========================================================================
    dnssec-validation auto;

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

/etc/bind/named.conf.local

cat /etc/bind/named.conf.local
//
// Do any local configuration here
//

// Consider adding the 1918 zones here, if they are not used in your
// organization
//include "/etc/bind/zones.rfc1918";

zone "example.com" {
     type master;
     file "/etc/bind/zones/db.example.com";
};

zone "2.168.192.in-addr.arpa" {
     type master;
     file "/etc/bind/zones/db.2.168.192.in-addr.arpa";

/etc/bind/zones/db.example.com

cat /etc/bind/zones/db.example.com
;
; BIND data file for example.com interface
;
$TTL    604800
@   IN  SOA yossarian.example.com. root.example.com. (
             1343171970         ; Serial
             604800     ; Refresh
              86400     ; Retry
            2419200     ; Expire
             604800 )   ; Negative Cache TTL
; 
@   IN  NS      yossarian.example.com.
@   IN  A       192.168.2.113
@   IN  AAAA        ::1
@   IN  MX  10  yossarian.example.com.

;
yossarian   IN  A   192.168.2.113
router      IN  A   192.168.2.1
printer     IN  A   192.168.2.200

;
ns01        IN  CNAME   yossarian.example.com.
www     IN  CNAME   yossarian.example.com.
ftp     IN  CNAME   yossarian.example.com.
ldap        IN  CNAME   yossarian.example.com.
mail        IN  CNAME   yossarian.example.com.

/etc/bind/zones/db.2.168.192.in-addr.arpa

cat /etc/bind/zones/db.2.168.192.in-addr.arpa
;
; BIND reverse data file for 2.168.192.in-addr interface
;
$TTL    604800
@   IN  SOA yossarian.example.com. root.example.com. (
             1343171970     ; Serial
             604800     ; Refresh
              86400     ; Retry
            2419200     ; Expire
             604800 )   ; Negative Cache TTL
;   
@   IN  NS  yossarian.example.com.
@   IN  A   255.255.255.0

;
113 IN  PTR yossarian.example.com.
1   IN  PTR router.example.com.
200 IN  PTR printer.example.com.

ip route

ip route
default via 192.168.2.1 dev eth0  metric 100 
192.168.2.0/24 dev eth0  proto kernel  scope link  src 192.168.2.113

I can SSH in to the machine locally at *.2.113 or at whatever address is dynamically assigned when in DHCP "mode". *2.113 is in my router's range and I have ports open and forwarding to the server. Pinging is enabled on the router too. I briefly had a static configuration working but it died after the first reboot.

Please let me know what other info you might need. I am beyond frustrated/baffled.