[geeks] simple DNS / nslookup question

[der Mouse]

> If you run nslookup as such, against a domain, without a host name
> specified:

> #nslookup yahoo.com

> You will receive a response.  This does not work for all domains
> however.  What type of record is this response (domain queries
> lacking a specific host name) and how do i set up something like this
> in bind?

Since - at least with the version of nslookup I have easy access to at
the moment - the responses are IPv4 addresses, the corresponding record
type would almost have to be A.

As for working for all domains - I would assume it would work for any
node which has an A record.  The response generated when querying an
existing name which just happens to have no A record may be misleading;
for example, when I "nslookup sparkle-6.rodents.montreal.qc.ca", or for
that matter "nslookup rodents.montreal.qc.ca", I get a message telling
me "Non-existent host/domain", which is simply _wrong_.  (These are
among the reasons I never use nslookup, preferring dig instead.)

> FYI: Her actual problem is getting her email server (nbww.com) to
> send mail to pjgeng.org, but the DNS for pjgeng.org is screwed (no MX
> record).

pjgeng.org does not exist at all; whois.pir.org, the prime whois server
for .org, says simply "NOT FOUND", and the primary DNS server for .org
returns NXDOMAIN (the DNS representation of the same thing).  Mail to
it should not work for anybody, any more than mail to any nonexistent
domain should.  (It's possible there exists one or more entities which
think they hold the domain; if so, sites with private knowledge of that
erroneous belief may be able to get mail to such entity/ies.)

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