Is this ZONE file correct for MX entries?

[Barry Margolin]

In article <9le1jn$q66 at pub3.rc.vix.com>, Roger  <rogerp at cleartron.co.uk> wrote:
>First this is not a ZONE file setup by me.
>I don't think its right because if I try to do a MX lookup for
>hkdc.net nothing is returned. Where as I normally get MX 10 = etc.

There are no MX records for hkdc.net in the zone file below.  The only MX
records are for *.hkdc.net, ftp.hkdc.net, and www.hkdc.net.  The *.hkdc.net
entry will automatically generate MX records for any names that aren't
already in the zone file and end in ".hkdc.net".  Since hkdc.net is in the
zone file, and it also doesn't end in ".hkdc.net", the wildcard doesn't
apply to it.

>The reason I ask is my mail server can only send to the domain by
>directly connecting to hkdc.net on port 25! This is the last thing it
>tries.

This part I don't understand.  If there's no MX record, the mailer should
use the A record.  MX records were created to specify that mail should be
sent to a *different* host.  While there are good performance reasons to
have an MX record even if it points to the same name, it should never be
necessary to get the mail through.  Unless this is controllable with a
configuration option, I suggest you complain to the mail server vendor that
it's broken.

>
>Zone file:
>
>Connected to 208.230.130.254
>; zone "hkdc.net" last serial 2000030500
>; from 208.230.130.254 at 10:38:51
>$ORIGIN net.
>hkdc            IN SOA   ns1.adgrafix.com. webmaster.hkdc.net. (
>                2000030500 10800 3600 604800 86400)
>$ORIGIN hkdc.net
>hkdc.net.       IN NS    ns1.adgrafix.com.
>                IN NS    ns2.adgrafix.com.
>                IN NS    ns3.adgrafix.com.
>                IN A     208.230.142.149
>*.hkdc.net.     IN MX    10 hkdc.net.
>                IN A     208.230.142.149
>ftp.hkdc.net.   IN MX    10 hkdc.net.
>                IN A     208.230.142.149
>loghost.hkdc.net. IN CNAME hkdc.net.
>localhost.hkdc.net. IN A     127.0.0.1
>www.hkdc.net.   IN MX    10 hkdc.net.
>                IN A     208.230.142.149
>;** Received 13 records for hkdc.net from 208.230.130.254
>
>


-- 
Barry Margolin, barmar at genuity.net
Genuity, Woburn, MA
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