DNS Administrator seeks clue on NXDOMAIN

[Todd Herr]

Greetings,

I'm sure I need a cluebat administered to my head for this, but I
can't quite figure out what might be happening, so I'm offering my
cranium for application of said cluebat.

Start with this:

whois alamotheater.org
The Data in Network Solutions' WHOIS database is provided by Network
[snipped for brevity]
this query, you agree to abide by this policy.


Registrant:
ALAMO THEATER (ALAMOTHEATER-DOM)
   333 NORTH FARISH STREET
   JACKSON, MS 39207
   US

   Domain Name: ALAMOTHEATER.ORG

   Administrative Contact, Billing Contact:
      JOHNSON, ERMA  (DZWSXZSFTI)  INFO at SANSOM.NET
      ALAMO THEATER
      333 NORTH FARISH STREET
      JACKSON, MS  39207
      US
      601-352-3365
   Technical Contact:
      Admin, Tech  (TAQ314)  hosting at JAM.RR.COM
      Road Runner High Speed Online
      5375 Executive Place
      Jackson, MS  39206
      US
      601-982-1187 601366-0196

   Record last updated on 22-Jan-2002.
   Record expires on 06-Nov-2003.
   Record created on 06-Nov-2001.
   Database last updated on 4-Feb-2002 01:18:00 EST.

   Domain servers in listed order:

   DNS1.RRLAND.COM              24.30.200.30
   DNS2.RRLAND.COM              24.30.201.30
   DNS3.RRLAND.COM              65.24.0.173

Next, look at this:

   dig alamotheater.org @dns1.rrland.com

   ; <<>> DiG 8.3 <<>> alamotheater.org @dns1.rrland.com
   ; (1 server found)
   ;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch
   ;; got answer:
   ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 6
   ;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 3, ADDITIONAL: 3
   ;; QUERY SECTION:
   ;;      alamotheater.org, type = A, class = IN

   ;; ANSWER SECTION:
   alamotheater.org.       1D IN A         128.121.171.59

   ;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
   alamotheater.org.       15M IN NS       ns1.biz.rr.com.
   alamotheater.org.       15M IN NS       ns2.biz.rr.com.
   alamotheater.org.       15M IN NS       dns4.rr.com.

   ;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
   ns1.biz.rr.com.         1H IN A         24.30.200.19
   ns2.biz.rr.com.         1H IN A         24.30.201.19
   dns4.rr.com.            5h10m39s IN A   65.24.0.172

   ;; Total query time: 3 msec
   ;; FROM: todzilla to SERVER: dns1.rrland.com  24.30.200.30
   ;; WHEN: Mon Feb  4 16:49:01 2002
   ;; MSG SIZE  sent: 34  rcvd: 163

   (Note that dns[123].rrland.com is a set of virtual interfaces
    on ns1.biz.rr.com, ns2.biz.rr.com, and dns4.rr.com,
    respectively.  We're in the middle of migrating lots of
    domains to these servers, with a hard deadline to shut off
    services at the old site, so this is our "solution" until
    such time as the registration paperwork can be processed.)

However, the world sees this:

   dig alamotheater.org

   ; <<>> DiG 8.3 <<>> alamotheater.org
   ;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch
   ;; got answer:
   ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 4
   ;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0
   ;; QUERY SECTION:
   ;;      alamotheater.org, type = A, class = IN

   ;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
   org.                    2h53m47s IN SOA  A.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
   nstld.verisign-grs.com. (
                                           2002020400      ; serial
                                           30M             ; refresh
                                           15M             ; retry
                                           1W              ; expiry
                                           1D )            ; minimum


   ;; Total query time: 2 msec
   ;; FROM: todzilla to SERVER: default -- 127.0.0.1
   ;; WHEN: Mon Feb  4 16:50:48 2002
   ;; MSG SIZE  sent: 34  rcvd: 110

I would expect this behavior if the domain were expired, but the WHOIS
output seems to indicate that it's not, if the line

   Record expires on 06-Nov-2003.

is to be believed.

What else might cause this behavior?  Thanks for any help.

-- 
Todd Herr                                         todd at angrysunguy.com