[ale] DNS issues, a al Paul, sort of.

[rs at ale.spam.futz.org (rs at ale.spam.futz.org)]

>I'm not doing the same thing as Paul but I am trying to see if I've got 
>bind configured right before I point a domain at the system.  So what 
>tools can I use to see if what I've got works?  Also what ports have to 
>be open?  Pointer to a howto would be delightful!

minimum port: udp/53
for large responses, also open tcp/53

'host' will query the dns servers in /etc/resolv.conf for various records
(generally A, MX)

'dig' will let you query a specific name server for a specific record.

  dig mail.example.com mx @localhost


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