DNS query - is it set up right?

[andrewballem]

Hi there!

I have OSX Server 10.3 running and it's been doing so for a good 9 months or so however I have a nagging feeling that my DNS isn't set up correctly. The problem I have is that occasionally email will go missing: I'll send something to someone in the office and it will take 3 days to arrive at the other end. If I resend the mail it will usually get there immediately, and the original will arrive several days later.

Here are some points about my setup:

1. Mail is handled by an external supplier.
2. Addresses are name@dukedesign.com.au
3. Our OSX Server only does file serving, open directory and DNS.
4. I set up DNS in order to get open directory functional: I wanted server-based home folders which are all working fine.
5. The name of the server is xserve3.dukedesign.com.au
6. The workstations point to my server for their DNS server in the network config (192.168.1.9)

My concern is that by having an internal DNS server with a zone of dukedesign.com.au it's somehow catching some of the traffic meant for the outside internet, as I haven't done anything in particular to make my server aware of other DNS servers on the internet, so if they're pointing to there I'm not sure how they are resolving DNS the majority of the time.

These might be really silly questions to ask but I set this server up not really knowing much about DNS and just did what an OSX Server book said to do to get Open Directory working: perhaps I need to open a port on the router to let the server resolve, or set up other zones?

I realise this might be hard to answer without seeing the server, but I thought I'd give it a go.

Thanks for any help!

Andrew