[TriLUG] DIG and Nameservers

[Brian McCullough via TriLUG]

I think that I am asking the right questions, but I am not getting the
answers that I expect.

I started with whois for "rentalventures.com," which is one of our ( my
client's ) domain names.

Whois says that directnic.com is the Authoritative Nameserver ( a couple
of host names at directnic.com ).

I log on to their web site, and try to add a TXT record for the SPF
record.  Apparently I am successful.

I use DIG, and say "dig rentalventures.com any" and get back the SOA
record, the two nameserver records, and ONE of the two MX records.

The SOA Serial number does not appear to be human-readable, so I can't
tell whether my edits made any difference.

OK, I have just changed the Priority of each of the two MX records, and,
if I do "dig @ns0.directnic.com rentalventures.com any" I see one of the
MX records, with the new value.  The SOA serial number has not changed.

I know that there are several A records, as well as the TXT record that
I added.

If I do "dig -t txt ... " it does not respond with anything.

If I do "dig -t mx ... " it does not respond with anything different.


I am sure that I am doing something wrong, but what is it?


Thank you,
Brian ( one of the other ones! )