Page 3 - RH9 linux server need help with setup!

Excellent, you have no errors. Now let's start the server:

./named -u named

Now let's make sure your important zones work:

dig @127.0.0.1 128.193.126.66.in-addr.arpa any
dig @127.0.0.1 phatgears.com any

What are the results to those last 2 commands. After doing this, do not stop the server. I'll be testing it remotely next time you reply.

It's done as you ordered.
here's the output:
---
[root@phatgears root]# named -u named
[root@phatgears root]# dig @127.0.0.1 128.193.126.66.in-addr.arpa any

; <<>> DiG 9.2.1 <<>> @127.0.0.1 128.193.126.66.in-addr.arpa any
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 20802
;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 5, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 2

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;128.193.126.66.in-addr.arpa. IN ANY

;; ANSWER SECTION:
128.193.126.66.in-addr.arpa. 900 IN SOA server1.phatgears.com. hotdrew24.hotmail.com. 2003122400 3600 1800 604800 900
128.193.126.66.in-addr.arpa. 900 IN NS ns2.pbi.net.
128.193.126.66.in-addr.arpa. 900 IN NS server1.phatgears.com.
128.193.126.66.in-addr.arpa. 900 IN NS server2.phatgears.com.
128.193.126.66.in-addr.arpa. 900 IN NS ns1.pbi.net.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
server1.phatgears.com. 900 IN A 66.126.193.131
server2.phatgears.com. 900 IN A 66.126.193.135

;; Query time: 4 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1)
;; WHEN: Sun Dec 28 13:32:26 2003
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 231

[root@phatgears root]# dig @127.0.0.1 phatgears.com any

; <<>> DiG 9.2.1 <<>> @127.0.0.1 phatgears.com any
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 12233
;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 5, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 2

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;phatgears.com. IN ANY

;; ANSWER SECTION:
phatgears.com. 900 IN A 66.126.193.131
phatgears.com. 900 IN SOA server1.phatgears.com. hotdrew24.hotmail.com. 2003122701 3600 1800 604800 900
phatgears.com. 900 IN NS server2.phatgears.com.
phatgears.com. 900 IN NS server1.phatgears.com.
phatgears.com. 900 IN MX 10 mail.phatgears.com.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
server1.phatgears.com. 900 IN A 66.126.193.131
server2.phatgears.com. 900 IN A 66.126.193.135

;; Query time: 4 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1)
;; WHEN: Sun Dec 28 13:32:55 2003
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 198

dumbass, I already told you where to look for the problem -> your firewall, but you guys keep on wasting your time trying to locate the problem from the wrong source -> BIND.
Here's my little suggestion, go play something else, computer stuffs ain't for you, let alone server stuffs. Say you get this stuff taken care, you will face another dozen of problems.

It is of my opinion that you can't properly test a firewall configuration to be correct if you aren't even sure the server is running. So checking the server is where I started.

And as freebsd said, it could be a firewall issue. I have scanned the *.131 IP address and found ports 22 and 80 to be open, but not 53 (BIND). Since BIND says it is listening on *.131 and I am attempting to direct connect to the *.131 IP; and since those other 2 ports work, it is unlikely to be a router or routing problem.

So, now we're faced with the local system firewall software configuration. I'm no linux guru, so I have no idea where to configure it, or how to configure it. You'll have to get help in that from freebsd perhaps. Although you say the firewall is turned off.

On a side note. I do find it odd that I would get a ICMP unreachable message for port 53 if it was blocked by a firewall. Firewalls typically stealth ports.