Internal Domain Addresses

[rayz@ns1.state.vt.us]

Hi ...
I have recently recieved a note saying the domain I am responsible has a 
'DNS abnormality'. The text of the note follows with some minor changes to
protect the innocent  : )

> SUBJECT: DNS abnormality
> The SOA RR for domain.name says that you take care of their 
> nameserver stuff.  In diagnosing an e-mail problem I noted that there are 
> two A RRs for 111.222.333.444  My memory says that this is incorrect.  
> (The memory was reinforced by recent discussions on the namedroppers list 
> so I am fairly confident about it.)  It is ok to have two (or more) names 
> for the same host.  But the corrrect way to do this is by using a CNAME RR.
> For example,
> thisname.    86400 IN        CNAME   thatname.

I have two names for the same IP address. The note calls it an 'abnormality'
and sites namedroppers list as reference for this point of view. 
If this is an 'abnormality' please let me know. Here is the situation and 
my source/reasoning for doing such a thing.
NOTE: I do appreciate folks taking the time to point these things out and
for their assistance in getting on track.

The DNS and BIND book published by O'Reilly and Associates is my source.
Page 99-100
They say that because some mailers on the Internet violates some Internet
standards, by ignoring MX records (and only use address records) it is 
acceptable to add an address to a parent domain to satisfy those
'boneheaded mailers'.

hostid.domain.name. IN    A    111.222.333.444
domain.name.        IN    MX    0    hostid.domain.name.
domain.name.        IN    A    111.222.333.444

So, if I send mail to userid@domain.name it is delivered to hostid.domain.name
Also, for those 'boneheaded mailers' who don't honor MX records then the 
IP address assigned to the domain.name will take care of them also.
 
Comments? Answers? .....
                       thanks,
                             ray zelesky
                             rzelesky@ns1.state.vt.us