Also, what do you make of this?

>       svr hostname    = dc1\.testdom\.test\.local._kpasswd._udp.testdom.test.local
>
>*** Error: record size incorrect (39 != 37)
>
>*** ns2.test.local can't find _kpasswd._udp.testdom.test.local: server failed

The query should return an "svr hostname" of dc1.testdom.test.local, minus the backslashes and the extra iteration of ._kpasswd._udp...
I also still don't understand why the short lookup of _kpasswd._tcp fails, even on the Plan 9 system.

Is this a bug in Plan 9 DNS, or a misconfiguration?

Thanks again!!

-Ben