Forward zone not working

[Jeff Stevens]

Some test runs imply the hints file must be populated for a forward zone 
to work, otherwise it gets a SERVFAIL.  I did try a few other digs such 
as 'www.microsoft.com' to see if those are resolved by the inclusion of 
the hints, and it appears those do not get resolved as long as forward 
is set to 'only'.  If forward is set to 'first', it gets resolved.

Is there some need for hints to be populated before forward zones can 
function?
-- 
Jeffrey Stevens