When I send in a Domain Request Change to SM the record looks like this:
domainname.com in ns ns1.theplanet.com
domainname.com in ns ns2.theplanet.com
domainname.com in mx 10 mail
domainname.com in A 69.**.**.**
www in A 69.**.**.**
ftp in A 69.**.**.**
mail in A 69.**.**.**

When WHM creates a record it looks like this:
domainname.com in ns ns1.theplanet.com
domainname.com in ns ns2.theplanet.com
domainname.com in A 69.**.**.**
localhost.domainname.com in A 127.0.0.1
domainname.com in mx 10 domainname.com
www in CNAME domainname.com
mail in CNAME domainname.com
ftp in A 69.**.**.**

Both seem to do the same thing, but which one is better?

Also, I have my name servers alias as theplanets name server;
ns1.mydomain.com 216.234.234.30 (ns1.theplanet.com)
ns2.mydomain.com 12.96.160.30 (ns2.theplanet.com)

Yes I know dnsreport gives me a Stealth NS record leakage FAIL message, but is there any problems with doing it this way.

One more question. I have BIND running on my server, does it need to be running? What happens if it is not running? Besides clients emailing stating that BIND is down when they view the Server Status from their cPanel.

Thanks for your help in making me understand this. This is one of the reasons why I use SM nameservers and not my own.
Rick

There's no problem setting them up either way. Using CNAME's can be handy to easily change a domains IP address, but it doesn't really make much difference. The only rule is not to use a CNAME for an MX record translation, which you don't.

I'm not sure that that is a good idea, what if SM change the IP addresses for the nameservers without you knowing? Did you ask permission from ServerMatrix to do it?

Thanks for the confirmation.
Yes, I asked permission when I asked if they could setup my name servers as aliases. I am assuming that since they set them up, that it was ok.