Transfer Tool warning: "The system failed to determine if the local server is authoritative for the zone"

Symptoms

In reviewing the logs for a transfer, one may come upon a warning such as:

Description 

First, it should be noted that this is an informational warning, and should not indicate any failures during the transfer process. The account itself and its transfer would be unaffected by the occurrence of this warning. The only affect this warning may have, is when using Live Transfer with which it is expected for DNS to be changed automatically. 

cPanel operates under the assumption that it controls the nameserver for domains that it manages. As such, when transferring an account it will check to make sure the nameservers set for the migrated domain at the registrar, are controlled by the panel. 

This check is done by performing a DNS query following the full chain of authority to find the nameservers for the transferred domain. In the example above, that query timed out, thus failing to perform that validation and generating the warning. 

Workaround

The above warning is typically accompanied by an enumeration of what nameservers are found, and what they should in fact be pointed to. Manually verify DNS for the transferred domain, and make sure DNS is configured to point to the new server.