Having trouble understanding my domain's DNS records

Question

When I view my domain's DNS records via WHM, I don't see any A records pointing to my server's public IP address. The only A records I see point to 10.x.x.x, which is a private IP address, correct? If this is the case, what gives? I'm just trying to develop an understanding of exactly how requests find their way to my server and I'm completely baffled by the DNS records I'm seeing. I would appreciate any help you can offer! Thank you.

Edit #1: The following is what my domain's zone file looks like in WHM:

mydomain.com. 86400 IN SOA ns1.host.com. alerts.host.com. (
                   2012022403
                   86400
                   7200
                   3600000
                   86400
)
mydomain.com. 86400 IN NS      ns1.host.com.
mydomain.com. 86400 IN NS      ns2.host.com.
mydomain.com. 14400 IN A       10.10.17.37
localhost     14400 IN A       127.0.0.1
mydomain.com. 14400 IN MX    0 mydomain.com.
mail          14400 IN CNAME   mydomain.com.
www           14400 IN CNAME   mydomain.com.
ftp           14400 IN CNAME   mydomain.com.

Edit #2

whois mydomain.com says that the registrar has published the same nameservers listed in my zone file.

dig @8.8.8.8 mydomain.com returns this:

<<>> DiG 9.3.6-P1-RedHat-9.3.6-16.P1.el5_7.1 <<>> @8.8.8.8 mydomain.com
(1 server found)
global options:  printcmd
Got answer:
->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 1534
flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

QUESTION SECTION:
mydomain.com.       IN      A

ANSWER SECTION:
mydomain.com. 14400 IN      A       10.10.17.37

Query time: 66 msec
SERVER: 8.8.8.8#53(8.8.8.8)
WHEN: Fri Mar  2 21:11:28 2012
MSG SIZE  rcvd: 59

Edit #3

I am connecting to the server from outside its local network. Also, access logs show visitors are reaching the website without any trouble. I'm not sure what the difference is, but I used the tool located here: centralops.net/co/DomainDossier.aspx and it reported different DNS records. It showed a record pointing my domain to my public IP address.

I'm thoroughly confused!

Edit #4

After further examination of the Domain Dossier output, it shows a zone file serial number different from the one appearing in my WHM. The serial number in my WHM is 2012022403 while the serial number reported by Domain Dossier is 2012022402.

Edit: Actually, it probably makes more sense that WHM isn't showing the serial number that is saved, but the saved serial number + 1 so the next time you make changes you won't have to increase the number yourself. If this is the case, then the serial numbers do match. However, Google's DNS servers are seeing one thing, and the DNS servers that Domain Dossier uses are seeing another.

I'm not sure if this means anything, but the in the DNS records reported by Domain Dossier, it shows the correct nameservers, but they're in a different order. My WHM has ns1 listed first in the zone file, but this report shows ns2 listed first. Could be nothing, but it seems strange.

Edit #5

Slightly embarrassing, but I managed to figure out what is going on. My web host translates the private IPs to the public IPs when updating their nameserver. I still learned a lot from trying to figure this thing out! Thanks for your help, Charlie. I appreciate it. I'll be sure to vote up your answer once I get the reputation required to do so!

Answer 1

One possibility, are you sure that zonefile is being published/used by the public internet?

Things to check: What DNS servers is your Registrar publishing for your domain? (You should be able to use whois mydomain.com to find out.)

What does dig return for your domain when you query a public DNS server such as google's 8.8.8.8? The command will look like dig @8.8.8.8 mydomain.com (or query for nameservers in DNS through dig @8.8.8.8 mydomain.com NS )

Edit in response to your edit:

Apparently your DNS is resolving as expected... I'm curious, have you tested it from anywhere other than your local network? From the result of Google's DNS server, everyone would resolve the 10.x.x.x address, but then would either be able to or not be able to connect to the expected server if they are on your local network or not.