do i need a server at all ?
i have a standalone application.

I have never used JMS.  I have done Email server lookups.  Maybe this
code I wrote might give you hint what is wrong with yours.

 /**
   * Gets all matching dns records as an array of strings.
   *
   * @param domain domain, e.g. oberon.ark.com or oberon.com which
you want
   *               the DNS records.
   *
   * @param types  e.g. new String {"MX","A"}
   *               to describe which types of record you want.
   * @return ArrayList of Strings
   */
  static ArrayList getDNSRecs (String domain, String[] types) throws
NamingException
  {
     ArrayList results = new ArrayList(15);
     DirContext ictx = new InitialDirContext();
     Attributes attrs = ictx.getAttributes("dns://" + dnsServer + "/"
+ domain,
                                           types);
     for ( Enumeration e = attrs.getAll(); e.hasMoreElements(); )
        {
        Attribute a = (Attribute) e.nextElement();
        int size = a.size();
        for ( int i=0; i<size; i++ )
           {
           // MX string has priority (lower better) followed by
associated mailserver
           // A string is just IP
           results.add(a.get(i));
           } // end inner for
        } // end  outer for

     return results;
  }