DNS Replication

[Sean D]

All of my DNS servers have different serial numbers which
indicates that replication is not working! All of my
zones are active directory integrated and all are allowing
dynamic updates. This is windows 2000 DNS and I'm not sure
that if I increment the serial number on the first DC w/
DNS on it to the highest value that it will fix the
problem.

Any thoughts?

Sean D.

 

[Jonathan de Boyne Pollard]

SD> All of my DNS servers have different serial numbers which
SD> indicates that [Active Directory] replication is not working!

No, it doesn't. Stop thinking like a user of the "zone transfer" replication
mechanism and expecting serial numbers to mean things. Different DNS database
replication mechanisms do not use all of the fields of "SOA" resource records
in the same way, or in ways that are compatible with one another, or even at
all.

SD> I'm not sure that if I increment the serial number on the
SD> first DC w/ DNS on it to the highest value that it will
SD> fix the problem.

You haven't actually identified a problem to be fixed.

 

[Ace Fekay [MVP]]

In

All of my DNS servers have different serial numbers which
indicates that replication is not working! All of my
zones are active directory integrated and all are allowing
dynamic updates. This is windows 2000 DNS and I'm not sure
that if I increment the serial number on the first DC w/
DNS on it to the highest value that it will fix the
problem.

Any thoughts?

Sean D.

That is normal with AD Integrated zones. It just depends on which server had
the latest update. Even if the update was the same IP, then it thinks it's
now the SOA, so therefore the serials will differ, even though the data is
the same. Normal default behavior in this Mutli-Master design.

282826 - Active Directory-Integrated DNS Zone Serial Number Behavior:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=282826


--
Regards,
Ace

Please direct all replies to the newsgroup so all can benefit.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties.

Ace Fekay, MCSE 2000, MCSE+I, MCSA, MCT, MVP
Microsoft Windows MVP - Active Directory

 

[Ace Fekay [MVP]]

In

All of my DNS servers have different serial numbers which
indicates that replication is not working! All of my
zones are active directory integrated and all are allowing
dynamic updates. This is windows 2000 DNS and I'm not sure
that if I increment the serial number on the first DC w/
DNS on it to the highest value that it will fix the
problem.

Any thoughts?

Sean D.

If not AD Integrated zones, then which server is the Primary? As everyone
already pointed out, only ONE DNS server can have the primary zone on it. If
you have mulitple Primaries, then they all believe they are SOA for the zone
and can't be done.

--
Regards,
Ace

Please direct all replies to the newsgroup so all can benefit.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties.

Ace Fekay, MCSE 2000, MCSE+I, MCSA, MCT, MVP
Microsoft Windows MVP - Active Directory

 

[Sean]

If you query an (a) record on one dns server, you get a
diffent answer than on another server. The zones are
integrated so changes are not being replicated.

 

[Kevin D. Goodknecht [MVP]]

In Sean D <[email protected]> posted a question
Then Kevin replied below:
: All of my DNS servers have different serial numbers which
: indicates that replication is not working! All of my
: zones are active directory integrated and all are allowing
: dynamic updates. This is windows 2000 DNS and I'm not sure
: that if I increment the serial number on the first DC w/
: DNS on it to the highest value that it will fix the
: problem.
:
: Any thoughts?
:
: Sean D.

If you think you might have replication problems, try netdiag and dcdiag to
narrow down the problem.

 

[Jonathan de Boyne Pollard]

SD> I'm not sure that if I increment the serial number on
SD> the first DC w/ DNS on it to the highest value that it
SD> will fix the problem.

JdeBP> You haven't actually identified a problem to be fixed.

SD> If you query an (a) record on one dns server, you get a
SD> diffent answer than on another server.

That's better. That's what you should have said in the first place, instead
of describing the irrelevant "SOA" serial numbers.

Look at your event log to see whether Active Directory is reporting
replication errors. Ensure that Active Directory is configured to replicate
the database content for the integrated "zones" everywhere that that you
actually wish those data to be. (Hint: Read the sections of the product
documentation that describe the Active Directory replication scopes for
"zones".)