Forward lookup zone only updates for clients in the domain- not in workgroup

[Justin]

Our lab setup:
DNS/AD/DHCP running on a 2000 server with XP/2000 clients. Some
clients are in the domain and some are not. AD is set for dynamic
updates, DHCP is set to update DNS based on client request.

It seems that if a client is in the domain, a record will be created
in both the forward and reverse lookup zones and nslookup can resolve
the name.

If a client is in a workgroup only a reverse lookup record is
generated and nslookup cannot resolve the name.

Can anyone explain why this is and how to fix it?

Thanks!

 

[Nico]

The reason for the host that is in a workgroup does not have a primary DNS
configured and by default the host will register in the dns domain as
configured for the primary dns suffix. For hosts that are part of a domain,
the primary dns suffix is configued by default to the DNS name of the
domain, hence they register.

To overcome this, enter a primary DNS suffix for the hosts in a workgroup,
or on the DNS tab of the IP settings on the host, select the checkbox "Use
this connections DNS suffix in DNS registration". This assumes that DHCP has
been configured to supply a DNS domain name. If want the host in a workgroup
to register in a particular DNS domain and not the DHCP supplied domain (or
if DHCP does not supply a DNS domain), then also enter the DNS domain in
"DNS Suffix for this connection"