Workstations not switching to secondary DNS

[Nathan Guidry]

Our company has two Windows 2000 DNS servers (192.168.0.4 and
192.168.120.5). The .4 is our primary and .5 is our secondary. However,
when .4 goes down for what ever reason, workstations fail to go to .5. What
changes do we need to make?

 

[Ace Fekay [MVP]]

In

Our company has two Windows 2000 DNS servers (192.168.0.4 and
192.168.120.5). The .4 is our primary and .5 is our secondary.
However, when .4 goes down for what ever reason, workstations fail to
go to .5. What changes do we need to make?

If it truly goes "down", meaning that there is no response whatsoever, then
it will revert to the next one in the list. If for any reason that the one
that supposedly goes "down" answers with an NXDOMAIN response (meanning it
doesn;t have an answer), that is considered a "response" and the client
machine will not go to the second one.

My question is, is it truly going down or it just cannot resolve the query?
Assuming you have AD, do both DNS servers listed have the same exact zone
info?


--
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

 

[Nathan Guidry]

When we physically take the .4 DNS server down, such as rebooting after
critical updates. Once .4 is offline, our users can't search the internet
until it comes back up. And yes, .5 has the exact same zones as .4 and
according to the event viewer they are successfully transferring updates.

"Ace Fekay [MVP]"

 

[Ace Fekay [MVP]]

In

When we physically take the .4 DNS server down, such as rebooting
after critical updates. Once .4 is offline, our users can't search
the internet until it comes back up. And yes, .5 has the exact same
zones as .4 and according to the event viewer they are successfully
transferring updates.

I see. Does .5 have a forwarder configured assumingly as .4 ?
Do you have "Do not use recursion" set on .5?

--
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

 

[Nathan Guidry]

I don't see why that would be important. If I set my workstation to .5 as
my primary, I can surf the internet just as I did if .4 where my primary, so
I'm pretty sure it's not a server problem. The problem is that on the
workstation end, .4 is primary and .5 is secondary and when .4 goes down,
the workstation doesn't go to .5 for resolutions.



"Ace Fekay [MVP]"

 

[Ace Fekay [MVP]]

Have you confirmed that the workstations are not querying .5 with Netmonitor
or some other packet sniffer?

The only thing I can see, if the workstation receives an NXDOMAIN response,
then it will not go to the next server in the list. I was just asking about
the forwarders and your settings to eliminate those factors. Sorry if it
seemed intrusive.

Have you tried to reverse the order and test it that way?


--
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
--
=================================

I don't see why that would be important. If I set my workstation to .5 as
my primary, I can surf the internet just as I did if .4 where my primary, so
I'm pretty sure it's not a server problem. The problem is that on the
workstation end, .4 is primary and .5 is secondary and when .4 goes down,
the workstation doesn't go to .5 for resolutions.



"Ace Fekay [MVP]"

 

[Ace Fekay [MVP]]

In
Here's some more info on it that may help:

286834 - The DNS Client Service Does Not Revert to Using the First Server in
the List:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;286834

--
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

 

[Alan Wood [MSFT]]

Hi All,
Just curiuos here. What OS verion and SP is the client workstation?

One thing I would try is just run NSLOOKUP on the client. No commands or
questions just NSLOOKUP when the .4 server is down. NSLOOKUP does not use
the DNS Resolver it is it's own shell. Does it timeout to the first
server then get a response from the second? In general even when Primary
DNS server is online, you normally see queuries to the secondary. There is
only a 2mls delay between query times. I would also suggest using PING as
the test to resolving the name even if PING is not allowed through a
firewall, the test will result in the hostname being listed and IPAddress.

OS and SP are very important to know for this issue.

Thank you,

Alan Wood[MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.