Configuring 2 DC's for DNS resolution

[Hank Arnold]

I have 2 DC's in my W2K domain. Each has the DNS (AD integrated) service
running. DC1 has all the FSMO's. I was investigating an event using
http://eventid.net and saw a recommendation that with two DC's the DNS
resolution should be:

DC1
====
Primary: DC2
Secondary DC1

DC2
===
Primary: DC1
Secondary: DC2

Does this make sense? I have had them configured as:

DC1
====
Primary: DC1
Secondary DC2

DC2
===
Primary: DC2
Secondary: DC1

 

[ptwilliams]

There are a number of conflicting arguments with this, especially on
Win2000, due to the island problem. However, the island problem is quite
rare, and will only really happen with moves/ IP changes or over-zealous
scavenging. In which case either of those setup's are fine. As is:

DC1:
P: DC1
S: DC2

DC2:
P: DC1
S: DC2


The eventid.net recommendation is not to be used if these boxes reside in
remote sites. In that case, you should configure them as you already have.
When they're all in one site (or are at least well connected) then it
doesn't really matter.

--

Paul Williams

http://www.msresource.net
http://forums.msresource.net


I have 2 DC's in my W2K domain. Each has the DNS (AD integrated) service
running. DC1 has all the FSMO's. I was investigating an event using
http://eventid.net and saw a recommendation that with two DC's the DNS
resolution should be:

DC1
====
Primary: DC2
Secondary DC1

DC2
===
Primary: DC1
Secondary: DC2

Does this make sense? I have had them configured as:

DC1
====
Primary: DC1
Secondary DC2

DC2
===
Primary: DC2
Secondary: DC1

 

[Paul du Toit]

Hi Hank

If both the DC's is on one site you should not worry about this. This
recommendation is for WAN's that replicate Active Directory. Sometime Active
Directory replication will cause errors due to unresolved Host Names, that
is why they recommend to point that way.
What event id are you getting.?

Regards
Paul du Toit

 

[Hank Arnold]

Thanks. Both DC's are in the same subnet and connected to the same GB
switch.

 

[Hank Arnold]

Thanks. Good to know since we will soon be putting a 3rd DC in a remote
location connected via a WAN.

I don't currently have access to the server error logs, but this was
originally triggered by calls Monday AM that users had lost internet access.
I found that they had only the DC1 in the DNS selections. As soon as I added
DC2 to the TCP/IP configuration, it worked. That told me DC was having a
problem with Accepting DNS requests. When I looked at the error log, there
was a single error on DC1 telling me that there was problem with contacting
the DNS zone (I'm recalling this from memory). I checked both DCs and then
re-booted DC1. It seems that this resolved the problem. It was in the course
of looking on eventid.net that I saw a posting about the order of DNS
entries. I was just asking if it was true.