DNS God it hard

  • Thread starter Thread starter wayne
  • Start date Start date
W

wayne

Hello all.

I've just become the network admin of a small netowks which was set up
incorrectly for fault tollerance. They had one server wit DNS on and I want
2, so another AD server was built and I install DNS after it was built. We
now have 2 servers with AD, DNS, DHCP. So if one server goes down the other
is there to provide services for the users. The server seem to be
replicating AD nice and dandy;)

The problem I have now, when the old AD server which is the Opps master
goes down, no one can gain access to the Net, Email or anything until that
server comes up again. I suppect my problem is DNS. The scope in DHCP has
both DNS server. When I install DNS in the second server it did not ask me
if I wanted to instal DNS as a secondary. DNS was install after the server
was built, but all the DNS entries from the first server are there so I did
not worry. Have I done somthing wrong. How do I know which is the
secondary and the Primary DNS and why when the opps master goes down the
other dns server does not take over?

sorry for the long message

wayne
 
I've just become the network admin of a small netowks which was set up
incorrectly for fault tollerance. They had one server wit DNS on and I want
2, so another AD server was built and I install DNS after it was built. We
now have 2 servers with AD, DNS, DHCP. So if one server goes down the other
is there to provide services for the users. The server seem to be
replicating AD nice and dandy;)
Click to expand...

That's the way it's supposed to work. :)
The problem I have now, when the old AD server which is the Opps master
goes down, no one can gain access to the Net, Email or anything until that
server comes up again. I suppect my problem is DNS. The scope in DHCP has
both DNS server. When I install DNS in the second server it did not ask me
if I wanted to instal DNS as a secondary.
Click to expand...

In AD, there are no primary/secondary relationships.
DNS was install after the server
was built, but all the DNS entries from the first server are there so I did
not worry. Have I done somthing wrong. How do I know which is the
secondary and the Primary DNS and why when the opps master goes down the
other dns server does not take over?
Click to expand...

Check the forwarders. Make sure both systems are forwarding to the
ISP's DNS for unresolved name queries. Also, test by removing the
first DNS from the TCP/IP properties on a workstation and just using
the second.

Jeff
 
In wayne <[email protected]> posted a question
Then Kevin replied below:
: Hello all.
:
: I've just become the network admin of a small netowks which was set up
: incorrectly for fault tollerance. They had one server wit DNS on and
: I want 2, so another AD server was built and I install DNS after it
: was built. We now have 2 servers with AD, DNS, DHCP. So if one server
: goes down the other is there to provide services for the users. The
: server seem to be replicating AD nice and dandy;)
:
: The problem I have now, when the old AD server which is the Opps
: master goes down, no one can gain access to the Net, Email or
: anything until that server comes up again. I suppect my problem is
: DNS. The scope in DHCP has both DNS server. When I install DNS in the
: second server it did not ask me if I wanted to instal DNS as a
: secondary. DNS was install after the server was built, but all the
: DNS entries from the first server are there so I did not worry. Have
: I done somthing wrong. How do I know which is the secondary and the
: Primary DNS and why when the opps master goes down the other dns
: server does not take over?

You do not have a secondary, it is an Active Directory Integrated Primary,
the zone data replicates through AD, zone transfers are not needed. Both
Zones are writable, if you ad a record to one it is replicated to the other,
if you delete a record from one it will be deleted from the other.


Make sure there is no "." forward lookup zone, you have a forwarder to your
ISP's DNS, and that All the Root hints are resolved to IP addresses on the
second DC, I have also seen cases where people have forgotten to put a
gateway address on the NIC.
 
There is no ISP to forward to DNS resolving is done by the companies DNS
servers. I have taken out one DNS server, but when the main AD server is
taken down that is when things go wrong. Users cannot get mail, access the
internet nothing until that server comes back on line. could it be the opps
Master? the problem happens when that is taken off line
 
In wayne <[email protected]> posted a question
Then Kevin replied below:
: There is no ISP to forward to DNS resolving is done by the companies
: DNS servers. I have taken out one DNS server, but when the main AD
: server is taken down that is when things go wrong. Users cannot get
: mail, access the internet nothing until that server comes back on
: line. could it be the opps Master?

It shouldn't matter unless you have Exchange, you didn't mention that
though.

: the problem happens when that is
: taken off line
:
Add a forwarder to 4.2.2.2 to see if that helps.
 
In
wayne said:
There is no ISP to forward to DNS resolving is done by the companies
DNS servers. I have taken out one DNS server, but when the main AD
server is taken down that is when things go wrong. Users cannot get
mail, access the internet nothing until that server comes back on
line. could it be the opps Master? the problem happens when that is
taken off line
Click to expand...

Company's DNS servers? Are you speaking of these two DNS servers or are
there others that you are forwarding to?

Kevin asked if there is a "." zone in your Forward Lookup Zone? ....wanted
to eliminate that possibility.

--
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
 
Back
Top