when DNS service is restarted, zone for reverse lookup disappears

  • Thread starter Thread starter ddl76
  • Start date Start date
D

ddl76

Hi all,

I have just installed a Windows 2000 server with Active Directory on service
pack 4.

However, I have one serious issue with DNS. Whenever I restarted my DNS
service, the reverse lookup zone will disppear and when I
run nslookup I get this error.

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>nslookup
*** Can't find server name for address 192.168.42.2: Non-existent domain
*** Default servers are not available
Default Server: UnKnown
Address: 192.168.42.2

I need to recreate the reverse lookup zone whenever I restart the DNS
service or reload the DNS zone.

Here is my TCP/IP settings.


Windows 2000 IP Configuration


Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : fileserver
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . : apmedia.com
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : apmedia.com

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 3Com EtherLink XL 10/100 P
plete PC Management NIC (3C905C-TX)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-01-02-95-0B-87
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.42.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.42.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.42.2
Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 192.168.42.2


I'm at my wits end. Please help me. Thanks a million
ld
 
In
ddl76 said:
Hi all,

I have just installed a Windows 2000 server with Active Directory on
service pack 4.

However, I have one serious issue with DNS. Whenever I restarted my
DNS service, the reverse lookup zone will disppear and when I
run nslookup I get this error.

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>nslookup
*** Can't find server name for address 192.168.42.2: Non-existent
domain
*** Default servers are not available
Default Server: UnKnown
Address: 192.168.42.2

I need to recreate the reverse lookup zone whenever I restart the DNS
service or reload the DNS zone.

Here is my TCP/IP settings.


Windows 2000 IP Configuration


Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : fileserver
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . : apmedia.com
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : apmedia.com

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 3Com EtherLink XL 10/100 P
plete PC Management NIC (3C905C-TX)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-01-02-95-0B-87
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.42.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.42.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.42.2
Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 192.168.42.2


I'm at my wits end. Please help me. Thanks a million
ld
Click to expand...

When you create the zone is it AD integrated or standard primary?
If AD integrated does the zone exist in AD? (ADU&C Domainname+ System+
MicrsoftDNS)
Does it have an NS record for itself?
 
In ddl76 <[email protected]> posted their thoughts, then I offered mine
However, I have one serious issue with DNS. Whenever I restarted my
DNS service, the reverse lookup zone will disppear and when I
run nslookup I get this error.

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>nslookup
*** Can't find server name for address 192.168.42.2: Non-existent
domain
*** Default servers are not available
Default Server: UnKnown
Address: 192.168.42.2
Click to expand...

This is just a message (not an error) due to the reverse zone missing or not
having a PTR for your DNS server's IP. Nslookup will still work.
I need to recreate the reverse lookup zone whenever I restart the DNS
service or reload the DNS zone.
Click to expand...

<snip>

Not sure I follow here. You're saying that you have to recreate the zone
each time? Tell me, when you restart DNS or reload the zone, does the zone
still exist in system32\dns and doesn't show in the GUI or does it disappear
from there too.

Your ipconfig looks fine.

Are you by chance looking at a W2k DNS server with the W2k3 DNS MMC?

--
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
 
In
ddl said:
It is standard primary. It has a NS record for itself.
Click to expand...
As Ace asked, is the zonename.dns still in the system32\dns folder?

You can create the zone as AD integrated to see what happens, I would make
it AD integrated anyway, for security.
 
I checked the folder system32\dns. The filename is
42.168.192.in-addr.arpa.dns and it is still there.
But the zone disappeared in the DNS manager. I tried the AD integrated
option but I can't do a zone transfer to my secondary server(or should I say
I don't know how to configure that) in this case.
So I stick with the primary zone option. I tried to remove the forward zone
and started from scratch in the DNS manager, result is still the same after
I restarted DNS service.

I already done this Win2k installation in my test lab environment and
everything is fine. I don't see anything I missed out in the live
environment.

Microsoft sucks....

"Ace Fekay [MVP]"
 
In
ddl76 said:
I checked the folder system32\dns. The filename is
42.168.192.in-addr.arpa.dns and it is still there.
But the zone disappeared in the DNS manager. I tried the AD integrated
option but I can't do a zone transfer to my secondary server(or
should I say I don't know how to configure that) in this case.
So I stick with the primary zone option. I tried to remove the
forward zone and started from scratch in the DNS manager, result is
still the same after I restarted DNS service.

I already done this Win2k installation in my test lab environment and
everything is fine. I don't see anything I missed out in the live
environment.
Click to expand...
Zone transfers are controlled on the Zone transfers tab in zone properties.
 
ddl76 said:
I checked the folder system32\dns. The filename is
42.168.192.in-addr.arpa.dns and it is still there.
But the zone disappeared in the DNS manager. I tried the AD integrated
option but I can't do a zone transfer to my secondary server(or should I say
I don't know how to configure that) in this case.
So I stick with the primary zone option. I tried to remove the forward zone
and started from scratch in the DNS manager, result is still the same after
I restarted DNS service.

I already done this Win2k installation in my test lab environment and
everything is fine. I don't see anything I missed out in the live
environment.

Microsoft sucks....
Click to expand...

I would probably start by looking at exactly what you're doing before
blaming something/someone else.

May I ask if you are doing this thru the default provided DNS console or did
you create a customized one? I can see why if it;s a customized one and you
add it but don;t save the console changes when you exit...otherwise, not
being able to watch exactly what you're doing, I don;t understand why the
zone would "disappear" from your console, but yet the zone file still exists
in it's default folder location....

An AD Integrated zone works exactly like a Primary when allowing zone
transfers. As Kevin said, you have to configure it to allow transfer and
take in account if there are any firewalls or other things present that may
block it.

With all due respect, I would consult the documentation to familiarize
yourself with the product. This is a good place to start:
www.microsoft.com/dns
or
Use the Help files provided with the system.

--
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
 
Ok I thought of a way....

I will stop the DNS service and then rename the /system32/dns folder to
/system32/dns1
Then I will start the DNS service after which I will recreate all the zones
+ static records from scratch.
Not sure if this works but will try.

If I later changed the zones from Primary to use the Ad integrated type how
do I configure zone transfer on the secondary DNS server.

Thanks



Jonathan de Boyne Pollard said:
d> Whenever I restarted my DNS service, the reverse lookup
d> zone will disppear [...]

How do you know that the entire "zone" has disappeared ? What
tests did you run, and what were their results ?

<URL:http://homepages.tesco.net./~J.deBoynePollard/FGA/problem-report-standa
rd-litany.html>

d> *** Can't find server name for address 192.168.42.2: Non-existent domain
d> *** Default servers are not available
Click to expand...
<URL:http://homepages.tesco.net./~J.deBoynePollard/FGA/nslookup-daft-error-m
essage.html>
 
ddl said:
Ok I thought of a way....

I will stop the DNS service and then rename the /system32/dns folder to
/system32/dns1
Then I will start the DNS service after which I will recreate all the zones
+ static records from scratch.
Not sure if this works but will try.
Click to expand...

I don;t think that will work, since it will be looking for that folder and
will not create one.
If I later changed the zones from Primary to use the Ad integrated type how
do I configure zone transfer on the secondary DNS server.
Click to expand...

As I previously said, the same way as if it were a Primary. An AD
Integrated zone JUST means it is NOT stored as a text file in a folder, but
rather in the physical AD database. That's it. You can see it if you use
ADSI Edit.

--
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
 
Oic sorry... Desmond sucks...for being thick headed :).

Correct me if I am wrong. This means that I will also set the secondary DNS
server(on the sec DC) to AD integrated like the (1st DC).

I tried the renaming of the dns folder in the test lab and it works. After
the DNS service is started and when I launch DNS manager(the original one),
there will be an error "Zone not loaded by DNS server. The DNS server
encountered an error while loading the zone....blah blah..." The zones in
Forward and Reverse lookup will have a red cross on it and I will just have
to delete and recreate the 2 zones. I restarted the DNS service and the
reverse lookup zone is still there

"Ace Fekay [MVP]"
 
ddl said:
Oic sorry... Desmond sucks...for being thick headed :).

Correct me if I am wrong. This means that I will also set the secondary DNS
server(on the sec DC) to AD integrated like the (1st DC).
Click to expand...

NO, you said a Secondary, not another AD Integrated zone.
I tried the renaming of the dns folder in the test lab and it works. After
the DNS service is started and when I launch DNS manager(the original one),
there will be an error "Zone not loaded by DNS server. The DNS server
encountered an error while loading the zone....blah blah..." The zones in
Forward and Reverse lookup will have a red cross on it and I will just have
to delete and recreate the 2 zones. I restarted the DNS service and the
reverse lookup zone is still there
Click to expand...

Tell you the truth this is the FIRST time I've ever heard of a zone
disappearing....

Hope you got it resolved.

Ace
 
Aargg....;(

It is still the same.. after that last resort.. Maybe I will have to
uninstall the DNS service and then reinstall it.
Is it very risky?



"Ace Fekay [MVP]"
 
Ace,

Sorry but I am abit confuse. This means that on the second DC I will also
create the zone as a AD integrated zone instead of the sec zone.
But how do I do a zone transfer from the 1st DC(1st AD integrated DNS
server) in this case?

Thanks for advising.
ld
 
I resolved it. Just change the primary DNS zone to AD integrated and it
solve the problem.
It automatically appears in the second DC through AD replications. Now I can
see it in the second DC too.

Thanks a million Ace.



"Ace Fekay [MVP]"
 
In
ddl said:
Ace,

Sorry but I am abit confuse. This means that on the second DC I will
also create the zone as a AD integrated zone instead of the sec zone.
But how do I do a zone transfer from the 1st DC(1st AD integrated DNS
server) in this case?

Thanks for advising.
ld
Click to expand...

Obviously you didn't take my advise to read up on it.

AD Integrated, as I said, is stored in AD. When you make an AD Integrated
zone on another machine, it is automatically pulled out of the AD database.
No transfers are necessary.

PLEASE READ UP ON THE PRODUCT:
www.microsoft.com/dns

If I were you, I would learn as much as I can about any product and get a
thorough understanding of it before blaming the vendor.

Ace
 
ddl said:
I resolved it. Just change the primary DNS zone to AD integrated and it
solve the problem.
It automatically appears in the second DC through AD replications. Now I can
see it in the second DC too.

Thanks a million Ace.
Click to expand...
Hmm, just as I explained....

No prob ddl,

Ace
 
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