SUMMARY

secondary zones can be upgraded to DS integrated zones. At this point non-

 

Microsoft DNS servers can be safely retired and removed from the network.

 

Deploying DNS to Support Active Directory

 

If you are designing a brand new network environment, the process of deploying

 

Active Directory service/Windows 2000 DNS is relatively straightforward. Chances

 

are, however, that the Active Directory service you are designing will need to be

 

integrated into existing DNS infrastructure.

 

Partitioning, and Replication (Choosing your Zones)

 

When designing a DNS namespace for an Active Directory, the emphasis should be

 

placed on creating an effective partition and replication topology while keeping

 

replication and update traffic at bay.

 

The following domain/zone configuration is recommended:

 

Each Active Directory domain should have a DNS zone corresponding to the

 

name of the domain. This zone should be configured on a DNS server running

 

on the Domain Controllers in that Active Directory domain. The zone should be

 

Active Directory-integrated.

 

DNS servers should running on at least two domain controllers in each Active

 

Directory domain and at least one Domain Controller in each site.

 

Since most of the records ending with “_msdcs.<DnsForestName>” suffix should

 

be accessible through entire forest it could be useful to delegate a zone

 

“_msdcs.<DnsForestName>” from the zone “<DnsForestName>”. All DNS servers

 

in the enterprise that are connected to the primary for

 

“_msdcs.<DnsForestName>” zone servers, over slow or not-permanent links,

 

should be configured as secondary servers for the “_msdcs.<DnsForestName>”

 

zone. One DNS server from each site should be configured to poll

 

“_msdcs.<DnsForestName>” zone transfer from a primary server. All other DNS

 

server in a site poll the zone transfer from the chosen DNS server in that site.

 

The primaries should not notify secondaries of any changes in the zone. The

 

secondaries will pool updates from the primaries at zone refresh intervals. The

 

DNS server that polls the zone transfer directly from the primary server should

 

be configured to notify all other DNS servers in the same site. This

 

configuration doesn’t flood the network with the zone replication traffic while

 

enabling clients in the child domains to resolve DNS queries addressed to the

 

“_msdcs.<DnsForestName>” zone when the link is down.

 

The configuration of the reverse lookup zones is not based on the Windows 2000

 

Domain structure. Instead it is based on the range of IP addresses assigned to a

 

company. If a company is assigned B class IP addresses such as 172.56.X.Y. then

 

a reverse lookup zone of 56.172.in-addr.arpa. will be created. It may contain

 

delegations to other domains, such as, 1.56.172.in-addr.arpa., 2.56.172.in-

 

addr.arpa. and so on. It is also possible to configure classless reverse lookup zones

 

that as described in the Internet Draft “Classless IN_ADDR.ARPA delegation”.

Windows 2000 White Paper

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Microsoft windows 2000 DNS Deploying DNS to Support Active Directory, Partitioning, and Replication Choosing your Zones