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As per a few prior questions - I am in the process of splitting a server with a variety of role into individual servers with one role per server.

I have now got the following servers/roles setup:

Server Name: CARBON  
Server IP: 192.168.1.52  
Server Role(s): Active Directory Domain Services + DNS Server  
(HP ProLiant DL360 G4 Intel Xeon 3.0GHz - 4GB of RAM)

Server Name: HYDROGEN
Server IP: 192.168.1.56
Server Role(s): None  
(HP ProLiant DL360 G4 Intel Xeon 3.0GHz - 4GB of RAM)  

Server Name: OXYGEN  
Server IP: 192.168.1.50  
Server Role(s): File Services    
(HP ProLiant ML110 G6 Intel Xeon 2.40GHz - 5GB of RAM)

All workstations (Windows XP Professional SP3) have the following TCP/IP settings: 

IP Address: 192.168.1.XX (Static)
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.1.99

DNS Primary: 192.168.1.50

The DNS Server (CARBON Server 192.168.1.52) has forwarders set to OpenDNS's IP addresses.

208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

So - my question is:

  1. If I have a DNS server running on 192.168.1.52, should all of the workstations primary DNS be set to that IP rather than 192.168.1.50?

  2. On all other servers should the primary DNS be set to 192.168.1.52?

  3. On the DNS server itself, should the primary DNS be set to 127.0.0.1?

  4. If I make the server with no role (HYDROGEN 192.168.1.56) a Domain Controller as a backup - what should it's DNS settings be? Does it need to run a DNS server aswell?

Any help clearing this up in my head would be greatly appreciated!

dannymcc
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    I have a DC at a Customer site named CARBON. I saw your question and did a double-take. I have no OXYGEN, though. I was worried about corrosion and/or fire. – Evan Anderson Apr 30 '11 at 15:29

1 Answers1

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  1. Yes - All of your workstations should point to 192.168.1.52 for DNS.
  2. Yes - All other servers should point to 192.168.1.52 for DNS
  3. No - Your AD/ DNS server should have 192.168.1.52 listed as the primary DNS server in the server's TCP/IP settings. (and 192.168.1.56 as the secondary if you setup DNS on that)
  4. If you are creating an additional Domain Controller it should have the DNS role as well. That Domain controller/ DNS server should have it's own IP (192.168.1.56) as it's primary DNS server in it's TCP/IP settings and 192.168.1.52 as the secondary.
HostBits
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  • I have made those changes with a couple of extra changes. I have swapped the file service server 'OXYGEN' to '192.168.1.52' and then DC + DNS Server 'CARBON' to '192.168.1.50'. I have changed the DNS primary IP on the workstations to '192.168.1.54'. The roaming profile no longer seem to work. – dannymcc Apr 29 '11 at 14:01
  • @dannymcc why did you change the workstatiosn Primary DNS to 192.168.1.54? If you've changed the primary DC/ DNS server to 192.168.1.50 you could've left the workstation's DNS set to that IP. – HostBits Apr 29 '11 at 14:04
  • I should have been clearer - I have changed 5 workstations DNS IP's to .54, the rest are still .50. None are loading the profiles or home drives from .52's shares. – dannymcc Apr 29 '11 at 14:11
  • I still don't know why you changed those 5 to .54, seeing as none of your servers are assigned .54. As for your profiles I can't help you there as you haven't specified anything about how that is configured. If it was working before you changed the File Server's IP, I would change it back using my recommendations above. – HostBits Apr 29 '11 at 14:23
  • I have reverted the changes from 54 back to 50. Let's call it a moment of madness. It was only working when the profiles etc. were on the DC server. Since I have moved them to their own server it's all gone wrong. I think a separate question would be more appropriate. Thanks! – dannymcc Apr 29 '11 at 14:28
  • @Cheekaleak: There are no "Backup Domain Controller" computers in Active Directory. There are special roles held by individual domain controller computers in an AD infrastructure, but it's a multi-master database. (Obviously, having multiple domains, having only a subset of DCs being Global Catalog servers, and Read-only Domain Controllers mean that not all DCs in an infrastructure are exactly the same, however.) – Evan Anderson Apr 30 '11 at 15:33
  • @Evan Sorry, misnomer. I merely meant backup in the sense that it would be an additional domain controller. I have edited my answer to be more clear. Thanks! – HostBits Apr 30 '11 at 16:50
  • I'm a little confused. If I have a 'backup' domain controller that also runs DNS, but all workstations point to .50 as their primary DNS. How will they know that when the .50 DC is down to use the 'backup' which is running on a different IP? – dannymcc Apr 30 '11 at 17:37
  • You would specify (either by DHCP or manually) the second DC/DNS as a second DNS server for your clients. – HostBits Apr 30 '11 at 18:03