Why is my computer querying the fourth server on its DNS list?

I have 5 DNS servers listed in ipconfig /all. I've been having some name resolution trouble so I decided to capture a few packets and look at why it's ~~losing it's mind~~ not working. Looks like it's going for the fourth DNS server on the list, which is an external server, hence my internal name resolution trouble.

I'm going to yank the external servers from the list, but I would like to know why it would be exhibiting this behavior when the first three servers are indeed up and serving queries.

How can I find out why it's switching servers, and how can I reset it to start using the first one again?

Tanner Faulkner

Posted 2013-01-31T17:46:33.933

Reputation: 11 948

Answers

Flowcharts on Technet describing exactly the client DNS behavior.

Too complicated to answer here without copy and pasting large amounts of Microsoft's content, which would be bad. The link should be stable for a long time, so I'm posting it here as an answer. Basically just read the article and it will explain in excruciating detail exactly what goes on.

allquixotic

Posted 2013-01-31T17:46:33.933

Reputation: 32 256

1I'm betting in my case it's this part that's causing me trouble: The DNS Client service keeps track of which servers answer name queries more quickly, and it moves servers up or down on the list based on how quickly they reply to name queries. – Tanner Faulkner – 2013-01-31T18:11:53.480