How do I set a secondary DNS for my workstation?

Question

All PC's on our domain are set to obtain the DNS server address dynamically, as part if DHCP, but I would like to set a secondary, fixed address DNS server for testing web sites on our dev machine. I can't go and ask IT to add and remove test host names from the main DNS server all the time. In fact, even if I dont stop asking, I doubt they will do it.

I would like to set up DNS records for my test sites using the DNS service on our test web server, and configure the whole team's PC's to also look at that DNS, as well as the domain supplied one.

Answer 1

Firstly you cannot set a secondary DNS without manually setting all of them. You cannot add a "and these as well".

But you can of course include the ones DHCP is giving you youself.

In "Network and Sharing Center", select "Change Adapter Settings" and then properties on the relevant adapters. DNS is set separately for IPv4 and IPv6 so you might need to do this twice.

To set more than two DNS servers use the advanced button and DNS tab to add a longer list.

However if there are only a few test servers that don't change IP very often putting them in the hosts file might be a better option (and allows different devs to have different settings as required by their debugging and testing).

All that said: it might be better to cooperate with your IT Admins and ask (get your management to buy in first): otherwise if there are problems elsewhere (eg. resolving external addresses) IT Admin won't start by resetting your systems first so they know the state of things.