- Introduction
- Introduction to DNS
- Planning a DNS Namespace Design
- Planning DNS Zone Requirements
- Planning DNS Forwarding Requirements
- Configuring DNS Security
- Integrating with Third-Party DNS Solutions
- Introduction to WINS
- Implementing WINS Replication
- Implementing NetBIOS Name Resolution
- Troubleshooting Name Resolution Problems
- Chapter Summary
- Apply Your Knowledge
Integrating with Third-Party DNS Solutions
Plan a host name resolution strategy.
- Examine the interoperability of DNS with third-party DNS solutions.
It's a fact of life that many organizations already have existing DNS solutions in place, such as Unix BIND. In some cases, these existing BIND servers might not meet the DNS requirements of Active Directory. Table 3.4 outlines the features of some of the more common versions of BIND in use.
Table 3.4Features of Various BIND Versions
BIND Version |
Features |
4.9.4 |
Support for fast zone transfers |
4.9.6 |
Support for Service (SRV) resource records |
8.1.2 |
Support for dynamic DNS (DDNS) |
8.2.1 |
Support for incremental zone transfer (IXFR) between DNS Servers |
8.2.2 |
Full support for all Active Directory features |
If you are faced with a situation in which you are dealing with other DNS systems, you have two basic choices of implementation:
Upgrade existing DNS systems to meet the DNS requirements of Active Directory. For BIND, versions 8.1.2 and later are sufficient.
Migrate existing DNS zones to Windows Server 2003 DNS.
Although it is recommended that you use only Windows Server 2003 DNS servers to ensure full support for Active Directory, you can use any DNS system that meets the following specifications:
Support for SRV resource records
Dynamic updates per RFC 2136
Although support for dynamic updates is highly recommended, it is not mandatory. Support for SRV resource records is mandatory, however, because they are required to provide DNS support to Active Directory.
If you have Unix BIND servers in your DNS infrastructure, you should consider placing them as secondaries instead of primaries. By default, Windows Server 2003 DNS servers use a fast zone transfer format whereby compression is used and multiple records can be sent in a single TCP message. BIND versions 4.9.4 and later support fast zone transfers. If you are using an earlier version of BIND or another third-party DNS system that does not support fast zone transfers, you must disable fast zone transfers. When you select the BIND Secondaries option (see Figure 3.9), fast zone transfers are disabled for that server.
Figure 3.9 The BIND Secondaries option prevents fast zone transfers from occurring.
TIP
"I don't need WINS" This statement is accurate only if the client computer is running DNS. Don't make the mistake of assuming that DNS is implied when you get WINS questions.