Configuring a Computer for Troubleshooting Domain Name System

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Before you can use advanced troubleshooting techniques to identify and fix Domain Name System (DNS) problems, you need to configure your computer for troubleshooting. In addition, you need a basic understanding of troubleshooting concepts, procedures, and tools.

Configuration Tasks for Troubleshooting

To configure your computer for troubleshooting, perform the following tasks:

Install Windows Server 2003 SP1

Install Windows Support Tools

Install Network Monitor

Enable DNS Debug Logging

Install Windows Server 2003 SP1

If possible, upgrade your DNS servers with Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1). To install this service pack, go to the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=9999) and follow the instructions for downloading the service pack.

Install Windows Support Tools

For improved diagnostic support, install the Windows Support Tools that ship with Windows Server 2003 SP1. The SP1 version of Windows Support Tools includes enhanced versions of the Dcdiag.exe tool. The Dcdiag.exe command-line tool now provides new reporting on the overall health of replication with respect to Active Directory security as well as new DNS diagnostic tests.

Make sure that the SP1 version of Windows Support Tools is installed on all DNS servers running Windows Server 2003 with SP1.

Options for Running SP1 Windows Support Tools

You can run Windows Support Tools that ship with Windows Server 2003 SP1 on computers running the following operating systems:

  • Windows Server 2003 with SP1

  • Windows Server 2003 without SP1

You can also run Dcdiag.exe on computers running Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Professional with SP1, or Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 (SP2). Options for other tools vary by tool.

Options for Installing SP1 Windows Support Tools

The SP1 version of Windows Support Tools can be installed as an .msi package only on computers running Windows Server 2003 with SP1. To run Dcdiag from computers running Windows Server 2003 without SP1 or from computers running Windows XP Professional, you must copy the respective executable files to those computers.

Requirements

  • Administrative credentials: To complete this procedure, you must be a member of the Builtin Administrators group.

  • Operating system: Windows Server 2003 with SP1. You cannot use Suptools.msi to install the SP1 version of Windows Support Tools on a computer that is not running Windows Server 2003 with SP1.

To install Windows Support Tools

  1. Insert the Windows CD into your CD-ROM drive.

  2. If you are prompted to reinstall Windows, click No.

  3. When the Welcome screen appears, click Perform additional tasks, and then click Browse this CD.

  4. Go to the \Support\Tools folder. For complete setup information, see the Readme.htm file in this folder.

  5. Double-click suptools.msi.

  6. Follow the instructions that appear on your screen.

Install Network Monitor

You can use Network Monitor to troubleshoot connectivity issues by tracing network traffic between computers. For information about installing and using Network Monitor, see Network Monitor on the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=42987).

Enable DNS Debug Logging

DNS debug logging creates a Dns.log file that contains debug logging activity. By default, this file is located in the C:\Windows\System32\DNS folder. Using debug logging options slows DNS server performance; therefore, all debug logging options are disabled by default. You can use the following procedure to enable DNS debug logging.

Administrative credentials

To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority. If the computer is joined to a domain, members of the Domain Admins group might be able to perform this procedure. As a security best practice, consider using the Run as command to perform this procedure.

To enable DNS debug logging

  1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click DNS.

  2. In the console tree, right-click the applicable DNS server, then click Properties.

  3. Click the Debug Logging tab.

  4. Select Log packets for debugging, and then select the events that you want the DNS server to record for debug logging

Notes

  • To set the debug logging options, you must first select Log packets for debugging.

  • To obtain useful debug logging output, select an option under Packet direction, an option under Transport protocol, and at least one more option.

  • In addition to selecting events for the DNS debug log file, you can specify the file name, location, and maximum file size for the file. In most cases, the default selections are adequate. You may want to limit the traffic that the logging captures. If you want to limit the logging traffic to traffic between your server and a specific DNS server, select the Filter packets by IP address check box, and then click Filter to add the appropriate IP addresses.