Specify DNS servers as authoritative for a zone

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

Domain Name System (DNS) servers that you specify with the following procedure are added to those server Internet Protocol (IP) addresses that are already present for the existing name server (NS) resource record for the zone. Typically, you might only need to perform this procedure at the primary zone when you add DNS servers to act as secondary servers and also to specify that these servers are known to be authoritative when they answer queries for zone data.

DNS servers automatically add and perform initial configuration of the NS resource record for each new primary zone that is added to the server.

You can perform this procedure by using the DNS snap-in or by using the Dnscmd command-line tool.

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 RunĀ as command to perform this procedure.

Specifying DNS servers as authoritative for a zone

  • Using the Windows interface

  • Using the command line

To specify DNS servers as authoritative for a zone using the Windows interface

  1. Open the DNS snap-in.

  2. In the console tree, right-click the applicable zone, and then click Properties.

  3. Click the Name Servers tab.

  4. Click Add.

  5. Specify additional DNS servers by their names and IP addresses, and then click Add to add them to the list.

Note

To open the DNS snap-in, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click DNS.

Note

To add a name server to the list of authoritative servers for the zone, you must specify both the server's IP address and its DNS name. When you enter a name, click Resolve to resolve the name to its IP address before adding it to the list.

To specify DNS servers as authoritative for a zone using the command line

  1. At a command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

    dnscmd ServerName /RecordAdd ZoneNameNodeName [/Aging] [/OpenAcl] [Ttl] NS {HostName|DomainName}

    Value Description

    ServerName

    Required. Specifies the DNS host name of the DNS server. You can also type the IP address of the DNS server. To specify the DNS server on the local computer, you can also type a period (.)

    /RecordAdd

    Required. Specifies the command to add a resource record.

    ZoneName

    Required. Specifies the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the zone.

    NodeName

    Required. Specifies the FQDN of the node in the DNS namespace for which the SOA record is added. You can also type the node name relative to the ZoneName or @, which specifies the zone's root node.

    /Aging

    If this command is used, this resource record is able to be aged and scavenged. If this command is not used, the resource record remains in the DNS database unless it is updated or removed manually.

    /OpenAcl

    Specifies that new records are open to modification by any user. Without this parameter, only administrators may modify the new record.

    Ttl

    Specifies the Time to Live (TTL) setting for the resource record. (The default TTL is defined in the start-of-authority (SOA) resource record).

    NS

    Required. Specifies that you are adding a name server (NS) resource record to the zone that is specified in ZoneName.

    HostName|DomainName

    Required. Specifies the host name or FQDN of the new authoritative server.