Configuring Aging and Scavenging

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

With dynamic update, whenever a computer joins the network and registers with DHCP, the DNS server automatically adds resource records to the zone. However, in some cases, the DNS server does not automatically delete them, and they can become outdated. Outdated resource records use disk space on the server, and a server might use an outdated resource record to answer a query. As a result, DNS server performance suffers. To solve these problems, the Windows Server 2003 DNS Server service can scavenge outdated records by searching the database for records that are obsolete and deleting them.

You can configure aging and scavenging from DNS Manager or by using Dnscmd.exe.

For more information about configuring aging and scavenging in Windows Server 2003 DNS, see the Networking Collection of the Windows Server 2003 Technical Reference (or see the Networking Collection on the Web at https://www.microsoft.com/reskit).