How to Configure Settings on the DNS Server

This topic provides guidelines for configuring your DNS server.

To access the DNS console, log on as the administrator, click Start, point to Control Panel, point to Administrative Tools, and then click DNS.

Before You Begin

Before you perform the procedure in this topic, read Verifying DNS Design and Configuration.

Procedure

To configure settings on the DNS server

1. Ensure that the DNS server points to its IP address. To confirm this setting, access the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties dialog box for the DNS server. For more information about how to access this dialog box, see How to Configure DNS Settings on the Exchange Server.

   Note

   It is strongly recommended that, when operating the computer as a DNS server, you manually configure TCP/IP and use a static IP address.

2. The DNS server should contain forward lookup zones for each of the domains being hosted. To configure forward lookup zones, in the DNS console, expand the DNS server, expand Forward Lookup Zones, right-click the forward lookup zone that you want, click Properties, and then use the settings on the General tab. For each forward lookup zone:

   • Set Allow dynamic updates to Yes.

   • Set Type to Active Directory Integrated.

3. The DNS server should contain reverse lookup zones for each IP subnet range being hosted. To configure reverse lookup zones, in the DNS console, expand the DNS server, expand Reverse Lookup Zones, right-click the reverse lookup zone you want, click Properties, and then use the settings on the General tab. For each reverse lookup zone:

   • Set Allow dynamic updates to Yes.

   • Set Type to Active Directory Integrated.

   Note

   If reverse lookup zones are not enabled on your internal DNS servers, DNS will still function correctly.

4. Configure your DNS server to include forwarders to external (Internet) DNS servers. This setting allows your DNS server to receive a query for external names, forward the query to the remote server, and deliver the response to the requestor. To configure this setting, open the DNS console, right-click your DNS server, click Properties, click the Forwarders tab, and then configure forwarders to external DNS servers.

   Note

   If the Enable Forwarders check box on the Forwarders tab is unavailable, the DNS server was configured as a root DNS server. If this is the case, to configure forwarders you must remove the "." (period) zone, restart the DNS console, and then configure the forwarders.