Event ID 1201 — DNS Server Configuration

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

The DNS server configuration consists of the settings that determine how the DNS server will function on a network and how those settings are stored and retrieved when they are needed.

 

Event Details

Product: Windows Operating System
ID: 1201
Source: Microsoft-Windows-DNS-Server-Service
Version: 6.0
Symbolic Name: DNS_EVENT_ZONE_CREATION_FAILED
Message: The DNS server could not create zone %1 specified in file %2 at line %3. Check that the zone file is located in the %SystemRoot%\System32\Dns directory and that it contains valid data.

Resolve

Check the zone file

Standard and primary zones, that is, zones that are not integrated with Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), store zone information in a file. If this file is missing or corrupted, the DNS server cannot load the zone.

Check that a zone file for the zone exists in the %SystemRoot%\System32\Dns directory. If the file does not exist, delete the zone and recreate it by using Server Manager.

Use Registry Editor to determine if an entry exists for the zone file in the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\DNS Server\Zones\zone\DatabaseFile

If there is no registry entry for the zone file, either update the zone file name in the registry or delete the zone in the registry and then recreate it by using Server Manager.

Update the zone file name in the registry

To modify or remove the zone file name in the registry:

Caution: Incorrectly editing the registry might severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data.

  1. On the DNS server, start Registry Editor. To start Registry editor, click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.

  2. In the console tree, navigate to the following key:

    **HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\DNS Server\Zones\**zone\DatabaseFile

  3. Right-click ListAddresses, and then click Delete.

  4. In Server Manager, right-click the DNS server, click All Tasks, and then click Restart.

If the file exists and is correctly identified in the registry, DNS server could not parse the zone file. Check that it contains valid data. You can use Notepad or another text editor to examine and correct the contents of the zone file.

Check the event logs for the exact name of the zone file and line numbers before either correcting or deleting entries in the zone file.

Delete the zone and recreate it by using Server Manager

To delete a zone in the registry:

Caution: Incorrectly editing the registry might severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data.

  1. On the DNS server, start Registry Editor. To start Registry editor, click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.

  2. In the console tree, navigate to the following key:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\DNS Server\Zones\

  3. Right-click the registry key of the zone, and then click Delete.

To use Server Manager to recreate a zone:

  1. On the DNS server, start Server Manager. To start Server Manager, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager.

  2. In the console tree, expand Roles, expand DNS Server, and then expand DNS.

  3. Expand the DNS server, and then expand the folder that contains the zone.

  4. Right-click the zone, and then click Delete.

    Note: If you cannot delete the zone using this method, you must use Registry Editor to delete the registry key for the zone.

  5. Right-click the folder, and then click New Zone.

  6. Follow the instructions in the wizard to recreate the zone.

Verify

To verify that the Domain Name System (DNS) configuration is correct, verify that all configuration settings are correct, check the event log for events that indicate continuing problems, and then verify that DNS client computers are able to resolve names properly.

To verify DNS configuration settings:

  1. On the DNS server, start Server Manager. To start Server Manager, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager.
  2. In the console tree, double-click Roles, double-click DNS Server, and then double-click DNS.
  3. Right-click the DNS server, and then click Properties.
  4. Review the settings on each tab, and verify that they contain the intended values.
  5. Expand the DNS server.
  6. Expand a zone folder, right-click a zone, and then click Properties.
  7. Review the settings on each tab, and verify that they contain the intended values.
  8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 for each zone.

To verify that DNS client computers can resolve names properly:

  1. On a DNS client computer, open a command prompt. To open a command prompt, click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
  2. At the command prompt, type pinghostname (where hostname is the DNS name of a computer with a known IP address), and then press ENTER.

If the client can resolve the name, the ping command responds with the following message:

Pinginghostname [ip_address]

Note: The name resolution is successful even if the ping command reports that the destination is unreachable.

If the client cannot resolve the name, the ping command responds with the following message:

Ping request could not find hosthostname

DNS Server Configuration

DNS Infrastructure