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Add alternate domain to DNS, to alias all lookups to the primary domain?

Question

Wednesday, February 17, 2016 3:48 PM

Is it possible to add a second domain to a windows dns server that is simply an alias for another domain?

For example, if our windows domain is mydomain.com, but we also own myother.net.  I want any dns requests for *.myother.net to be aliased to *.mydomain.com

I tried a wildcard cname, but that didn't work. Should this work, or am I doing something wrong?

We're trying to get users in the habit of using the myother.net domain for everything, and have even added it as an alternate UPN.  As users get in that habit though, they try to use the new domain to get to internal resources, such as browsing to intranet.myother.net instead of intranet.mydomain.com.  I can create duplicate entries for all servers in the new zone if necessary, but that seems like a lot of extra work and long term upkeep compared to creating an alias for the entire domain.

All replies (3)

Wednesday, February 17, 2016 4:04 PM ✅Answered

Ahh, it appears that what I am looking for is a DNAME entry. 

After creating a dns zone for myother.net, I created a new DNAME entry pointing to mydomain.com, and after a brief delay I am now able to resolve server.myother.net successfully.

Thursday, February 18, 2016 6:06 AM ✅Answered

Hi NeighborGeek,

Thanks for your sharing.

In addition, to provide some help for others, I need to post how to create the DNAME record on DNS servers:

The DNS Server service supports certain types of resource records that are not listed in DNS Manager, such as the domain alias (DNAME) resource record.

You can add these records to a zone by using the dnscmd /RecordAdd command.

For a complete listing of the resource records that you can add using this command, type dmscmd /RecordAdd /help at a command prompt.

Refer to link below:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc901587%28v=ws.10%29.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396

Best regards,

Andy_Pan

Thursday, February 18, 2016 2:49 PM

Thanks for the added details Andy_Pan.  For what it's worth, I did not use the dnscmd command line, I added the DNAME record from the gui.  It looks like the technet article you linked includes the below steps, which match the process I used.  In Step 3, I selected a DNAME record from the list of record types available.

To add a resource record to a zone using the Windows interface

  1. Open DNS Manager. To open DNS Manager, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click DNS.

  2. In the console tree, right-click the applicable zone, and then click Other New Records.

  3. In Select a resource record type, select the type of resource record that you want to add.

  4. Click Create Record.

  5. In New Resource Record, enter the information to complete the resource record.

  6. After you specify all the necessary information for the resource record, click OK to add the new record to the zone.