DNS setup in workgroup environment

Question

_{Saturday, May 5, 2012 1:27 PM}

Hi experts,

I am trying to setup dns in a workgroup environment and i was wondering if i could get some help on how to do this. I have 3 computers; 1 is a windows 2008 server and the other 2 are running windows seven. They are all connected with a netgear router, which in-turn is connected to the ISP router.  I intend to configure the server as the dns server. Can you please provide me with a walk-through on how to do this so i dont run into any issues?

thank you in advance

All replies (10)

_{Saturday, May 5, 2012 7:15 PM ✅Answered}

If the DNS service is set up correctly, the client's only need to be configured to point to your DNs server.  On your clients, if they are DHCP enabled, modify the DHCP scope so that the clients are configured correctly.

If you want to make sure that your clients are pointing to your DNS server, open a command prompt, type ipconfig /all and view the results.

Now on the DNS server itself, you need to create a zone.  Once you create the zone, you need to add host records.  for example, if your DNS server is called server1, then in your zone, create a host record (A) called 'server1' and map it to the IP address of the server.

Guides and tutorials, visit ITGeared.com.

_{Sunday, May 6, 2012 6:18 PM ✅Answered}

By default when router acts as your DHCP it will point to the ISP's DNS server and not to the internal DNS. therefore you should manually specify the internal DNS server IP under the NIC properties (note that you can still use router as DHCP and only change the DNS portions of that setting). However I would recommend that you set up your DNS server to also run DHCP and not the router, this will simplify your setup and also solve a lot of issues. Assign router's IP as default gateway this way only queries which were note resolved internally will go out to internet. Also with DHCP you dont need to manage static IP/DNS/DG, the DHCP server will take care of it by itself and also allow scalability to your setup.

Use this link to Install and Configure Windows Server 2008 DHCP Server -
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/How-to-Install-Configure-Windows-Server-2008-DHCP-Server.html

HTH

** Sachin Gadhave (MCP, MCTS)**

_{Saturday, May 5, 2012 4:43 PM}

Setting up the DNS service is very easy.  Here is a video tutorial on how to configure the DNS service on Win 2008.  I assume that your router is configuring your client's IP configuration via the router's dhcp service.  Once you set up your DNS server on the internal network, you will want to configure those clients to point to your internal DNS server.

Guides and tutorials, visit ITGeared.com.

_{Saturday, May 5, 2012 6:08 PM}

Thanks for the response,  the issue is not the actual setting up of the DNS server, its the configuration to enable it to work properly that is the issue. I have installed the DNS service but the clients can only pind the ip address of the server; they cant resolve the  FQDN.  Could you please assist with this?

_{Saturday, May 5, 2012 7:21 PM}

To function properly, a DNS server requires a forward lookup zone to host the locator records. A forward lookup zone contains information that is necessary to resolve names in the DNS domain. You may also want to configure a reverse lookup zone so that users can determine the name of a local resource based on its IP address. Additionally, to keep the administration of your DNS service as simple as possible, configure these zones to accept dynamic updates. After you have configured the new forward lookup zone, configure these zones to allow dynamic updates.

Refer this article for detailed steps-

How To Configure DNS in a New Workgroup Environment in Windows Server 2003
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-us/winserverNIS/threads

** Sachin Gadhave (MCP, MCTS)**

_{Sunday, May 6, 2012 2:52 AM}

No Luck................what do i have to do on the ISP router? it looks as if the host machine is still using the ISP router for DNS lookup

_{Sunday, May 6, 2012 7:58 AM}

Have you assigned static IPs to the host machine?s

Are these machines pointing to your server's IP for DNS under NIC properties?

** Sachin Gadhave (MCP, MCTS)**

_{Sunday, May 6, 2012 5:05 PM}

Hi Sachin,

I assigned a static IP to the DNS server only, the other machines are using DHCP configured on my network router. Do i need to configure all machines on the network to use a static IP?

_{Sunday, May 6, 2012 9:43 PM}

It works now! thanks guys!

_{Monday, May 7, 2012 8:28 AM}

Glad that your issue is now resolved.

Cheers!

** Sachin Gadhave (MCP, MCTS)**