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DNS Problem

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by ravomess

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I have a 2000 server running active directory and a seperate 2000 Citrix box. When I originally setup the AD server our office did not have internet connectivity, so it set up the DNS as a root server. We finally (after 5 months of waiting) got our T1 installed. We are using NAT for the LAN. The DNS entries on the server points to the external DNS server. On the Citrix box it also points externally. I am getting all kinds of DNS errors in the Event log (can not find the main server....) If I add the AD server to the DNS server list on the Citrix box the errors go away but the Citrix server and sessions can no longer surf the Web. I think what I need to do is set the AD server to be a caching only server and then I can just point the Citrixserver to it and I won't need the external DNS servers on the Citrix box. This should work for the clients on the LAN as well. Problem is I can't figure out how to switch the AD server to cache once it has already been set up as a root server. HELP!!!!

5 replies

by ikavas

Hello,

As far as I understand from your mail that you are using the same domain name for AD and internet. This is not a recommended solution. Also if you are using the same box as AD DC you can not configure DNS server as caching only.

Anyway, Did you try adding a forwarder ip address to your DNS server? By doing so you would be able to resolve internet addresses.

You said that you are using NAT. This means using private ip addresses in the LAN. Now, how did you configure the router and primay dns for your internet domain make sense.
citrix box may need reverse address resolution for some applications. If you mapped a global ip address to citrix servers ip address, you will need to create an entry for citrix server using global ip address in the DNS server.

To sum up; I recommend the following assuming you use the same DNS address for internet[of course it is possible not to do so]:
1- use your original DNS as primary DNS at your citrix server
2- configure your DNS server so that it uses forwarders to resolve ip addresses [this will require port 53 to be open at your router/firewall]
3- test your internet connectivity from citrix box

hope it works.

ilker kavas

by ravomess

I can not set up forwarders because it is already setup as a root server, the option is not available

by ikavas

Ok I got just got your problem...

Look what a KB article [Q260371] says:
"
If the Enable Forwarders check box is unavailable, the DNS server is
attempting to host a root zone (usually identified by a zone named only with
a period, or dot ("."). You must delete this zone to enable the DNS server to
forward DNS requests. In a configuration in which the DNS server does not
rely on an ISP DNS server or a corporate DNS server, you can use a root zone
entry.
"
Now you have two options...
1- delete and re-create the zone as it is supposed to be
2- use a root zone entry.

there is another option that I successfully resolved the problem. [yes first I created a similar environment] But requires dealing with registry...

Anyway, If there are no servers listed on the DNS server Root Hints tab of the dns server using backup cache file may work.
For a workaround look to KB article Q249868
below you will find a working copy of cache dns showing some root servers

Hope it will work now.

Ilker Kavas

Since I am limited in space I will send you a mail containing a good cache file...

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