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Win2000 server and active directory?

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15 replies

by digerati

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What are the implications of installing a 2000 server with avtive directory and having no DNS server? I did not think this was possible. There is no local DNS server configured and the only other DNs is the ISP and they do not support AD auto update

15 replies

by rabbit_runner

To install Win2k with AD, if you do not have an existing DNS server, then during the installation, you will be required to make the Domain Controller a DNS server. Active Directory requires DNS to operate. Without DNS, then you will not be able to install AD.

Hope this helps.

by rabbit_runner

As an added note. You will use the AD DNS server for your LAN and the ISP DNS for browsing the internet. If you do install win2k with AD, make certain that it does NOT have the name of any FQDN. For example if you have a domain name of mycompany.com and it is registered with your ISP, then for AD, you should create a name of mycompany.local.

by digerati

My problem is that the server was installed with AD, it is the only server in the domain, and there is no DNS for AD to link too. I do not understand how the user acounts or security even work as I thought it had to have a functional DNS (automatic update or static update). So my question is.. What are the affects of not having the DNS? The server seems to be running ok and users can login and map drives and access files. So what are some symptoms of problems that I should see given this situation?

by johnnyextreme

Your Win2K server with AD is a DNS server too, even if you have never configured it. Active Directory will not work correctly until you configure the DNS server. Service Resource Records will not be available, so clients can only query for a particular server by name, not by service. Also there will be no dynamic updates on your Win2K clients without a properly configured DNS.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/reskit/deploymentscenarios/scenarios/dns_02_sir.asp

by rabbit_runner

I have a question. Your server, is it a network server, or did you run DCPROMO to promote it to a Domain Controller? If you did Not run DCPROMO, then you do not have Active Directory installed, and therefore may not have DNS.
If you have (or someone else) run DCPROMO, then DNS will be installed on that server, since you state it is the only server on the network. To check, click on Start \ Programs \ Administrative Tools. You should find a menu option for DNS. Click on it. When it opens, you should find your server name in the left-hand windows. When you click on it, it should expand and you will find 'forward look up zones' and 'reverse look up zones'. Expand these and you will find the DNS name of your LAN. When you then click on it, it will expand and you must find the following 4 sub zones. _msdcs, _sites, _tcp, _udp. If they are there, then DNS and AD is installed. If they are not there, then you do not have Active Directory installed.

If DNS is installed, it will only be configured for the LAN (local area network). Each of your workstations will need to have their DNS settings for two DNS servers. The first one should be the IP address of your server, the second one the IP address for your ISP. If your ISP gave you a second DNS IP, then add that one as your third one for each workstation.

If you have other questions, ask and we will try to help out.

Best of luck.

by digerati

This is an inherited server, someone else installed. this is what puzzels me, AD is installed. I.e. User accounts are setup via "Active Directory Users and Computers" In the DNS manager there are no zones defined at all. So the installer must have either deleted the zones or select an option to use different DNS. However there is none.

by joseph moore

You have gotten some good answers for this one. I think you are being pointed in the right direction.
Now,I have a question for you. Did you do the AD install yourself, or is this a server you inherited?
If you did the AD install (running DCPROMO), then did you select to have DNS be installed during the AD process, or did you select the "install DNS later" option?
If you did NOT install AD on this server, then when you go to view user accounts, are you using "AD Users & Computers" snap-in???
There is just a lot of confusion here. I just want to clear up for sure if AD is running on the server or not.

by joseph moore

Next, it would be theoretically possible to run AD without DNS. There would just be a lot of NetBIOS B-type record broadcast going on as clients try to find out what machine is their domain controller.
You see, Win2K, XP and 2K3 all use DNS as their primary method for finding their domain controllers, but it is not the only way. All of the newer Windows OS's will eventually fall down to quering a configured WINS server or just doing NetBIOS broadcast to find out who should authenticate them, and where the server is to map drives and print to shared printers and such.
So, if you do have AD running without DNS installed, then it would be possible for clients to still work.
It is weird, doing this way! But possible.

by digerati

Yes this is an inherited server, AD is installed and you have to use the AD users and computer plug-in. I am assuming that the install dns later option was used as well. I finally got a hold of the installer and he says that's the way I always do it and i never have any problems.
I am assuming that even though this is a small network (10seats) this would account for slow response on the network as there is no dns resolution and it takes time for the computer to time out dns queries and resort to NetBIOS. So other that not being able to add another server to the domain, are there any other strange and wonderful things that could be affected in this scenario?

by ewgny

I read recently that MS has a version of windows2k that runs an AD lite version that doesn't require DNS to be installed. I didn't pay much attention to the article because it seemed to be a silly idea.

by bournese

I have the exact same issue... someone set up active directory before I was here and did not configure DNS server, rather it points to ISP dns. The only obvious issue is getting group policies to apply to users (other than when they logon directly to domain controller). I use Active Directory Users and Computers to administer accounts. Other than that users can hit all shares and maps. So now I am researching how to install DNS after Active Directory is already in place.

by digerati

As long as the DNS server is installed and you have a local zone configured, you can run dcdiag /fix on the server and it will rebuild all the DNS entries for the AD. I am looking for information to build an argument to support the issue that this is a major problem.

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