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DNS Forwarding question

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by lee2412

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Hi,
I would like to know the way to configure a proper DNS Forwarder in Win server 2003 to forward all Intranet site requests to an internal DNS and all Internet request to ISP's DNS. The way it is configured right now is two IP addresses of two remote DNS (which are served for Intranet requests only, and these belong to parent company on the east coast, our office users here just need to connect to these DNS and to access Intranet sites, we have our own little network here) are listed on top and second in Forwarder tab and IP address of ISP's DNS listed last. I look at the debugging log and see all the internet request are forwarded to the first DNS server listed in Forwarder tab only. This explains why accessing the Internet is slow. I also do a nslookup for google.com, the first two attempts, I gets DNS requested timed out. When I try the third time, I get response with google's IP address. I am trying to setup so that all request can be forwarded to the right DNS server, such as all intranet requests go to parent company's DNS server, and all others go to ISP DNS server? I guess this way users can access either internet or intranet pages faster than the way it is now. Should I add a new zone for the east coast Intranet in the forward lookup zone and list only IP for ISP's DNS in Forwarder tab? If yes, how to add a new zone for a remote DNS server to serve the Intranet request? I appreciate all the help.
thank you

6 replies

by p.j.hutchison

The correct method, is to have PCs point only to intranet DNS servers. The intranet DNS server should be configured (is it Unix or Windows DNS server) to forward non-intranet DNS requests to the ISP DNS servers. This has to be done on the parent company DNS server!

by cg it

humm ok if you have your own little network, you should have your own DNS server that is authoritative for your zone there. Secondary DNS should the local DC go down and is not available is your East Coast DNS [PTR to their DNS server ove WAN]. Clients on the other hand should obtain IP and DNS info from the local DHCP server. For internet access, ICS through the server or a web proxy [which will be the default gateway out]. Intranet requests are done via a browser URL /// or , mapped drive, DFS shared folders.

by maz1980

My suggestion, set your branch office DNS server to be secondary server of your intranet DNS zone, so that intranet query can be served by your branch office server. Consult with DNS administrator in parent office about zone transfer to allow synchronization, then set up a secondary zone.

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