I am running a Server 2003 Standard domain. I have two AD servers and both of these servers also have the DNS server service installed, configured, and running.
One DC is setup as AD Integrated primary DNS server. The other DC is setup as secondary DNS server and looks to the primary. Zone transfers, updates, and name resolution work perfectly across the board… until I reboot the primary DNS server.
If I install a security update or a patch that requires the DC acting as the primary DNS server to be rebooted everything breaks.
The secondary DNS server will not find the primary, fail, and then becomes the primary DNS server. Once the original primary finishes rebooting it attempts to continue its role as primary and users are unable to log in, users that were already logged in cannot resolve DNS names in the LAN or over the internet.
The only resolution I have that works is to blow away both DNS servers DNS service and rebuild it from scratch. I re-build the primary as AD integrated, re-build the secondary as secondary, and they work exactly as expected… until the primary requires a reboot or is taken offline again.
I have no idea why this is happening. I thought the reason for a secondary DNS server was for redundancy. If the primary is offline the secondary takes over so there is no issue as far as the end user is concerned until the primary lives once more.
Any ideas?! I’m desperate for help.
