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My Server Name is different that my Computer Name

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6 replies

by pipil 1 view

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I have a W2003 Server running DNS. When I do a nslookup I get
Server Name: abc.def.ghi.edu

Computer Name: the.correctname.com

Where can I change the server name to be the same as the computer name?

Tks.

6 replies

by cg it

the two names aren't the same name.

DNS is domain name service and is used to map a name to IP address. For example, abc is a child domain of def. def is a child domain of ghi which is the root domain of the forest. So the DNS zone, DNS service is authoritative for encompasses abc.def.ghi.com Domain names are logical name spaces not physical.

The computer name is the name of the computer. some name them server, some name them NS if their name servers, some give it a combination of numbers and letters, blah blah. It's just a name for the physical machine.

To confuse you further, if your running active directory in a Windows 2003 environment, you actually have 4 names going. The Domain Name, the local LAN domain name, the Netbios name and the computer name.

by pipil

Thanks CG,
I'm concerned that the server name, to my understanding, was not something I entered but is completely arbitrary.

nslookup reports the following:
The server name is the actual data.

Server Name: cyh6509.ece.smu.edu

Computer Name: fs1.mycompany.com

Can the server name be changed?

by adent888

Within your network you will get your internal dns name pcname.internaldnsname.xxx, outside your network you will get whatever your the registered DNS server for your Internet domain domainname.xxx resolves to. ie: if abc.domain.com points to 1.1.1.1 you will get that host. Internal (AD DNS) and Internet DNS are 2 separate things. You should not have your AD domain (domain.xxx) the same as your external domain.

by cg it

adent888 explantion pretty much sums up the domain name space from what the public will see and then the private [your network].

by pipil

Thanks adent888,

This is my internal AD server. Not open to the outside world. The server name is very strange (cyh6509.ece.cmu.edu). I'm wondering if this server was hacked in the past.

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