Name Resolution Options In a Small NT4 LAN

[ElijahBaley]

Hi

I have a question about name resolution in a small NT4 LAN.

Until quite recently most of our hosts were Win9x and we used DHCP to assign IP addresses within the range 10.10.10.10/24 to 10.10.10.100/24, reserving:

10.10.10.1 for our router
10.10.10.5 for our pdc
10.10.10.6 for our bdc
10.10.10.7 for another bdc

We have WINS running on the PDC and use our ISP's DNS servers for Internet lookups.
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Someone recently asked me why I still use WINS and have not installed DNS on the private subnet, I feel like having a crack at this in order to learn more about the DNS system but can't find any articles that explain how to set up DNS on a private subnet, yet still forward queries to the Internet for non local lookups - everything that I have read assumes that the DNS servers will be public.

I have read that DNS is a static database - does this mean that I would have to manually enter the IP/host information for every node manually? - what happens when DHCP assigns a different address!!

This is an area of great confusion, and I wonder if anyone could help me with a few pointers as to how this should all work in my network.

Thanks











..EB


"Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!"

"Captain A.J. Rimmer, Space Adventurer!"

 

[FaiTHLeSS]

You would still need WINS in a pre 2k enviroment. Only once you have 2k/xp you could most likely do away with WINS.

If all your servers are NT4 then your DNS will be static unlike 2k or 2k3 server which support dymanic DNS.


You could still setup DNS within your network but it wouldnt be as flexible as 2k/2k3 DNS.

You might want to take a look at migrating your network to a XP Desktop / 2k3 Server enviroment.

 

[ElijahBaley]

Thanks for your reply,

Okay so I still need WINS to take care of the NetBios names, and as my domain controllers are NT4 DNS would be static causing out-of step problems with DHCP, so to try to use DNS in my current environment would be useless?

We are currently running about 50% Win9x clients and 50% W2k/XP and are looking at 2K3 server.

Cheers

..EB


"Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!"

"Captain A.J. Rimmer, Space Adventurer!"

 

[FaiTHLeSS]

If you are looking at a 2k3 server i would wait then and just install DNS along with AD and also think about upgrading the 9.x machines to XP or at least 2k. You will have to install DNS in the 2k3 server setup but if you keep your 9.x machines you will also have to install wins to.

There is no harm in setting up DNS on your NT4 server at the moment could be worth while just learning the basics. Also setup your DHCP server to lease IP for the DNS server and the gateway address.

There is quite a lot to learn in DNS some of the things you might never use but some you will use everyday. Just remember that you are in a production enviroment when your doing it though unless you have a seperate test lab to try these things out. You dont want to upset your boss.

You could always download the trial copy of 2k3 server and set it up on a test machine to.

There is no harm in trying.