Root domain name change? 1

[gacollier]

Is it possible to either:

a) Change the root Active Directory domain name on a for Windows 2000 Server?

b) Is there a DNS workaround for my situation below?

I've recently upgraded an NT 4.0 domain to Windows 2000 Server. I used the company FQDN as the root Active Directory namespace (ex: microsoft.com). I also have DNS server running on this unit to resolve active directory names (ex: server1.microsoft.com). All works wee except, when a workstation fires up their browser and tries to go to microsoft.com. Microsoft.com won't resolve.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[NetIntruder]

Am i assuming right that by "going to Microsoft.com" you are meaning your company web site? or are you really trying to go to Microsoft.com?
1. if you are trying to get to your company.com via browser, make an A record called "www" and direct it where you want it to go.
2. If you are having issues connecting to the Internet due to name resolution, check that your forwarders are correct in DNS.

If neither of these helps, let me know.



~Intruder~

"The Less You Do, The Less Can Go Wrong"

 

[gacollier]

Intruder,

Thanks for the input. I tried that last night before posting my question. I didn't work, so I thought I was doing something wrong. After seeing your post I dug into it further. If you do an NSlookup or resolve the companies web site to an IP, and then use that IP not the FQDN the web page won't load. I think my web page host is using "IP sharing" (virtual hosting or name-based hosting) on this server. I have a call into them now to confirm. I'm sure this is the case... any thoughts on how to get around this one?

Greg

 

[Jpoandl]

It looks like you made a very basic mistake. Naming your internal domain name the same name as your registered public domain name. This is not recommended...for security reasons and because this will cause the problem you discribe.

The real solution for this is to either recreate your domain from scratch (use microsoft-int.local for you FQDN) or upgrade to Windows 2003 and then change the domain name.

Otherwise you will be forced to workaround the problem....

The issue is that your internal DNS servers think they are responsible for "Microsoft.com". Therefore, they will always try to resolve all host names for "microsoft.com". They will never try to forward to other DNS servers for this domain. Creating a record for host name

http://WWW with

the external IP address should fix your problem.

Another thing you can try is to create another new zone in your local DNS. Call this TEST-ex.com (for example). Create an A record called

http://www assingning

this the external IP address of your web site. Then from a browser type http:\\

http://www.test-ex.com

This should open the page.



Joseph L. Poandl
MCSE 2003

If your company is in need of experts to examine technical problems/solutions, please check out

http://www.NJCOMPUTERNETWORKS.com

(Sales@njcomputernetworks.com)

 

[gacollier]

Intruder,

Sorry, my previous post wasn't accurate. Actually creating the "www" recodr did work. I just had to flush the DNS cache on the test workstation. After I did that, it worked like a charm.

Thanks much.

Greg