Setting Up DNS Public or Private

[cvasquez]

Currently we have an IP who is issuing us two DNS servers.
We have a T1 connection coming in. In our facility we have two Servers. One serving as the main server for all uses which includes, virus protection, SQL server 2000, Database enterprise management, BackUp, on and on.

Now I am new in this company and I know things here are not setup right. The second server is just serving a SQL database which in turn gets duplicated with an external server being hosted by another company but this is a new entire problem so we leave this for another day.

Now apparently they have setup DNS internally in both servers. We have only one DOMAIN here but I don't think DNS is registerered thru the registar.com. This is the one IP for the DBserver 192.168.1.6 and this is the IP for the main server 192.168.1.2.

We have Main server setup like this.
DNS 1: 192.168.1.2
DNS 2: 192.168.1.6

We have the second server (Database server for SQL) set up like this.
DNS 1: 192.168.1.2
DNS 2: 192.168.1.6

The main server reboots every day at 3:30am and the DBserver never reboots. I think we should be using external DNS servers from our IP but I'll go with your suggestions.

Thanks;

Carlo.

 

[ChrisAC]

If you are just using DNS to resolve external hosts then using your own internal servers should be fine. It saves having queries sent outside the network and DNS response times will also be quicker as your users will only have to query servers on the local LAN and not the ISP. Your internal servers will also cache answers which can then be served out to the local network as cached data.

Chris.

**********************
Chris A.C, CCNA, CCSA
**********************

 

[cvasquez]

Since I have two servers serving DNS for redundancy shouldn't the first main server be:
DNS 1: 192.168.1.2
DNS 2: 192.168.1.6

and the second server (DBserver) be:
DNS 1: 192.168.1.6
DNS 2: 192.168.1.2

Also what if I was to use the two external DNS servers that were giving to me by the ISP. Would it cause a problem in my network?

Thanks for your help.

 

[cvasquez]

We are using DNS only for INTERNAL users not for outside users. (I hope this clears the smoke alittle)

 

[ChrisAC]

It really doesn't matter which server is first in the list on either box. If the first server doesn't respond then the second server will be queried.

Chris.


**********************
Chris A.C, CCNA, CCSA
**********************

 

[cvasquez]

As a note I would like to let you know that we are currently using
*obtain an IP address automatically
and
*obtain DNS addresses automatically.

Should I leave all the computers with this configuration or should I point them to the exact DNS server which is
192.168.1.2 and 192.168.1.6 accordingly?

 

[ChrisAC]

Leave it as automatic. If it ain't broken, don't fix it.

Chris.

**********************
Chris A.C, CCNA, CCSA
**********************

 

[GlenJohnson]

What I've always done is have dns servers pointing to themselves first, then point to any external servers second. All clients point ONLY to the internal servers. Here's why. User wants to go to site a. They type that in, and it's in cache on the dns server, so the name is resolved instantly. (Doesn't matter which, they should be talking to each other.) The user get's instant access to site a. Then they want to go to site b. The internal dns servers don't have this in cache, so the dns servers then go to the external dns servers to get the name resolved, which is going to take a little longer. The name comes back from external dns servers, it is now in cache on the local servers, so the next time a user wants to go to site b, it's in cache and they don't have to wait for the time for getting the name resolved externally. Ok?

Glen A. Johnson
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[cvasquez]

Glen, Awzome Tip.

Muchas gracias!


Carlo