Trying to setup DNS on Windows Server 2003

[Todd76]

I am very new to trying to set this up so bear with me if you can

I am trying to get WS2003 as my DNS for my home network. I have DNS installed. I would like to do this without being part of a domain and without using AD. From reading many posts it seems this should be able to be accomplished. I am using my router for DHCP. I have disabled the windows firewall on the server for this testing.

In its simplest configuration I think I should be able to:
1) Configure my routers primary DNS to my windows server IP, for example, 192.168.0.95
2) In DNS management on my windows server, set the Forwarders properties for the zone to the DNS IPs of my ISP
3) Set the TCP/IP properties of my windows server so that the Preferred DNS server is my windows server, 192.168.0.95

I believe with this basic setup I should be able to surf the web normally from a client on my network. The client would connect to the windows server ip as its dns from the router. The client should then ask the windows server to resolve a name and the windows server would use the my ISP's DNS from the Forwarders list to resolve the name.

Now I wouldn't be here if this didn't work So what did I do wrong or assume incorrectly along the way?

If I do ipconfig/all on the client I get the routers ip address for the DNS, as expected. I tried to include anything pertinent in this post but let me know if there is any other information that would be helpful in resolving this.

 

[Noway2]

Now I wouldn't be here if this didn't work So what did I do wrong or assume incorrectly along the way? .... let me know if there is any other information that would be helpful in resolving this

I don't understand what is not working? What error messages are you getting? What problem are you experiencing?

Also, while what you are trying to do may work, it sounds really round-about for no gain and I don't understand what your objective is. It sounds like when a connection is attempted, the host will go to your gateway (router), which you will point to your server for the DNS, which will in turn point to your ISP (which will establish a connection through your router)?

I think what you are trying to do is setup your DHCP (router?) to configure your server to perform the DNS lookups using its DNS server and use your ISP as a backup? Perhaps what you want to do is use your server for DNS and DHCP for your network so that hosts are resolvable by name?

 

[Todd76]

What is not working is that the names won't resolve.

My main objective is to be able to have friendly names for other machines on my home network instead of having to use fully qualified names.

I think your description is correct in that I would router to perform DNS lookups using my windows server machine first and then my ISP as a backup.

 

[Noway2]

The term for this set up is dynamic dns, not to be confused with using a service like Dyndns that tracks updates to your public dynamic IP and resolves them to the names.

If you were running Linux, I would suggest Bind9 and DHCP3. I don't know how to do this under windows, but it looks like there are a couple of how - to tutorials published by Microsoft (I searched for dynamic dns windows 2003). You may find it easier to have the same PC perform DNS and DHCP. There is no reason the DHCP needs to be performed by the router / gateway. Your DNS can also function as your primary DNS instead of relying on your ISP.

Try these for starters. The first one looks pretty comprehensive and even includes DHCP.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...sg=AFQjCNEEB1-yaiEi7S73l-4WHUuua6xHpw&cad=rja

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...sg=AFQjCNEZt1v5_ECfb3N5YQTYiAYfKOsSEg&cad=rja