Windows 2000 - Network Settings - Any Reccomendations?

[PGPhantom]

I am looking for some practical input fromt he user community on setting up DNS/WINS/DHCP etc in a mixed-mode environment.

What we have - Multiple domains in a mixed-mode environment. Multiple DC's across the WAN. About 200 NT4/W2K servers, a few thousand client etc. We are contantly debating the topic of "Correct" settings for the network.

Servers never uses DHCP - All are manually configured. We have 1 primary DNS W2K server and 3 secondary W2K DNS servers. About 23 DHCP servers (Because of routers, WAN etc) and 4 WINS servers. The primary DNS server is not used by anything - It it simply used to propogate changes etc to the secondary DNS servers (There is an exception which is one point of contention ... More in a bit)

What I suggest ...
A DC should always have it's primary DNS server set at the primary DNS server. Stand Alone servers should have the primary DNS set as the nearest DNS server, and the secondary as the next nearest.
Under the DNS tab of TCP/IP properties - Append primary and connection specific DNS suffixes checked off. DNS suffix for this connection filled in - e.g. domain.com. I never use "Append these DNS suffixes in order". Register this connections address in DNS checke off. The primary suffix is set under the clients properties to be domain.com.

Under WINS - Enable NetBIOS over TCP.

Questions:
1-What is the caveat of usig append DNS suffixes in order instead of using primary and connection specific DNS?
2-In a mixed-mode environment why not use Disable NetBIOS in the WINS tab?
3-Should DC's use the primary DNS server as the 1st DNS server or the nearest DNS server?
4-Does anyone have any docs etc detailing pro's and con's to each method of configuration?

Thank You

 

[wbg34]

Wow I'm kind of out of my league on this but I'll take a stab at it.
1. Using dns suffixes allows workstations to be registered a Fully qualified domain names and there fore the first items that are searched by the resolver resulting in better network performance.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/reskit/samplechapters/cncf/cncf_imp_miqe.asp

2. Netbios is helps windows Identify other windows resources and can cause major problems when disabled.

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/troubleshoot/netbt.htm

3. For ideal performance each domain should have its own DNS server that resolves queries for it's domain members (whether that server handles only one domain or multiple domains will depend on domain size). So the DNS server that is responsible for each domain should be listed as the primary dns server with the corporate "Primary Dns server" as the secondary.

 

[Jpoandl]

My Opinion:

1-What is the caveat of usig append DNS suffixes in order instead of using primary and connection specific DNS?

If you are in a multi-forest environment, the client may have trouble resolving remote domain (depending on how the DNS is setup)

For example, if my local machines domain is DOMAINLOCAL.COM and I use NSOOKUP to resolve COMPUTER1, DNS will automatically know that I am looking in domain "DOMAINLOCAL.com". Therefore, when I resolve COMPUTER1, a correct response will be sent: The system realizes, I am talking about COMPUTER1.DOMAINLOCAL.com.

But if there is a computer in a remote domain called COMPUTER2, and I try to resolve it, I would have to specify the FQDN. In other words if I had DNS set to DOMAINLOCAL.com (but COMPUTER2 was in COMPUTER2.DOMAINREMOTE.com), I would not be able to resolve just with the host name. I would have to be smart enough to do this:

NSLOOKUP
COMPUTER2.DOMAINREMOTE.com

This would give me the correct IP

but NSLOOKUP
Computer2

This would give me no response because my desktop is set manually to DOMAINLOCAL.com




2-In a mixed-mode environment why not use Disable NetBIOS in the WINS tab?

If you have 9X machines NetBIOS is needed. Also, some programs may need this to function properly. I usually keep this active for backwards compatibility.

3-Should DC's use the primary DNS server as the 1st DNS server or the nearest DNS server?

First, I always use Active Directory integrated DNS (each DC will get a copy of the DNS settings and the DNS database. AD uses its awesome replication structure to replicated DNS records. Ususally the best solution)

I would also recomend pointing to you nearest DNS server. However, in your case, it sounds like the secondary DNS servers do not have a writable database. Therefore, you are probably right, point to your PRIMARY DNs server.

I would strongly suggest converting to AD integrated DNS. This is very easy to do and will make you DNS server environment FAULT TOLERANT because each DC will have a copy of the DNS database.



-hope this helps..

Joseph L. Poandl
MCSE 2000

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

http://www.esavio.com