Zone Not Loaded by DNS Server

[twospoons]

Hello All,

I'm new at this and just need pointed in the right direction. I've got a few reverse lookup zones that aren't loading. I'm getting the typical:

"Zone Not Loaded by DNS Server
The DNS server encountered a problem while attempting to load the zone The zone data may not be available in Active Directory, or the zone data is corrupt.
Correct the problem then either press F5, or on the action menu, click Refresh.
For more information about troubleshooting DNS zone problems, see Help."

I browsed through the properties of each zone in the reverse lookup and found no obvious discrepencies between the zones that are working correctly and the zones with this error. Next I examined the DNS event log to see if any errors were reporting there. The most recent errors show problems with the same three zones.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: DNS
Event Category: None
Event ID: 4001
Date: 7/19/2005
Time: 12:36:06 AM
User: N/A
Computer: computername
Description:
The DNS server was unable to open zone x.x.x.in-addr.arpa in the Active Directory. This DNS server is configured to obtain and use information from the directory for this zone and is unable to load the zone without it. Check that the Active Directory is functioning properly and reload the zone. The event data is the error code.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[ShackDaddy]

Is the subnet that this reverse lookup zone is taking care of registered as a subnet in the Active Directory Sites tool?

 

[twospoons]

I have 10 different zones listed in the Reverse Lookup Zones. Three of these are giving me the same error message and same error event in the Event Log. Not all 10 of these zones are listed as a subnet inside the AD Sites and Services snap-in. Only one of the ones with errors is listed. And several of the ones that are not getting errors are not listed.

Thanks

 

[twospoons]

What would happen if I just deleted the zone and recreated it? Possible side effects?

 

[ShackDaddy]

How about making those zones NOT AD-integrated? That's what the error seems to be about. Perhaps if they were file-based you wouldn't have the problem.

I don't think it would hurt to try recreating them.

 

[northstardave]

I have run a 2k domain for 3 years with no problems. Then recently I started getting this error whenever the dns server on the 2K servers was restarted.

There are 2 things that have changed just prior to my having this problem.
1. I started adding Server 2003 machines as domain controllers.
2. I installed the post-sp4 rollup on all the servers.

My money is on a problem with the rollup as nothing else of significance has changed.

 

[twospoons]

just an update for everyone:

I have spent many hours on the phone with m$ trying to resolve this issue. m$ recommendation is to remove the zone from being active-directory integrated, wait for replication to occur and then add the zone back into the directory. however you can't remove the zone if it won't load.

next m$ recommended just deleting the zone from all of the domain controllers, recreating it and allowing replication to propagate across the network... this works great until we reboot any of the DCs then the zone breaks again.

so m$ recommends putting SP1 on and testing to see if the zone still breaks on reboot. i haven't been able to schedule down-time for all of the DCs to install SP1 yet. I'll let you know how it goes.