2 DC's in domain - DNS

[widget12]

Hi Guys,

Situation!:

I originally had a single DC network(server1) (2003) with xp clients. DNS, DHCP all FSMO etc.

I have added a secondary server(serevr2), dcpromo'd and migrated some shares to it. (All is well..)

The aim was to increase redundancy so if server1 failed, server2 would authenticate clients(albeit they will not access certain shares on server1!)

Not to concerned about dhcp redundancy, but its DNS that has me in a pickle!

I believe during the process of dcpromo, server2 should have picked up a copy of dns from server1?

I wasnt too sure of this as I couldnt see dns management installed on server2.

I manual installed dns and have setup a secondary zone which is pulling in dns from server1. (All is still well..)

Having looked into it further, others are advising that I should have setup server2 dns as 'primary zone' AD integrated, so S2 and S1 will communicate and update each other as required.

Question is, is this the correct method, what will happen now if S1 should fail..

Also, I have yet to set S2 as an addtional catalog server.

A little long winded but I appricate your comments!

 

[Roadki11]

Set your dns on server 1 as AD integrated, do the same on server 2 and they will automagically keep each other updated. Set both servers primary dns to itself, not the loopback but its real network address and both servers secondary to each other. Make both servers GC's. Make sure both have dns forwarders and make sure both can do these lookups through your firewall. With that setup if server 1 goes down server 2 can handle domain authentication and internet dns lookups and vice versa. You can split your dhcp scope and have part served on one server and part served on the other. If both servers are in the same location this setup should serve you well, if the servers are in two different locations and or subnets you will want to setup sites and services a bit different and the subnets as appropriate.



RoadKi11

"This apparent fear reaction is typical, rather than try to solve technical problems technically, policy solutions are often chosen." - Fred Cohen

 

[widget12]

Thanks so much for info..

 

[pagy]

You will of course have to add DNS to your new domain controller to pick up the AD integrated zone. DNS can be added through add/remove programs.

Paul
MCSE 2003
MCSA 2003
MCITP Enterprise Administrator

If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they get smart just in time to ask questions?
Scott Adams