Deleting the dot zone from W2K DNS

[cclv]

I have a W2K PDC and BDC that has the DNS server loaded and working as a root server. I've read it's possible to make the DNS server a forwarding server, which is what I want, by deleting the dot zone under forwarding zones. I'm a bit hesitant to do this because I'm not sure of the out come. I guess my first question would be, how safe is it to delete this file on a working domain? Secondly, Is there a way to backup (there are only 3-4 zones so it shouldn't be huge!) the DNS before I make changes to it so if it does get screwed up I can re-import the data?

Thanks,
Jason

 

[snootalope]

You do daily backups right? well, you're covered then..

Just delete the "." one, it's nothin.. It's probably hurting you more than anything else.

snoots

 

[cclv]

Yeah there is a daily backup but we've not backuping up the entire server. Which file should be backed up for the dns server?

Thanks,
Jason

 

[snootalope]

As long as your backing up everything in the C:\Winnt\system32\* your fine.. there should be a dns directory under there, but i think there may be some things tied to system32\* in there.

Either way, i'm sure you're backing up the entire C:\ of that server, so you're good to go.

Delete the biotch!

snooter

 

[cclv]

I've done some testing b4 I dive into this. I've found the DNS folder under winnt\system32. However I've noticed all of my zones aren't in there. The zones that do show up, if I make changes and restore the backup they work fine. The ones that don't show up are just gone. I've searched for other places these might be and the search turns up nothing. If I recreate this missing zone, there is a file in the DNS folder for it. Currently though, there is no root.dns in the folder. There is one about 8 months old in th backup folder but nothing in the DNS folder. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Jason