Does Exchange Need DNS to be Active Directory Intergrated

[cjtucker1976]

Does Exchange need DNS to be Active Directory Integrated? have a unique setup that calls for DNS not to be intergrated in to AD. We need our domain A record to point to another webserver address- not to the other DC's. Right now we have a DC- that is the FSMO,RID, PDC master and DNS server and that is active directory intergrated- but the DNS dynamic updates are off. So AD user accounts are replicated to other DC- but the DNS is not.

 

[ShackDaddy]

Exchange does not need DNS to be AD integrated. Exchange just needs DNS to be properly configured to properly resolve all the domain-focused DNS records located in the _msdcs zone.

That being said, what you're saying concerns me, since any domain member who pings your internal domain name (domain.com or domain.local, depending on which way you went) will need to have that resolve to a DC, not to an external IP. If that doesn't resolve to a DC's IP, then your AD/DNS configuration is not healthy enough to reliably support Exchange on that network.

Dave Shackelford
ThirdTier.net