Problems with backup DNS

[circulent]

My company has 3 servers: Domain controller (also running DHCP and DNS), Exchange 2003, and a file server (also a backup DC). Each is on Win 2003.

Here's the problem: The power supply on the primary DC broke and wew are getting one from Dell by Tueday. Until then our mail is down since DNS is out of commission.

Questions:

1. Should we temporarily build a DNS server to run mail?
2. Moing forward, is it possible to run a backup DNS and DHCP somewhere?

Thanks

 

[FaiTHLeSS]

If the file server is a backup DC as you put it and has been promoted, then it should already be running DNS.

If not then you should look into running 2 DHCP and 2DNS servers on your network, just make sure the DHCP scopes dont conflict with each other.

Having everything on 1 server makes you have a single point of failure for most of your network services.

 

[circulent]

I did not setup on the DNS oiginally because I thought there would be conflicts (i.e. which DNS server takes priority). Also, if there are 2 DNS servers on the network, how would they replicate to one another?

As for DHCP, creating separate scopes makes sense. For example DHCP Server 1 would have a scope from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.50, and DHCP Server 2 would have a scope of 192.168.1.51 to 192.168.1.100. But which DHCP server would be the primary?

Thoughts?

 

[ShackDaddy]

Neither would be the primary, or whichever one typically responded first, since the client takes the first one it gets. Once the client has the address, it will always process renewals within the bounds of its existing relationship.

On the DNS end of things, you should make your zones "Active Directory integrated" by making sure a checkbox in the properties of your zone is checked. It may be that you'd already done that, in which case, you'd only need to load up DNS Server on your other DC and point your clients at it. Since all the zone data would be in the AD, it wouldn't matter that the "primary" was offline. When you have AD-integrated zones, there is no "primary". They replicate all data within AD. And you could set one as the primary and one as the secondary for your clients, and it wouldn't matter as much if one of them went down. There's no "conflicts" so there's no reason not to have the second one set up that way.

ShackDaddy
Shackelford Consulting

 

[FaiTHLeSS]

Basically do what shackdaddy has said, the other option with DHCP server is have a scope setup on the 2nd server but dont activate it, only turn it on if the other server fails but that is upto you.

Just remember to leave some addresses for switches/printers/servers etc.

Also when you setup the 2nd DNS server, make sure you have added it to the DHCP scope options on both DHCP servers so your clients know its there.

 

[circulent]

ShackDaddy & FaiTHLeSS,

Your suggestions were right-on...Since our main DC is down right now, I added DNS services to the file server, and all the zone data was recreated thru AD.

Afterwards, I pointed all the clients to the new DNS server, and names seem to be resolving okay. What's odd is that the Exchange server's services are not starting. This means that no Outlook clients can connect to Outlook.

Thoughts?

Question: A WINS server was setup on the previous DC. What conflicts might arise by installing it again on the file server?

Thanks

 

[FaiTHLeSS]

Have you checked the TCP/IP settings on the exchange server?

Im assuming the exchange server has a static config and is most likely pointing to the old DNS server you might want to check that its has the entries for the new DNS server to.

If this has already been done then what is the event log saying when you try to start the exchange server?

Setting up another WINS server should be fine but once the other DC comes up you will have to setup which server is pushing and which one is pulling. ie master and slave basically. This is if you choose to run 2 wins servers.

 

[ShackDaddy]

Depending on which version of Exchange you are running, there are some different WINS dependencies.

What are the errors in your Application log that occur when you try to start the Exchange services?

Is your existing DC in the same subnet as the Exchange server? If not, it may not be able to resolve the DC's name to an IP on the NetBIOS level. You might try adding the following entries to an LMHOSTS file on the Exchange server:

10.0.0.1 DCNAME #PRE #DOMOMAIN_NAME
10.0.0.1 "DOMAIN_NAME \0x1b" #PRE

Change DCNAME and DOMAIN_NAME as appropriate (don't add the suffix of the domain (ie, don't use .net or .local or .com)).Make sure that in the second entry there are exactly 15 characters between the first " and the \. Use spaces as needed. That will fill the gap for not having a WINS server till the other one comes back up.

Or you can install WINS on the other DC and point the Exchange server at it.

ShackDaddy
Shackelford Consulting

 

[circulent]

I'm out of the office right now, so I can't install WINS on the new DC just yet. FYI, we're on Exchange 2003 Standard. When I get back to the office I will add WINS and make sure all servers are pointed to it as well.

FYI, I did not change the WINS address settings on the other servers and they started up fine.

Also, everything is on the same subnet

 

[circulent]

Ok guys,

I'm back in the office, and can see that the following Exchange 2003 servcies are not started (even tho they are set to Automatic): MS Exchange Info Store, MS Exchange MTA Stacks

I tried manually start them but they seemed to hang forever.

FYI: I installed WINS on the DC as well

Thoughts?

 

[ShackDaddy]

Errors in the application log, please.

ShackDaddy
Shackelford Consulting

 

[circulent]

ShackDaddy,

Problem is solved (I just got back into the office which is why I didnt send you the log errors)...Let me describe...

I saw that one of the first errors said this: Process MAD.EXE (PID=2792). Topology Discovery failed, error 0x80040a02.

The link in the error pointed me to

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919089/en-us

I followed the steps, and it seemed like running setup.exe /domainprep associated the AD permissions correctly. I was then able to start all the Exchange services just fine.

If you have any other suggestions around this topic, please let me know. Otherwise you have been very helpful.

ML

 

[ShackDaddy]

Glad to hear it. Good to know that running /domainprep again was able to let your Exchange server lean on your existing DC.

ShackDaddy
Shackelford Consulting