Same computer names on same network but different domains

[rylandd]

We currently have a live network in place with a windows 2003 domain, and we also have a load of virtual servers which we are planning to put into a different domain but on the same network(same physical network and same subnet/ip range). All live and virtual servers have fixed ip addresses.

We would like to call some of the virtual machines the same name as the live server names, would this be possible with scenario? For example if a computer is called "Egg" and is in domain X, can we have a computer called "Egg" in a domain called Z on the same network without any problems? I'm thinking it will cause problems, but is there is a way round it? I was thinking that we could use a different subnet for the virtual domain but then people on the live network might not be able to connect to it.

Any ideas or suggestions would be great please. Thanks!

 

[RichardHuang]

I think you might be able to do it if the two servers use differnet DNS servers and they all disable Netbios on the Nic card. Computer Browser service need to stop as well.

 

[PoliMalaka]

I don't think you can do it, nor do I think you should do it.
Why do you want the virtual servers to have the same name? How could you possibly identify the different servers if named the same other than with the IP. AD is eye-ball deep in DNS and so a unique name is key.
Instead maybe you should give a unique ending to the server name such as a domain designator. Let's say your domains are called Chicken and Snake. Egg-C & Egg-S could be your server names.
Good luck!

 

[Roadki11]

I agree, i wouldnt do it even if you can. Sounds like a nightmare to me. Give them unique names even if you only increment the name with a number for example, physical server name TermServ, virtual server name TermServ02. Or i usually build VMs as disaster backup servers and designate them with names like VM-TermServ so i can ID them as VMs easily.

Just my 2 cents,

RoadKi11

 

[oracleSQLdba]

Just waxing philosophic here:

egg.x.com is not the same as egg.y.com so why can't they be on the same network?

 

[rylandd]

Thanks for the posts so far The main reason for this wanting to use the same server is because the virtual machines are used to manipulate data and develop applications, which are then transfered to the live servers. We've found that with certain softwares and tools we use on the virtual machines, it will pick up the local hostname and use that for reference in the software... so when we transfer it to the live server its requires alot of messing about and going through code to change the server name to that of the live machine.