unregistering member server ip in AD DNS

[nsglists]

I have this exchange server which is part of the domain. It has a static IP. The domain has a DNS integrated AD. So when clients are added, they automatically register their IP in the AD DNS. Now for this particular exchange server DNS entry, I wanted to assign a different IP address in the DNS server (mainly to make it routable since we have a complicated network setup with firewalls, proxy servers et. al.

So I manually change the IP in the DNS server and on the exchange server, I uncheck the option to,
"register this connection's address in DNS"
I reloaded the zone, restarted the DNS services on the client and the server. It stays good for a while (a day at most!!) and after that the original IP on the server gets registered again, even though I have unchecked the option to register te IP in DNS.

On the DNS server, I went into the security tab for the DNS entry, and for the domain\exchange-server$ entry gave only read permissions (it had full permission before). Even this did not help.

What do I do.
Please advice.
Thanks.

 

[djtech2k]

My guess would be that there are other records, like PTR's or some other AD related record that is changing it back.

Why would you not want it to register itself? I would re-check that box after you put the new IP on the exchange box. I would then run ipconfig /registerdns from the exchange box.

When you say the IP changes, where are you seeing that? Are you getting a bad ping? If its just a ping, it may be your ping cache. From the machie you are pinging from, run ipconfig /flushdns and try again.

 

[nsglists]

The reason, I dont want it to register is because, when it registers, it regsiters the a internal, non-routable IP,
192.168.10.10 with the DNS server. Now due to some constraints a translation has not been setup for this IP. So when clients do a lookup for the exchange server, they get the internal IP. Now since this is not routable, the functionality is lost. So, I manually added the global IP for the server in the DNS. Now when clients lookup they get the public IP and the exchange server can do its job fully.
I tried ipconfig /registerdns as well, but no luck.
Please advice.
Thanks.

 

[djtech2k]

So you are saying that after you change the DNS record in DNS, the server still pings back to the private IP?

 

[nsglists]

yup!!

 

[djtech2k]

Does the actual DNS "A Record" stay the way you put it or does it change?

Are you running WINS?

When you get the ping results, is is coming back with a FQDN, ie host.youdomain.com?

Deending on your answers, I am thinking this could be a resolution/cache issue.

 

[nsglists]

Does the actual DNS "A Record" stay the way you put it or does it change?
--> It changes back to the internal non-routable IP (which I dont want)

Are you running WINS?
--> No

When you get the ping results, is is coming back with a FQDN, ie host.youdomain.com?
--> Yes

Thanks a bunch.

 

[djtech2k]

Ok....This is kinda weird. I would maybe now check your GPO settings to see if it is forcing the registration of you DNS record. As far as I know, Exchange is not programmed to force it, but I do not know for sure.

Have you maybe tried assigning both the private and the routable IP to the NIC on the exchange server? I know this doesn't fix your DNS issue, but it may help functionality until you do.

There is definitely exchange data stored in AD, but as far as I can think it is all hostname based.

Do you have multiple DNS servers? Could this be replicating from another server? Are you sure that your exchange box is registering with this server? In your DNS A Record, do you have the box checked to allow authenticated users to change the record? Is it set to mark the record as stale?

I know theres a lot there, but I am thinking a policy or something is forcing it to register regardless of your local DNS client setting. That or its getting replicated from somewhere else. I would start with running an RSOP.MSC from the exchange box.

 

[djtech2k]

Also, FYI Exchange 2000/2003 still do depend on wins for several things.

Here is one example article:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/837391

There are many more.

 

[nsglists]

djtech2k,
Thanks a bunch for all the pointers. I will investigate on all of them.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!