Changing Internal Domain Name

Hello all,

Hope someone can give some indication as to what is going to happen.

Our internal domain is the same as our external domain!!!

It was configured a long time ago and we are now experiencing the effects of
this. We want to change it, but I have a gross suspicion that once we try
renaming the internal domain, everything is going to break.

Here is a rundown of what we are running...
Active Directory
DHCP
DNS
Exchange
Sharepoint
hosting websites
FTP
VPN

there are more...

Has anyone every had to do this and do you know or have an idea of the
outcomes from us doing this.

We are definitely planning to do this is a test environment first, and use
different servers to switch this over, in case of a giant meltdown.

Any help is appreciated.

--
Cheers,

Dennis

Lots of people run with the same internal and external names. Why do you
think you need to change your internal domain name? (It isn't easy). What
problems are you having?

"Dennis" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:768D4EB0-71DB-4471-A988-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hello all,
>
> Hope someone can give some indication as to what is going to happen.
>
> Our internal domain is the same as our external domain!!!
>
> It was configured a long time ago and we are now experiencing the effects
> of
> this. We want to change it, but I have a gross suspicion that once we try
> renaming the internal domain, everything is going to break.
>
> Here is a rundown of what we are running...
> Active Directory
> DHCP
> DNS
> Exchange
> Sharepoint
> hosting websites
> FTP
> VPN
>
> there are more...
>
> Has anyone every had to do this and do you know or have an idea of the
> outcomes from us doing this.
>
> We are definitely planning to do this is a test environment first, and use
> different servers to switch this over, in case of a giant meltdown.
>
> Any help is appreciated.
>
> --
> Cheers,
>
> Dennis

In news:768D4EB0-71DB-4471-A988-(E-Mail Removed),
Dennis <(E-Mail Removed)> typed:
> Hello all,
>
> Hope someone can give some indication as to what is going to happen.
>
> Our internal domain is the same as our external domain!!!
>
> It was configured a long time ago and we are now experiencing the
> effects of this. We want to change it, but I have a gross suspicion
> that once we try renaming the internal domain, everything is going to
> break.
>
> Here is a rundown of what we are running...
> Active Directory
> DHCP
> DNS
> Exchange
> Sharepoint
> hosting websites
> FTP
> VPN
>
> there are more...
>
> Has anyone every had to do this and do you know or have an idea of the
> outcomes from us doing this.
>
> We are definitely planning to do this is a test environment first,
> and use different servers to switch this over, in case of a giant
> meltdown.
>
> Any help is appreciated.

You don't mention your version of Windows server, but note that this can be
done only in W2003 server & up.

Since you're running Exchange, I do not recommend this. It isn't a piece of
cake even without Exchange, honestly - and I would not bother unless there
were some compelling reason to do so.

Although it may not be considered a 'best practice' to use the same
namespace for internal & public DNS, plenty of companies do this and it can
work fine....as long as they never 'touch'. If your internal users are
having problems accessing hosts/resources on your public domain name, add
the appropriate records to your AD DNS server's forward lookup zone, such as
www, mail, whatnot (and supply the correct public IP address for each).

Re "hosting websites" - do not host your company's public website(s) in
house unless you have a dedicated server for it, isolated entirely from your
LAN. It's generally best to get an external webhosting account; they are
generally inexpensive nowadays. Same with FTP - it's unwise to allow that
traffic into your LAN from the Internet.

"Dennis" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:768D4EB0-71DB-4471-A988-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hello all,
> Hope someone can give some indication as to what is going to happen.
> Our internal domain is the same as our external domain!!!
> It was configured a long time ago and we are now experiencing the effects
> of this. We want to change it, but I have a gross suspicion that once we try
> renaming the internal domain, everything is going to break.

It is probably better to deploy Split-DNS instead of changing the name.
Split-DNS requres two DNS Servers,..but your ISP's counts as the second one, so
you only have to worry about the internal AD/DNS.

Generally all you do is add the "external" hosts to your DNS Zone. The IP# you
use for the host depends on where it is physically located. If it is physically
on the LAN then you use the Internal IP# or create an Alias Record (CName) that
points to the record of the internal name (A record). If the host is physically
external, then just use the external IP#.

--
Phillip Windell [MCP, MVP, CCNA]
www.wandtv.com

The views expressed (as annoying as they are, and as stupid as they sound), are
my own and not those of my employer, or Microsoft, or anyone else associated
with me, including my cats.
-----------------------------------------------------

> Our internal domain is the same as our external domain!!!

That is typically no problem.

> It was configured a long time ago and we are now experiencing the effects
> of
> this.

What effects?

> We want to change it, but I have a gross suspicion that once we try
> renaming the internal domain, everything is going to break.

Yes, basically, everything is.

If you really feel you have to have different namespace, recommend chaning
your external domain name. Much easier.

But why change anything?

-Frank

I all, thanks very much for the comments. I am new to this, so please be
gentle.

We are running a win2003 server network.

Lanwrench hit the nail on the head saying

"If your internal users are having problems accessing hosts/resources on
your public domain name"

Right now our main concern is our ftp, which internally has be to accessed
using IP. For example, externally we can use
ftp://www.domainname.com/support internall we have to use
ftp://192.168.0.100/support.

We have always been told that the internal and external name should not be
the same because it causes problems.

Is there an easy fix for this?

--
Cheers,

Dennis


"Frankster" wrote:

> > Our internal domain is the same as our external domain!!!
>
> That is typically no problem.
>
> > It was configured a long time ago and we are now experiencing the effects
> > of
> > this.
>
> What effects?
>
> > We want to change it, but I have a gross suspicion that once we try
> > renaming the internal domain, everything is going to break.
>
> Yes, basically, everything is.
>
> If you really feel you have to have different namespace, recommend chaning
> your external domain name. Much easier.
>
> But why change anything?
>
> -Frank
>
>

Dennis <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> I all, thanks very much for the comments. I am new to this, so
> please be gentle.
>
> We are running a win2003 server network.
>
> Lanwrench hit the nail on the head saying
>
> "If your internal users are having problems accessing hosts/resources
> on your public domain name"
>
> Right now our main concern is our ftp, which internally has be to
> accessed using IP. For example, externally we can use
> ftp://www.domainname.com/support

That doesn't make much sense; I'd have whomever hosts the domainname.com's
PUBLIC DNS, set up a host called FTP, that points at the correct public
IP....and use that. WWW isn't really a good choice for that.

> internall we have to use
> ftp://192.168.0.100/support.

I'm presuming you have entered that IP address merely to mask things, as you
can't be talking about a private/internal IP address or this wouldn't be an
issue at all....
>
> We have always been told that the internal and external name should
> not be the same because it causes problems.

Eh. It's not a huge problem.
>
> Is there an easy fix for this?

Do the above, and then in your internal DNS server, go to the forward lookup
zone for domainname.com - add a host (ftp) and give it the correct (public)
IP address. You can do the same with a host for www (give it the IP address
for your public website). If they're one and the same, go ahead and use
WWW - I just think it's not the best practice/naming convention.

>
>
>
>>> Our internal domain is the same as our external domain!!!
>>
>> That is typically no problem.
>>
>>> It was configured a long time ago and we are now experiencing the
>>> effects of
>>> this.
>>
>> What effects?
>>
>>> We want to change it, but I have a gross suspicion that once we try
>>> renaming the internal domain, everything is going to break.
>>
>> Yes, basically, everything is.
>>
>> If you really feel you have to have different namespace, recommend
>> chaning your external domain name. Much easier.
>>
>> But why change anything?
>>
>> -Frank