Looking for the AD entry that points to our router

We have a small network running W2K3 Server w/ Active Directory that has
been up and functioning fine for several years. I am not a DNS expert and
some of the AD - DNS) settings were setup based on MS KB articles.

All of the workstations DNS server entries point to the IP of the AD server
(as per a MS KB article)
The Server DNS also points to itself (as per same article).

There was some entry we made that pointed (a forwarder ?? or forward look-up
zone??) to the IP of the router that was ultimately resolving Internet DNS
for us.

I need to change this IP (to OpenDNS) as our ISPs DNS sucks.

I cant find the entry that I made several years ago to point to the IP of
the router.
I have looked in the DNS manager and expanded many branches, but cant find
anything pointing to the IP of the router.

Help please in finding this entry.

Thanks

Jack B. Pollack <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> We have a small network running W2K3 Server w/ Active Directory that
> has been up and functioning fine for several years. I am not a DNS
> expert and some of the AD - DNS) settings were setup based on MS KB
> articles.
>
> All of the workstations DNS server entries point to the IP of the AD
> server (as per a MS KB article)
> The Server DNS also points to itself (as per same article).
>
> There was some entry we made that pointed (a forwarder ?? or forward
> look-up zone??) to the IP of the router that was ultimately resolving
> Internet DNS for us.
>
> I need to change this IP (to OpenDNS) as our ISPs DNS sucks.
>
> I cant find the entry that I made several years ago to point to the
> IP of the router.
> I have looked in the DNS manager and expanded many branches, but cant
> find anything pointing to the IP of the router.
>
> Help please in finding this entry.
>
> Thanks

You're close - open your DNS manager console, right-click on the server, and
you'll see the Forwarders tab. Put in your ISP's DNS server IP addresses
here.

In the DNS Console, Right click the server name and select Properties. It is
the Forwarder,
Anthony
http://www.airdesk.com


"Jack B. Pollack" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> We have a small network running W2K3 Server w/ Active Directory that has
> been up and functioning fine for several years. I am not a DNS expert and
> some of the AD - DNS) settings were setup based on MS KB articles.
>
> All of the workstations DNS server entries point to the IP of the AD
> server
> (as per a MS KB article)
> The Server DNS also points to itself (as per same article).
>
> There was some entry we made that pointed (a forwarder ?? or forward
> look-up
> zone??) to the IP of the router that was ultimately resolving Internet DNS
> for us.
>
> I need to change this IP (to OpenDNS) as our ISPs DNS sucks.
>
> I cant find the entry that I made several years ago to point to the IP of
> the router.
> I have looked in the DNS manager and expanded many branches, but cant find
> anything pointing to the IP of the router.
>
> Help please in finding this entry.
>
> Thanks
>
>

Thanks for your reply.
The forwarder list is empty.

any ideas what other entry we pointed to the router?

"Anthony" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> In the DNS Console, Right click the server name and select Properties. It
is
> the Forwarder,
> Anthony
> http://www.airdesk.com
>
>
> "Jack B. Pollack" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> > We have a small network running W2K3 Server w/ Active Directory that has
> > been up and functioning fine for several years. I am not a DNS expert
and
> > some of the AD - DNS) settings were setup based on MS KB articles.
> >
> > All of the workstations DNS server entries point to the IP of the AD
> > server
> > (as per a MS KB article)
> > The Server DNS also points to itself (as per same article).
> >
> > There was some entry we made that pointed (a forwarder ?? or forward
> > look-up
> > zone??) to the IP of the router that was ultimately resolving Internet
DNS
> > for us.
> >
> > I need to change this IP (to OpenDNS) as our ISPs DNS sucks.
> >
> > I cant find the entry that I made several years ago to point to the IP
of
> > the router.
> > I have looked in the DNS manager and expanded many branches, but cant
find
> > anything pointing to the IP of the router.
> >
> > Help please in finding this entry.
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> >
>
>

Thanks.

I'm looking at that properties page and it isn't where I originally set the
forward since it has nothing in the list.
I would like to find the original location and change it there. Any other
ideas where I could have set this?


"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
<(E-Mail Removed) hoo.com> wrote in message
news:e82$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Jack B. Pollack <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> > We have a small network running W2K3 Server w/ Active Directory that
> > has been up and functioning fine for several years. I am not a DNS
> > expert and some of the AD - DNS) settings were setup based on MS KB
> > articles.
> >
> > All of the workstations DNS server entries point to the IP of the AD
> > server (as per a MS KB article)
> > The Server DNS also points to itself (as per same article).
> >
> > There was some entry we made that pointed (a forwarder ?? or forward
> > look-up zone??) to the IP of the router that was ultimately resolving
> > Internet DNS for us.
> >
> > I need to change this IP (to OpenDNS) as our ISPs DNS sucks.
> >
> > I cant find the entry that I made several years ago to point to the
> > IP of the router.
> > I have looked in the DNS manager and expanded many branches, but cant
> > find anything pointing to the IP of the router.
> >
> > Help please in finding this entry.
> >
> > Thanks
>
> You're close - open your DNS manager console, right-click on the server,
and
> you'll see the Forwarders tab. Put in your ISP's DNS server IP addresses
> here.
>
>

Jack B. Pollack <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Thanks.
>
> I'm looking at that properties page and it isn't where I originally
> set the forward since it has nothing in the list.
> I would like to find the original location and change it there. Any
> other ideas where I could have set this?

That's the only place you could set a *forward*. Where are you seeing
symptoms that it exists anywhere?
You might post an unedited ipconfig /all from your server & from a
workstation.

>
>
> "Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
> <(E-Mail Removed) hoo.com> wrote in
> message news:e82$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Jack B. Pollack <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>> We have a small network running W2K3 Server w/ Active Directory that
>>> has been up and functioning fine for several years. I am not a DNS
>>> expert and some of the AD - DNS) settings were setup based on MS KB
>>> articles.
>>>
>>> All of the workstations DNS server entries point to the IP of the AD
>>> server (as per a MS KB article)
>>> The Server DNS also points to itself (as per same article).
>>>
>>> There was some entry we made that pointed (a forwarder ?? or forward
>>> look-up zone??) to the IP of the router that was ultimately
>>> resolving Internet DNS for us.
>>>
>>> I need to change this IP (to OpenDNS) as our ISPs DNS sucks.
>>>
>>> I cant find the entry that I made several years ago to point to the
>>> IP of the router.
>>> I have looked in the DNS manager and expanded many branches, but
>>> cant find anything pointing to the IP of the router.
>>>
>>> Help please in finding this entry.
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>
>> You're close - open your DNS manager console, right-click on the
>> server, and you'll see the Forwarders tab. Put in your ISP's DNS
>> server IP addresses here.

In news:(E-Mail Removed),
Jack B. Pollack <(E-Mail Removed)> typed:
> Thanks for your reply.
> The forwarder list is empty.
>
> any ideas what other entry we pointed to the router?

I'm not quite following why you would want to "point" to the router? The
router should NOT be used as a forwarder or as a DNS entry in IP properties
of your DC or any workstation or server for that matter.

You should only Forward to an outside server to resolve domains other than
what your DNS server is hosting or to a specific DNS server for a specific
domain, or a combination of both, but NOT to the router. The router in some
cases, will act as a 'proxy' DNS, but in many cases, most routers I've dealt
with with new customers that had this configuration, had trouble resolving
certain domain names. I believe it is because of EDNS0, but never tested it
nor felt it was necessary because I just changed it to the ISP's and all
worked fine afterwards.

I hope you didn't put it in the Root Hints tab. That is the only other place
I can think of that you can enter something in DNS properties, other than
the Use WINS Resolution or zone transfer tab, which I'm sure you wouldn't
have done that.

Maybe you are speaking of DHCP option 003?

Tell you what, please post an unedited ipconfig /all from the DC and a
sample workstation. I believe Lanwench also asked for this. This will help
us immensily and give us a start to diagnose and make recommendations and
suggestions.


--
Regards,
Ace

This posting is provided "AS-IS" with no warranties or guarantees and
confers no rights.

Ace Fekay, MCSE 2003 & 2000, MCSA 2003 & 2000, MCSE+I, MCT,
MVP Microsoft MVP - Directory Services
Microsoft Certified Trainer

Infinite Diversities in Infinite Combinations

> I'm not quite following why you would want to "point" to the router? The
> router should NOT be used as a forwarder or as a DNS entry in IP
properties
> of your DC or any workstation or server for that matter.

If I understand correctly, I need to point to an "outside" DNS server to
resolve internet addresses.
If I use the current DNS servers provided by my ISP and "hard code" them if
they change I will be screwed (and they have changed from time to time).

Since IP settings are provided to us via DHCP from our ISP I have been able
to point to the router as a DHCP server and it DOES reflect the changes to
the ISP DNS servers when they happen.

Suddenly our ISPs DNS servers have not been resolving some addresses and I
thought I would change the DNS servers to point to OpenDNS. If I put the IP
of the OpenDSN serves into the Forwarder section it does indeed use these
new servers and everything works great . I was just hoping to find the old
entry I made in some tab that points to the router since the forwarder tab
was blank when I checked it.

The router IP is 192.168.0.254 but I have been unable to find anything
pointing to it.

IPconfig /all from Server:


Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : SERVER1
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : spencer.local
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : spencer.local


Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:


Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/1000 XT Network
Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0D-54-FC-47-D9
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.254
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-

IPconfig /all from workstation:

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : spencer_5
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : spencer.local
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : spencer.local

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT Network
Connect
ion
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0B-DC-51-25-E2
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.5
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.254
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

Jack B. Pollack <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> I'm not quite following why you would want to "point" to the router?
>> The router should NOT be used as a forwarder or as a DNS entry in IP
>> properties of your DC or any workstation or server for that matter.
>
> If I understand correctly, I need to point to an "outside" DNS server
> to resolve internet addresses.
> If I use the current DNS servers provided by my ISP and "hard code"
> them if they change I will be screwed (and they have changed from
> time to time).

They're supposed to notify you. However, technically speaking, you don't
have to use your ISP's. You could use Verizon's or Sprint's if you wished.
>
> Since IP settings are provided to us via DHCP from our ISP I have
> been able to point to the router as a DHCP server and it DOES reflect
> the changes to the ISP DNS servers when they happen.

That's fine, but it should have no bearing on your internal DNS.
>
> Suddenly our ISPs DNS servers have not been resolving some addresses

That can happen if you're using a small-fry ISP.

> and I thought I would change the DNS servers to point to OpenDNS.

OK - or see above.

> If
> I put the IP of the OpenDSN serves into the Forwarder section it does
> indeed use these new servers and everything works great . I was just
> hoping to find the old entry I made in some tab that points to the
> router since the forwarder tab was blank when I checked it.
>
> The router IP is 192.168.0.254 but I have been unable to find anything
> pointing to it.

If you didn't find it in the forwarder before, I can't think of where else
you would ever have seen it. I think you may be mistaken as to what you'd
done before.
>
> IPconfig /all from Server:
>
>
> Windows IP Configuration
>
> Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : SERVER1
> Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : spencer.local
> Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
> IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
> WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
> DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : spencer.local
>
>
> Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
>
>
> Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
> Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/1000 XT Network
> Connection
> Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0D-54-FC-47-D9
> DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
> IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
> Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
> Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.254
> DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

That looks fine.
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -
>
> IPconfig /all from workstation:
>
> Windows IP Configuration
>
> Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : spencer_5
> Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : spencer.local
> Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
> IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
> WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
> DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : spencer.local
>
> Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
>
> Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
> Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT
> Network Connect
> ion
> Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0B-DC-51-25-E2
> Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
> IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.5
> Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
> Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.254
> DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

This looks fine too, but why aren't you using DHCP? Life is much easier that
way.

In news:(E-Mail Removed),
Jack B. Pollack <(E-Mail Removed)> typed:
> > I'm not quite following why you would want to "point" to the
> > router? The router should NOT be used as a forwarder or as a DNS
> > entry in IP
> properties
> > of your DC or any workstation or server for that matter.
>
> If I understand correctly, I need to point to an "outside" DNS server
> to resolve internet addresses.
> If I use the current DNS servers provided by my ISP and "hard code"
> them if they change I will be screwed (and they have changed from
> time to time).
>
> Since IP settings are provided to us via DHCP from our ISP I have
> been able to point to the router as a DHCP server and it DOES reflect
> the changes to the ISP DNS servers when they happen.
>
> Suddenly our ISPs DNS servers have not been resolving some addresses
> and I thought I would change the DNS servers to point to OpenDNS. If
> I put the IP of the OpenDSN serves into the Forwarder section it does
> indeed use these new servers and everything works great . I was just
> hoping to find the old entry I made in some tab that points to the
> router since the forwarder tab was blank when I checked it.
>
> The router IP is 192.168.0.254 but I have been unable to find anything
> pointing to it.
>
> IPconfig /all from Server:

<snipped>

Thanks for posting the ipconfigs. They look good.

As I said, do not use the router's IP address as a forwarder. Directly place
the ISP's DNS addresses in the Forwarders tab. The terminology you are using
"point to" threw me off. You want to configure a "forwarder."

The router, if used, acts like a "proxy DNS" as I explained, and it's
something you do NOT want to do. However based on your response, I think
there may be a communication problem as to understanding what I mean by a
"proxy DNS." A proxy DNS is when you send a query request to it, it cannot
handle the request itself, since after all, the router is not a DNS server.
So what does it do with the request? It looks at the external DNS entries
that you configured it with teh ISP's DNS addresses and sends it to them.
Then when it gets the response, it forwards it back to the original
requestor, your server. So you see, this adds an extra resolution step to
the resolver process. Also some of these routers when used as a proxy DNS,
do not support EDNS0, a necessary function these days to support large UDP
DNS packets. I will not explain this at this time since I do not want to
complicate this any further for you.

And as Lanwench said, you can use any external DNS server you like as a
Forwarder. Remove what you have, if any under the Forwarders tab, and try
just using 4.2.2.2 only and see if that helps. This one works and does not
change.

And also the same as Lanwench said, if it is not in the Forwarder's tab, I
wouldn't klnow where else you may have placed it.


Here is how to setup a forwarder:
323380 - HOW TO Configure DNS for Internet Access in Windows Server 2003
(forwarding and other info) :
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=323380

Other info that maybe helpful:

825036 - Best practices for DNS client settings in Windows 2000 Server and
in Windows Server 2003:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=825036

DNS and AD (Windows 2000 & 2003) FAQ:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=291382


Ace