DNS Guru's advice requested.

[SpuffMonkey]

I had 2 DCs (server1 & server 3 - all servers run 2003 SP2). I've just dcpromo'd a member server (server5) and installed DNS.

On the original 2 DCs, when you open the DNS MMC, you see

(well it was nicely indented when I wrote it - how the devil do you put a tab in?? :x )

DNS
server1
Forward Lookup Zones
_msdcs.<domain>
dc (contains all 3 dc's)
domain
gc (contains 2 gc's)
pdc (contains 1 PDC)
<domain>.local
_msdcs (contains NS records for original 2 servers)
_sites
_tcp
_udp
DomainDNSZones
ForestDNSZones
<external address>.sch.uk
Reverse Lookup Zones
Server3
All above repeated

On the new DC, server5, when you open DNS - you only see server5 with all the stuff above replicated...

2 questions -

1 - Why do you see both servers in DNS on the original DCs, and not the new one as well, and likewise - why don't you see the original servers on the new DC - which is "correct"?

2 - Is the _msdcs folder under the <domain>.local branch supposed to be there - and if it is - why doesn't it show the new DC as an NS?

Its my intention to demote server3 soon, so I'm keen to make sure everything is OK before the demotion.

Thanks

[kylewilliamson]

Have you set up three seperate dns servers? If so, it sounds like thier not replicating with each other.

[ajbritton]

The DNS management console can be used to view/manage multiple DNS servers. By default (as on server5), it shows the local DNS server. If you right click the DNS node there will probably be an option to add other servers to the list.

The fact that all the _msdcs stuff shows that replication must be working to some level as all that stuff is stored in AD and would not be available to the local server until replication had taken place.

As to why server5 is not present as an NS, I'm not sure.

If you want to confirm replication, use REPLMON (it's in either the SupportTools or ResourceKitTools, not sure which).

How is the DNS client on the servers configured? I would suggest that each server be set to look to itself first and then to one of the other servers for DNS lookup.