Step 05: Finishing the DNS Setup and Configuring Reverse Zone Lookup

Now that you are logged on to your domain controller, you still need to finish the DNS setup because the mere promotion of the selected domain controller (in this example, “tfplocal”) does not automatically configure a reverse zone lookup. While the DNS as configured thus far will certainly work, it will only work for our local Server using the IP 127.0.0.1 but if you want a client machine to use it, it will not work because the reverse lookup zone is not configured.

Here’s how to do it:

• From the Start menu, select Start > Settings > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > DNS.
• When you click on DNS, a window opens that says “Add a New Zone,” which makes sense because the reverse lookup zone hasn’t been setup yet:
  
• To Add a New Zone, click on Reverse Lookup Zones in the left pane and then from the menu at top select Action, then New Zone:
  
• The “Welcome to the New Zone Wizard” window will open. Click Next:
  
• Here we want to select a Primary zone since this is the first one we are configuring. Do so and then Click Next:
  
• The next dialog window is Active Directory Zone Replication Scope. Select “To all domain controllers in the Active Directory domain…” (again in this example, the domain refers to “tfplocal”), and then click Next:
  
• At this point we will be entering our network ID (in this example, “10.0.0.0″). Here we are only able to put the “network” portion of the IP address, which is “10.0.0.” which means that we will be resolving for any “10.0.0.x” client. Notice that as you type in your network portion, the reverse lookup zone is being created for you. (In this example, in the grayed-out box below “Reverse lookup zone name” you can see “0.0.10.in-addr.arpa”.) Once you’re done, click Next:
  
• In the next dialog, the Dynamic Update window, you select “Allow only secure dynamic updates (recommended for Active Directory” since in this example we will be using “Active directory-integrated zones.” Click Next:
  
• Now you will see the “Completing the New Zone Wizard” dialog box with the message, “You have successfully completed the New Zone Wizard.” Pat yourself on the back and then click Finish:
  
• Hey, but before you start giving high-fives to everyone, let’s double check the DNS settings by expanding the reverse lookup zones folder located in the left pane… and looking at the right pane to see what you have just configured:
  
• Now let’s look at the whole picture in the screen below: We have the forward lookup zone with “msdcs.tftplocal.net” … the primary zone with “tftplocal.net” … and the reverse lookup zone with “10.0.0.x Subnet”:
  
• Now the DNS server is ready to serve any client in the LAN that has “10.0.0.2″ (the server IP in this example) as its preferred DNS.

Next » Step 06: Installing IIS, SMTP and .NET Framework

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