Windows Server

Instructions

Answer the following questions:

1. Can a non Microsoft Windows DNS service be used for the successful implementation of Active Directory Services? If so distinguish between the minimum and recommended requirements of the DNS service for an Active Directory implementation.

There are some key differences between Windows DNS Services servers and non-Windows DNS server appliances in the areas of AD integration and security. For example, some non-Windows DNS server appliances lack complete AD integration features. Conversely, Windows DNS Service servers don't support encrypted zone transfer and update features like some non-Windows DNS server appliances do. (ref: DNS server appliances)

One cannot

use any DNS service. Active Directory requires that the DNS support dynamic updates via RFC 2136; Windows 2000 has the advantage of being the only one that does it out of the box

Those environments that already have Internet domains and DNS servers on their networks have two options.Either replace their existing DNS servers with Windows 2000 boxes or create a new internal domain to host the AD. For example, if your company is called WidgetCo, and all your internal servers are TCP/IP hosts on widgetco.com, you either need to create a sub-domain called ad.widgetco.com or you need to create something like widgetco.net, as one of my associates had to do at a large Manhattan-based international law firm. It's possible to make Unix DNS servers like BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Daemon) support Windows 2000 dynamic DNS, but it's a little tricky. Microsoft TechNet's white paper on Windows 2000 DNS provides information on getting your non-MS DNS to comply with RFC 2136. Chances are you'll need to upgrade your Unix server to the latest version of BIND, version 8.2, to make it work. Creating an entirely new domain may be less of a headache.

(ref: How Microsoft went wrong with Active Directory)

When Microsoft started to talk about AD and AD's DNS integration, the company said AD would operate with any DNS