Configuring a Secondary DNS Server with Windows NT

MORE INFORMATION

You may want to have a secondary DNS server to provide redundancy throughout your network for host name resolution. A secondary DNS server will keep a copy of the zone files for name resolution, but any changes to these files will need to be made on the primary DNS server.

NOTE: These changes can be made remotely by using DNS Manager.

The steps below assume that you have already installed Microsoft DNS Server on the intended secondary server.

1. Click the Start button, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click DNS Manager.
2. From the DNS menu, click New Server.
3. Type the IP address of your secondary DNS server in the Add DNS Server dialog box, and then click OK.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 using the IP address of your primary DNS server.
   
   NOTE: If added successfully, it will expand and you should see the primary zone(s) that exist on that server.
5. Right-click the secondary DNS server and click New Zone.
6. Click Secondary, type the zone name in the Zone field, and type the IP address of the primary DNS server in the Server field.
   
   NOTE: You can also simply drag the hand icon to the zone beneath the primary DNS server, and DNS Manager will automatically fill in this information for you.
7. Click Next, type the zone name in the Zone name field, type the zone file name in the Zone File field, and click Next.
   
   NOTE: If you used the hand icon in step 6, this dialog will be automatically entered. Click Next.
8. Type the IP address of the primary DNS server, click Add, and then click Next.
   
   NOTE: If you used the hand icon in step 6, the IP master will be automatically entered. Click Next.
9. Repeat steps 5 through 8 for the reverse zone.

If all of the above is correct, you should receive one or more of the following event messages in Event Viewer on the primary DNS server:

   Event ID   : 731
   Source     : DNS
   Description: DNS Server transfer of zone <zone-name> to DNS server at
                <ip-address>, successfully completed.
				

-or-

   Event ID   : 850
   Source     : DNS
   Description: DNS Server transfer of zone <zone-name> to DNS server at
                <ip-address>, successfully completed.
				

-or-

   Event ID   : 6001
   Source     : DNS
   Description: DNS Server transfer of zone <zone-name> to DNS server at
                <ip-address>, successfully completed.
				

On the secondary DNS server, you should receive one or more of the following event messages in Event Viewer:

   Event ID   : 702
   Source     : DNS
   Description: New Version <zone file version number> of zone <domain
                name> found at DNS Server at <ip-address>. Zone transfer is
                in progress.
				

-or-

   Event ID   : 3150
   Source     : DNS
   Description: DNS Server wrote new version of zone <zone-name> to file
                <zone-name>.dns. The data is the new version number.
				

-or-

   Event ID   : 6522
   Source     : DNS
   Description: New Version <zone file version number> of zone <zone-name>
                found at DNS Server at <ip-address>. Zone transfer is in
                progress.