How the Client DNS Settings work to resolve DNS names
Information:
There are a number of ways to configure the DNS on the client, but using the default DNS configure from Microsoft is the best. In this article we will show you how to configure the Client DNS settings so that all the pieces fit together to help properly resolve DNS names in your environment.
In Windows NT 4.0 TCP/IP used a simple Domain: setting in the TCP/IP DNS to configure a DNS setting for the entire computer. In Window 2000 Microsoft introduced the concept of a Primary DNS Suffix. They also moved this settings configuration to the System Properties applet. This setting is usually overlooked or not understood by many network administrators.
By default, when your workstation is a member of a domain the Primary DNS Suffix is the same as the Active Directory Domain that the computer belongs to. You can access this setting via the Computer Name tab in the System Properties available in the Control Panel (see below).
Click the “Change” button, to access the computer name option. Then click the More button, to access the Primary DNS suffix of this computer.
If the computer is a member of a Workgroup or Joined to a Windows NT 4.0 domain you should click the More button and set the Primary DNS suffix for your computer. Do this only in these two cases, and leave the “Change primary DNS suffix when domain membership changes” checked. This will allow moving to an Active Directory domain easier in the future and prevent future visits to the workstation.
Now that the Primary DNS suffix is configured for the workstation we turn our attention to understanding the settings available on the DNS tab of the TCP/IP properties. The default configuration that Microsoft provides rarely needs to be modified, as it provides the most flexible implementation with the least amount of work.
The default settings of Append primary and connection specific DNS suffixes and Append parent suffixes of the primary DNS suffix allows DNS to query parent DNS zones easily, and allows for an additional DNS zone (connection specific) to be provided manually or via DHCP. This will provide 3 – 4 DNS zones to query by default. This is usually more than enough for most companies. If you need more than what is provided by default then you must use the Append these DNS suffixes (in order) setting.
Below is a diagram that shows the relation ship between the all the DNS setting and how they display in the ipconfig /all command.
Things to note from the screen shot are
1) The Primary DNS setting is searched first
2) If specified, the connection specific DNS setting is search directly after the Primary DNS setting
3) The parent DNS setting(s) are appended and searched in order after the connection specific setting.
Note: If you select the Append these DNS suffixes (in order) setting and do not specify a list of DNS suffixes you will disable DNS search orders. This will allow only fully qualified DNS names to be resolved.
The Register this connection’s addresses in DNS will only register the Primary DNS Suffix if set, and is the default setting. It is therefore the recommended setting as well.
By default, the connection-specific setting (DNS suffix for this connection) is not registered in DNS, but can be registered by checking Use this connection’s DNS suffix in DNS registration. This is normally not needed and is not recommended. Instead manually create an alias (CNAME) record in DNS that point’s to the FQDN of this computer.
More Information:
It is highly recommended to that client DNS settings be left at their default values. Over 90% of name resolutions issues can be traced back to misconfigured DNS clients. If you find yourself troubleshooting DNS issues on the client periodically it is most likely because of changes to these default settings. All the solutions that Microsoft provides require DNS to work correctly and their solutions are based on the default configurations of the DNS Client. It is highly recommended to use the default settings when ever possible.
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