Hello all,

I have one babbling problem.  I have three servers, 01, 02, and 03.  01 and 02 are running Windows Server 2008 R2 and both are physical servers.  H001 is running Windows 2012 with a Virtual Windows 2008 R2 server (Hyper-V) called 03.  01 is setup as the Active Directory, DNS, Domain Controller, and a few other server roles.  02 replicates 01 and 03 has a few programs on it.

The problem I am having is that when I log in (Domain or non-Domain) Mapped drivers to 01 and 02 are populated automatically, but 03 cant be found.  If I ping the name, 03 it tells me that 03 is not there.  However, if I ping 03s ip address, I can see it. I can even do a tracert.  I can do a remote desktop to 01 and 02 using the network names but with 03 I have use the ip address.

Trying to do a Remote Desktop connection with the server name, 03 gives me the error, "The connection cannot be completed because the remote computer that was reached is not the one you specified.  This could be caused by an outdated entry in the DNS cache.  Try using the IP address of the computer instead of the name."

I can use the IP address to connect but I really require to use the name.

If I login to the Domain, 03 takes up to 60 minutes to appear. I am then able to access shared resources with the name and not the ip.

I searched the Internet for a solution, but couldnt find anything that worked.  Any ideas you have, please let me know.

Thanks,

Ernie

• Edited by ewerezak Thursday, May 22, 2014 10:09 PM

Hi Greg,

Thanks for the quick reply. 

01 and 02 are physical hosts running 2008 R2

H001 - Is running 2012 R2 (physically)  with a virtual host, Hyper-V,  running 2008 R2 called 03.

I am having problems reaching 03 from any workstation by the server's name, on and off the domain.  The server's IP works fine, but not the name, 03.

Ernie

Hi Ernie,

Thanks for clarifying. I missed that H001 was the name of your Hyper-V server.

In order for 03 to register its name in DNS, first of all the checkbox to "register this connection's addresses in DNS" must be enabled on the network interface. By default it is enabled, so it probably is enabled unless you somehow disabled it.

In order to accomplish the DNS registration (adding it's host name and IP address to the domain) it sends an SOA query to the primary DNS server configured on its network interface (it does this on all network interfaces if there are multiple). The SOA query basically asks the question: What DNS server is authoritative for my domain? In other words, where do I need to send this information?

Note: If the computer is a DHCP client, and DHCP is configured to register records on behalf of clients, then the DHCP server issues the SOA query.

Below is an example of how to issue an SOA query using nslookup. The computer will add its own domain instead of contoso.com.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

C:\> nslookup -q=soa contoso.com
Server:  ipam1.contoso.com
Address:  192.168.0.3

Non-authoritative answer:
contoso.com
        primary name server = dc1.contoso.com
        responsible mail addr = hostmaster.contoso.com
        serial  = 77
        refresh = 900 (15 mins)
        retry   = 600 (10 mins)
        expire  = 86400 (1 day)
        default TTL = 3600 (1 hour)

dc1.contoso.com internet address = 192.168.0.1
dc1.contoso.com AAAA IPv6 address = 21da:d3:0:2f3b:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The query above tells you a couple things:

1. The DNS server that the SOA query is sent to is 192.168.0.3 (aka ipam1.contoso.com). That's because 192.168.0.3 is the primary DNS server configured on this computer's network adapter.

2. The authoritative DNS server for contoso.com is 192.168.0.1 (aka dc1.contoso.com).

If I configure an IP address on ipam1.contoso.com - say I change it from 192.168.0.3 to 192.168.0.4, the computer will ask it's DNS server where to send the update, it will find out that the update needs to be sent to 192.168.0.1, and it will send a request to the DNS server at 192.168.0.1 to change the host (A) record from .3 to .4.

If no SOA record is returned when the query is sent, perhaps because the computer has no domain or belongs to a domain that is hosted somewhere else, then registration of the host name won't happen.

Registration also won't happen if the computer (03) can't reach the authoritative DNS server (01).

In your VM "03" open up a command prompt and issue the nslookup shown above, using your domain instead of contoso.com. Verify that an authoritative server is returned and that it is correct, and that you can get to 01 from 03.

-Greg

• Edited by Greg LindsayMicrosoft employee, Owner Thursday, May 22, 2014 10:52 PM

Hi,

Yes the problem is clear.

You have a loopback address in your SOA record, and probably in the NS record as well.  Loopback is 127.x.x.x and it means to send information to the local network adapter.

What this does is to tell your servers (all of them) to register DNS records with themselves and not send it anywhere else. It works on 01 and 02 because they are DNS servers but 03 will just get an error.

You need to replace 127.0.53.53 in your zone with the actual IP address of your DC (01). It is also probably a good idea to configure the network interface with the static IP address for a DNS server and not use 127.0.53.53 there either.

-Greg

Hi Ernie,

The SOA and NS records are a little difficult to see because they are at the root of the zone.

You can edit these records directly from the zone properties. Right-click the zone and then click Properties. Click the Start of Authority tab and the Name Servers tab. See below.

Hi Ernie,

Are you looking at corp.com?

As you can see from the image above, the IP address might not be displayed but the hostname is shown. In my example the hostname is dns1.lab. Yours will be ns1.corp.com. This is probably OK to leave, but the IP address for ns1.corp.com should not be registered as 127.0.53.53.

Is ns1.corp.com the same as server 01 in your setup?

Thanks,

-Greg

I am on server 01, which is a Domain Controller. I run the DNS Manager, and the Primary Server is 001.corp.local where 001 is the server's name.

I check the name servers and they IP are correct, but no 127.0.53.53.    Is there away to overwrite this IP?

If I ping corp.com from Server 01, I get 127.0.53.53 I am unsure how to connect just to corp.com

Ernie

Hi Greg,

Thanks for your help and patience with me and this error.  I couldn't post an image to this forum, but you should be able to download it at filedropper.com/corp   I don't see the entry for ns1 when I log into DNS on Server 001   Thanks Ernie

Hi,

Thanks for the image.

You are looking at corp.local and it doesn't look like this server is authoritative for corp.com.

When I asked you to test the soa record, the domain you typed in was corp.com, but your server is a member of corp.local which is a different domain.

corp.com has a problem because it has 127.0.53.53 as the IP address for the domain controller.

corp.local might have a problem too. I don't see any A record in this zone for 001 or 002. Maybe it's there and I can't see it because of the screen capture.

Can you please try:

C:\> nslookup -q=soa corp.local

Thanks,

-Greg