I have a test environment with a server 2003 functional level (forest and domain). I built a 2008 server anddid my forestprep and domainprep and domainprep /gpprep,and the AD controller was created fine. DNS was also apparantly installed, and copied the zones from my 2003 DC/DNS, but whenI try to connect to my 2003 DNS server via my 2008 DNSconsole, I get the following error-" the computer you tried to add is not a DNS server running Windows 2000 or later"Ideas? Solutions?

are you able to make any other remote MMC connections from 2008 to 2003? a snap-in other than DNS, such as event viewer or servcices?did you execute domainprep and forestprepfrom your 2003 forest root DC?

Hi, Current information is not enough, we need more information for testing and troubleshooting. Please help to 1. Could you connect to Windows 2008 DNS server via Windows 2003 DNS console? 2. Could you use other MMC such as Event Log to connect Windows 2003 server? 3. Is there any Firewall installed? If so, please disable Firewall and test. Please also disable antivirus softwares. 4. Please try to run "netdiag >c:\netdiag.log" on both server and save log files, send them to tfwst@microsoft.com. 5. Please check your Event DNS Log to see if there is any error. For your reference, here are steps to disable Windows Firewall. 1. Click Start, choose Run, type "ncpa.cpl", press Enter, right-click Local Area Connections, choose Properties. 2. Switch to Advanced tab, click Settings. Choose Off to disable Firewall. Click OK. Its also suggested to test in Clean Boot. 1. Click Start, choose Run, type "msconfig", press Enter, switch to Startup tab, choose Disable All. 2. Switch to Services tab, click Hide all Microsoft services, click Disable All. Click OK to restart. Is there any progress? Thanks.

thanks for the responses.I did run forestprep and domain prep on my 2003 DC.I can connect to the 2008 box using the 2003 DNS snap in on my 2003 DC/DNS serverI can connect to the 2003 box using the 2008 event viewerWindows firewall is off on both servers.DNS on server 2008 does not have errors or other entriesabout the 2003 server in the logs from when I try to connect to the 2003 server.I'll run the netdiag...

Try to add w2k3 dns ip into your windows server 2008.start, run,ncpa.cplright click on you local area con. choose prob.double click on tcp/ip v4choose advanced, DNS and then add your ip.add there

The IP for my 2003 DNS server is already there- it is the primary DNS server in tcp/ip from when I joined it to the domain.Also- on the netdiag-Everything passed on both servers, except both failed on the default gateway. Default gateway test . . . . . . . : Failed [FATAL] NO GATEWAYS ARE REACHABLE. You have no connectivity to other network segments. If you configured the IP protocol manually then you need to add at least one valid gateway.I asked the networking guy, and he said that it doesn't matter because the gateway is only used to get outside of the subnet, and both of these servers are on the same subnet.

Also tested in clean boot (there's really nothing much else on here) and no luck.

Hi, Thank you for your update and information. However, we still perform more research to narrow down the cause of this issue. 1. Lets check the version of "Microsoft Management Console". Please open any MMC console on Windows 2003 system. Click Help menu, choose Help Topics, is it Microsoft Management Console 3.0? If not, lets try to install MMC 3.0 for troubleshooting. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/907265 2. If MMC 3.0 was installed, please try to remove and reinstall DNS components on Windows 2003 for troubleshooting. 3. If the issue continues, I suggest we try to analyze the detailed Network packages. Please download and install Microsoft Network Monitor 3.2 on Windows 2003 server. http://www.microsoft.com/DownLoads/details.aspx?FamilyID=f4db40af-1e08-4a21-a26b-ec2f4dc4190d&displaylang=en Close all other programs and stop all other activities on both servers. Start Network Monitor, click New Capture, click Start button, please try to connect to Windows 2003 server from Windows 2008 server using DNS console. When the prompt appears, click Stop button of Network Monitor. Click Save As button, save the cap file and send it to tfwst@microsoft.com. Thanks.

Sorry I could not reply last week as I was on vacation.The 2003 server, in spite of being setup with automatic updates to download and install updates daily, was only running server 2003 sp1, and thus MMC version 2. I updated to sp 2, which updated the MMC to version 3.0.Sadly, this did not fix the issue.I sent the netmon capture- will try messing around with removing and reinstalling DNS, though it seems like the 2008 server is the problem as the 2003 has always worked fine and is playing well with the 2008 server- this is really annoying as DNS seems to work, just not the 2008 mmc.

Another interesting thing I just noticed- in our productionenvironmentthis year we replaced our primary DNS server with new hardware- it is running server 2003 R2, and I just found that that MMC also cannot connect to my secondary DNS server either (but the old console on the secondary server - 2003 SP2 but NOT R2 works fine to connect to the primary server).

Hi, 1. Have you tried to remove and reinstall DNS role on Windows 2003? If not, please take time to try. 2. When DNS on Windows 2003 was uninstalled, please restart Windows 2003 and test if Windows 2008 DNS server works properly. 3. From the capture file, VMware Network card appears, do you use VMware software? Thanks.

Yes, this entire test environment is set up on vmware.I have not tried removing and reinstalling DNS on the 2003 server as that is the primary DNS server that everything else on the network points to, so I would be disrupting work on all other servers there.

Hi, I completely understand that you may need to plan a maintenance time as the Windows Server 2003 DNS server is the main server in the production environment. Since Windows Server 2008 is DNS server too, you can set it as alternate DNS server so that the operation on other servers are not interrupted during maintenance. For client DNS setting change, we can create a script to configure client automatically. For your reference: Scripting DNS on Clients http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/topics/networking/05_atnc_dns.mspx By the way, I'd like to point out that if the system environment is in the hardware virtualization software, such as VMWare, due to the difference(s) between virtual environment and physical hardware, it will be difficult for us to investigate the technical problem effectively. If it is possible, Please reproduce the environment/symptom independently from the hardware virtualization software so we can isolate the problem efficiently. If the problem can be reproduced on physical hardware, we can continue to analyze and work on it with you here. If this issue only happens on virtual environment of VMWare, the virtual environment provider would be the best resource for further troubleshooting. Thanks.

Thanks for the info on the script. MS is going to need to start embracing VMware though.