Windows 7 and Subnet Mask Ordering
Hi, We set up a long time ago subnet mask ordering on our Windows 2003 DNS servers throughout our domain. This has been working fine with Windows XP clients SP2 & SP3 that were able to locate and use the nearest resource (DC in this case). We started a few weeks ago to deploy Windows 7 clients and it seems that subnet mask ordering is now ignored by the TCP/IP stack implemented in Windows 7 networking. Windows 7 clients now use any of the DCs even if this one is far away from the client. Do you have any idea if this is a new behavioour for the DNS client or if it needs other settings ? Stéphane
July 16th, 2010 4:43pm

Hi Stéphane, Thank you for posting in Technet forum. We can refer the following blog: DNS Round Robin and Destination IP address selection The behavior in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 was changed. However, in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 the default behavior should work with DNS Round Robin. I suggest you check that what is the DNS server of the Windows 7 clients. Please run “ipconfig/all” and see the result. If the DNS servers are incorrect, please define DNS server for these clients via GPO. The policy is: Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Network/DNS Client/DNS Servers If the DNS server configurations are proper, I suggest you confirm if the value of the Registry key “OverrideDefaultAddressSelection” under the following branch is “1”. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\ParametersPlease remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.
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July 19th, 2010 9:59am

Hi Stéphane, How does it work now?Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.
July 21st, 2010 10:03am

Hi Arthur, In fact, we used DNS entries such as WSUSServer, with multiple IP adresses and subnet mask ordering to avoid creating a GPO each time we want to set up a new site and tell client computers where to update. We use only one GPO for WSUS updating available anywhere on our network. In this case, the client using subnet mask ordering refers to the closest entry of the WSUSServer name. This allows - particularely for roaming users - to get always the nearest server to proceed. The problem is that Windows XP clients choose the nearest server, but Windows 7 clients don't. Any idea ?
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August 9th, 2010 5:57pm

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