Active Directory Cookbook

13.12. Verifying That a Domain Controller Can Register Its Resource Records

Problem

You want to verify DNS is configured correctly so that a domain controller can register its resource records, which are needed for clients to be able to locate various AD services.

Solution

Using a command-line interface

Tip

This test is available only with the Windows Server 2003 version of dcdiag.

With the following dcdiag command, replace dc1 with the DNS name of the domain the domain controller is in. This command has to be run directly on the domain controller you want to test.

> dcdiag /test:RegisterInDNS /DnsDomain:
                  
                     dc1


   Starting test: RegisterInDNS
      DNS configuration is sufficient to allow this domain controller to
      dynamically register the domain controller Locator records in DNS.

      The DNS configuration is sufficient to allow this computer to dynamically
      register the A record corresponding to its DNS name.

      ......................... dc1 passed test RegisterInDNS

Discussion

With the default setup, domain controllers attempt to dynamically register the resource records necessary for them to be located by Active Directory clients and other domain controllers. The domain controllers must have their resource records populated in DNS in order to function. It can be very tedious and error-prone to register all of the records manually, which is why allowing the domain controllers to use dynamic DNS (DDNS) to automatically register and update their records can be much easier from a support standpoint.

The Windows ...