The DNS Console
To manage a Microsoft DNS Server and maintain your DNS data, you’ll use a tool called the DNS console, a snap-in for the Microsoft Management Console (MMC). MMC is a general-purpose program that hosts administrative tools. Introduced in Windows 2000, MMC replaced the “one-off” administrative tools found in Windows NT 4.0, such as DNS Manager, WINS Manager, DHCP Manager, and the like. The DNS console has a graphical user interface and is capable of managing multiple name servers. The DNS console is located on the Administrative Tools menu, provided you’ve already installed the DNS Server. The DNS console communicates with the Microsoft DNS Server using a proprietary management protocol built on Microsoft’s RPC (remote procedure call) mechanism. That means the DNS console is able to manage only Microsoft DNS Servers and not other name servers, such as BIND.
The main DNS console window looks like Figure 4-6 (or will look like it, after we’ve set everything up in the course of this chapter).
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The left pane is called the console tree. It shows name servers, zones, and domains. The right pane shows either informational messages or resource records.
This particular DNS console knows about only one name server, terminator. That name server is authoritative for three zones: movie.edu, 249.249.192.in-addr.arpa, and 253.253.192.in-addr.arpa ...
