On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 1:12 AM, Joe Yoder <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I am running Server 2003 on a small LAN of about 10 machines. Internet access > is via cable modem connected through a router to all machines. I need to > have the machines use the DNS server in the 2003 box while that box is > functional. If the 2003 box is down, the router should handle the DNS. Why should the 2003 server be down? Is that a common problem for you? Generally speaking, you shouldn't use an unreliable machine as a DNS server. > My current router's DHCP server has no setting to control the Preferred or > Alternate DNS server values it distributes. Most _clients_ do not handle DNS this way. If a DHCP server supplies them with two or three DNS servers to use, they rotate amongst them. There isn't a primary and an alternate or backup. This can lead to hard to troubleshoot problems, when every third request a workstation makes fails, if the DNS server its supposed to query is unavailable. So, if your server is likely to be down, it is better to not list it as a DNS source and instead let the router handle all the requests. If the router's down, they're not going to get far anyway, right? > Does someone know of a router with a built in DHCP server that does support > those settings? Fail-over DNS is more complex that what you are asking for, and probably more complex than you need. > I expect there would be a way to setup a Linux box to do the job but I would > prefer avoiding adding any equipment with rotating parts. My favorite Linux box for DNS and DHCP and much more is the Linksys WRTLS54GS. There are no rotating parts. > Another possibility would be to have two DHCP servers (router and 2003) with > non overlapping ranges. Is there a way to ensure that the 2003 one would > always win when it is running? Might a switch between the router and the > rest of the LAN add enough delay to have 2003 get there first? You don't specify what kind of router you are dealing with, but many can be configured with "smart" software that can act as a caching DNS server for the Windows 2003 box and also cache the DNS services you get from the internet. That way, all workstations can query the router, and the router will query and update from the W3K3 box if it can't answer the request itself. I'm curious, why is it the W2K3 server has to act as DNS? And why is it that it is sometimes not available? I've got W2K3 boxes at a couple of clients with 100+ day uptimes... -- Ted Roche Ted Roche & Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
