Windows 2003 Server - ISP DNS IPs vs. Root Hints

[b4u]

Hi,

I'm testing up a new installation of Windows 2003 Server, and I have the following config:

192.168.0.10 Windows 2330 Server
192.168.0.1 Router with DHCP OFF

Now setting up the DNS server, I have 2 options:

a) Setting up ISP's DNS
b) Use Root Hints instead

As far as I know (correct me if I'm wrong), setting up a root hints will create an entry "." in my DNS server, so any DNS request will stop here!

If I remove the entry from the DNS server, it will resolve locally, and if not found will delegate to the router for doing the job. In the case where I delete the entry, there is a tab names something like "Root Hints" that will populate with some data.

Now can anyone explain me this better, what will I earn by inserting my ISP DNS server instead of just deleting the root entry and waiting for windows to fill the root hint list?

Hope I explained myself correctly 🙂

Thanks in advance

 

[RebateMonger]

Many small business consultants prefer using Root Hints on their Windows Server 2003 DNS Servers. On your internal Windows DNS Server, you simply leave "DNS Forwarders" blank and, of course, point all your servers and clients to this internal DNS Server.

If the DNS Server is asked to resolve an Internet address, it goes to the known "Root Servers" for name resolution.

The main advantage of doing it this way is that you avoid losing DNS Services if (when) your ISP's DNS Server goes down or changes its IP address without warning. This DOES happen, and using Root Hints avoids the situation completely.

I strongly suggest you completely REMOVE any reference to your router for DNS services for any of your server or client PCs. It just confuses things and makes troubleshooting harder. In your case, assuming your Server 2003 only has a single NIC, make sure that ALL your servers and PCs point to 192.168.0.10 for their DNS services.