Understanding forwarders

Scenario: Your network is a multiple-domain Active Directory with two forests, each containing multiple child domains. Full trust is configured among the domains. When a trust exists between two domains, the authentication mechanisms for each domain trust the authentications coming from the other domain. Trusts help provide for controlled access to shared resources in a resource domain (the trusting domain) by verifying that incoming authentication requests come from a trusted authority (the trusted domain). In this way, trusts act as bridges that allow only validated authentication requests to travel between domains. What Are Domain and Forest Trusts?  The network includes several branch offices with computers in the branch offices running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 over low-bandwidth links. Each branch office has a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server. Each branch office has at least one domain controller configured as a Domain Name System (DNS) server and hosts an Active Directory-integrated DNS zone. Computers in the branch offices need to use resources throughout the network. You want to configure name resolution for the branch offices. You need to keep the traffic generated by fully qualified domain name (FQDN) resolution attempts to a minimum.

Troubleshooting tips for DNS

Time to Live, Aging, and Scavenging

Feature	Description
Time to Live (TTL)	How long a DNS record will be valid
Aging	When records inserted into the DNS server reach expiration and are removed
Scavenging	Remove old DNS records

Time to Live – TTL depends on the type of DNS record. MX records have a longer TTL than a host A record, for example. The TTL can be modified.
Resource Record Types

Aging – DNS record removal helps to keep DNS accurate and using less disk space.

Scavenging – If DNS records have not been aged, we can force a database cleanup by removing stale records. This can be done by scavenging DNS records. Stale resource records can slow down DNS lookups and cause errors.

Tips on How to Configure DNS Zones

DNS zones allow domains to be logically configured and managed in a structured way. A zone hosts all of a domain or parts of a domain and its subdomains.

Take for example, pcrepairnorthshore.com. Imagine pcrepairnorthshore.com is divided into two zones. The first zone hosts www.pcrepairnorthshore.com and ftp.pcrepairnorthshore.com.  Let’s pretend we have a site called offsite.pcrepairnorthshore.com. We delegate it to a new zone that hosts the offsite.pcrepairnorthshore.com and its subdomains ftp.offsite.pcrepairnorthshore.com and www.offsite.pcrepairnorthshore.com.

Configure the DNS Server Role

Components of a DNS Solution

• DNS Clients. Windows, Unix, Linux, Macs operating systems. Windows systems also maintain a local DNS Resolver cache.
• DNS Servers. Host a distributed heirarchical database of resource records stored by the DNS zone and include:

Installing a DNS Server Role in Windows Server 2008

DNS recognizes computers by alphanumeric names and translates the names to the numerical IP addresses recognized by computers and networking equipment. DNS resolves the computer names to the IP addresses.

DNS is installed as a role in Windows Server 2008. It can be installed with Server Manager and with the DNS Server command from the command prompt. The preferred way is to install the DNS Server Role when Active Directory Domain Services is installed, if you want to integrate the DNS domain namespace with the AD DS domain namespace. In addition, Server Core can act as a DNS Server.

Overview of Server Roles and Features in Windows Server 2008

Server Roles describe the primary functions of a server in Windows Server 2008. On a server, there can be one or more server roles. For example, you can have a DNS server or a Web server, or a server comprising multiple roles.

Installing Windows Server 2008

Installing Windows Server 2008 is different from previous installs of Windows Server platforms. There is no text-based phase. The installation is now done in a GUI and the install process is very similar to Windows Vista.

Windows Server 2008 Editions

Edition	Server Core
Windows Server 2008 Standard (small offices or workgroups)	Yes
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise (greater scalability, failover clustering, AD Fed Services)	Yes
Windows Server 2008 DataCenter (larger orgs and server consolidation projects, greater memory and processing power, unlimited virtual image use rights)	Yes
Windows Web Server 2008 (standalone server for IIS)	No
Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems (highest level of performance and scalabiity, leading rival platform for Risc-based UNIX servers, requires Intel Itanium CPU)	No

The Precision Guide to Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Configuration Review

Kurt Dillard's Study Guide for the 70-640 Exam helped me to pass and obtain the Microsoft MCTS Active Directory 2008, Configuring certification. After studying several Microsoft reference materials and practice tests, and still having trouble in a couple of areas, I picked up Kurt's Study Guide. Kurt explains the relevant facts to focus on for the certification test and presents it in a simple to understand format. At the end of each chapter, Kurt has questions and answers for you to check your comprehension. This is a great value and will surely help you to achieve your next certification! I look forward to referencing Kurt's other study guides.

Quick Check Facts for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuring

DNS (Domain Name System) for Active Directory

• Zone Types
• Primary: hosts a writable master copy of the zone data and is authoritative for the zone. Can be integrated with Active Directory.
• Secondary: is a read-only copy of a zone from the master DNS server and is a secondary source of information for the zone. 

DNS Tools and Settings

Useful Tools for Troubleshooting DNS 

About DNS and Windows Active Directory

What is DNS?

Ever curious about how your internet browser knows how how to get to a particular website? When you browse to a website, for example, http://technet.microsoft.com, the name has to be resolved to its server's numerical IP address, 207.46.172.248, because

About Windows Server Core 2008

How to Install Windows Server 2008

There are two options to install Windows Server 2008:

1. Graphical installation
2. Core installation

Windows Server 2008 functionality is based on server roles and features. Server Manager gives you the ability to add and

Identity and Access Solutions with Windows Server 2008: Useful Links

TechNet: Infrastructure Optimization

Active Directory Lightweight Directory Service

Active Directory Certificate Services