Tutorials for Windows Server 2008

Sunday, July 28, 2013

DNS Records & DNS Zones

DNS Records

Record Type	Use
SOA (Start of Authority)	The first record in any DNS database file is the SOA. It defines the general parameters for the DNS zone, and it is assigned to the DNS server hosting the primary copy of a zone. There is only one SOA record, and it is the first record in the zone database file. The SOA record includes parameters such as the authoritative server and the zone file serial number.
NS (name server)	The NS resource record identifies all name servers that can perform name resolution for the zone. Typically, there is an entry for the primary server and all secondary servers for the zone (all authoritative DNS servers).
A (host address)	The A record maps an IPv4 (32-bit) DNS host name to an IP address. This is the most common resource record type.
AAAA (quad-A)	The AAAA record maps an IPv6 (128-bit) DNS host name to an IP address.
MX (Mail Exchanger)	The MX record identifies servers that can be used to deliver e-mail.
CNAME (canonical name)	The CNAME record provides alternate names (or aliases) to hosts that already have a host record. Using a single A record with multiple CNAME records means that when the IP address changes, only the one A record needs to be modified. Common uses of a CNAME record include: Adding the alias of www for Web servers. Users typically contact the Web server using a name like www.westsim.com instead of using the actual server name. Associating a server with the domain name itself. For example, create a CNAME record with a blank name to allow a specific host to be identified with the domain name (such as westsim.com).
DNAME (Domain Alias)	The DNAME record provides alternate names (or aliases) to domains that already have a host record.
SRV (service locator)	The SRV record is used by Windows Server 2008 to register network services. This allows clients to find services (such as domain controllers) through DNS. Windows 2008 automatically creates these records as needed and during domain controller installation.
PTR (pointer)	In a reverse lookup zone, the PTR record maps an IP address to a host name (i.e. "points" to an A record). Where IPv4 PTR records are created in the in-addr.arpa namespace, reverse lookup zones for IPv6 addresses should be created in the ip6.arpa namespace. (Note: When you manually create an A record, you can choose to create the corresponding PTR record at the same time. Creating the PTR record will fail if the reverse lookup zone does not exist.)
WINS and WINS-R resource records	Add these records to a zone when you want to allow DNS to use WINS resolution. The WINS resource record allows DNS queries that fail to resolve to be forwarded to the WINS servers in the WINS resource record. The WINS-R resource record allows the resolution of a reverse query that is not resolvable through DNS.

Flexible single master operation (FSMO Roles)

Flexible Single Master Operations (FSMO) is a feature of Microsoft's Active Directory(AD) As of 2005, the term FSMO has been deprecated in favor of operations masters.

FSMO is a specialized domain controller (DC) set of tasks, used where standard data transfer and update methods are inadequate. AD normally relies on multiple peer DCs, each with a copy of the AD database, being synchronized by multi-master replication. The tasks which are not suited to multi-master replication, and are viable only with a single-master database, are the FSMOs

16 Server roles in Windows Server 2008

16 Server roles in Windows Server 2008

The following 16 server roles are available in Windows Server 2008.

Active Directory Certificate Services.

Active Directory® Certificate Services (AD CS) provides customizable services for creating and managing public key certificates used in software security systems employing public key technologies.

Active Directory Domain Services.

Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) stores information about users, computers, and other devices on the network. AD DS helps administrators securely manage this information and facilitates resource sharing and collaboration between users.

Active Directory Federation Services.

Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) provides Web single-sign-on (SSO) technologies to authenticate a user to multiple Web applications by using a single user account. AD FS accomplishes this by securely federating, or sharing, user identities and access rights, in the form of digital claims, between partner organizations.