The Life of Brian

Active Directory, Group Policies, Server Core and the Life of Brian

Email Notifications

Blog Search Form

Go

Recent Posts

Tags

Disclaimer

  • This blog is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. This blog contains my own views and does not necessarily reflect the view of my employer.
    Locations of visitors to this page
    Add to Technorati Favorites

Sites I Visit

Archives

How to Configure Conditional Forwarders in Windows Server 2008

Conditional Forwarders was a new feature within the Microsoft DNS server for Windows Server 2003.  It was a great addition that allowed you to specify a specific DNS server for clients trying to resolve hosts in a specific domain.  This way you could tell the DNS server to always go to a specific DNS server for specific domain names.

One of the things that you will find different in Windows Server 2008’s DNS is how it displays Conditional Forwarders.  Previously you needed to view the Forwarders tab in the DNS server’s properties. Here is shot of the old way.

image 

The new way is in plain site…but it still seems like people miss it.

image image

Now here is a look at what type of options you have for it:

image

You just place the DNS domain name in the top section and the IP address of the DNS server that is authoritative for that domain below.  Notice you also can store this Conditional Forwarder in Active Directory if you want.  It is NOT the default.  Behind that drop down is the amount of time the DNS server will wait before it times out…which is 5 seconds by default.

Hopefully that helps you figure out how DNS Conditional Forwarders are set up in Windows Server 2008

Posted: Fri, Sep 5 2008 9:32 by BrianM | with 9 comment(s)
Filed under: , ,

Comments

dave said:

Two questions:

- does storing in AD require you to have the w2008 schema updates and/or be at 2008 funcational levels for the domain or forest?

- can you set the conditional forwarders via a command-line or powershell?  I can't find the option in dnscmd.exe

# October 31, 2008 12:28 PM

BrianM said:

Hi Dave,

Windows Server 2008's DNS does not require your domain to have a 2008 DC nor does it require any special domain or forest functional level.  Of course you will get the most bang for your buck if your DC is also a DNS server.

As for your second question take a look here for more info on using DNSCMD to configure a forwarder - technet.microsoft.com/.../cc773370.aspx

Hope that helps,

Brian

# October 31, 2008 2:17 PM

XLio said:

Hi,

Do you know how to get list of contitinoal forwarders from the command line or script?

Thanks

# February 25, 2009 3:04 AM

BrianM said:

XLio,

You could run the following command to view the DNS Forwarders for a server:

dnscmd <servername> /info

The bottom will have a section called Forwarders and the IPs will be listed.

# February 25, 2009 2:47 PM

Configuring Conditional Forwarders in Windows Server 2008 - iTechtalk said:

Pingback from  Configuring Conditional Forwarders in Windows Server 2008 - iTechtalk

# May 12, 2009 3:39 AM

Daniel said:

I installed a server for a small business with server 2008.I'm unable to view de business domain (only) on the web via the server and all user computers on the LAN.

Do i have to configure the conditional forwarders?

Any help would be appreciated....

Thanks!

Dan

# June 1, 2009 5:38 PM

Aakash said:

The old way offered a "All other DNS domains" option.  How can you accomplish setting a forwarding rule for "All other DNS domains" in Server 2008?

Thanks.

# June 25, 2009 2:09 PM

BrianM said:

Hi Askash,

It doesn't really spell it out for you like it did in 2003. That can be found in the old location which is by going to the properties of the server name in the DNS console.  From there you still have the forwarders tab but that is where you will put a condition in for all other domains.  

Brian

# June 30, 2009 12:52 PM

Ace Fekay's Active Directory, Exchange and Windows Infrastructure Services Blog said:

Active Directory's Reliance on DNS, and using an ISP's DNS address --- Ace Fekay, MVP, MCT, MCTIP

# June 22, 2011 11:48 PM