Dns in a small network with router and AD domain

active-directorydomain-controllerdomain-name-system

I have a small office network with router (running OpenWRT), Windows Domain Controller (used to be 2008R2; I just backed it up and upgraded to 2012), about a dozen AD clients (3 server and windows workstation) and several non-AD clients (network printer, PBX).

The problem is that the clients can't access servers by name (only by IP). I tried all kind of permutations. Right now domain controller runs DNS server for all desktops; but unless I put an entry in hosts file – I can only get by IP. I have router as DHCP server (since not all devices are on AD); and except for Domain Controller all IP addresses, including "static", are assigned by the router.

Most frustrating, some servers sometimes just work! for example, I can often get to the Linux box by name (it is part of Domain using Beyond Trust Integration Services); but I can never get to SQL Server box. Seems like non-domain devices see more names than domain members…

This network should be fairly typical; but I couldn't get any guidance about how to set up DNS/DHCP service to make all nodes happy. The closest is this question, but still it's different!

Thanks

Best Answer

I'm a little confused by some of your terminology:

"and except for Domain Controller all IP addresses, including "static", are assigned by the router." -- uh... no. If the router is assigning addresses then they're not static.

"I have router as DHCP server (since not all devices are on AD)" -- Not sure why you've done this. Devices do not need to be a member of an Active Directory Domain to use DHCP services provided by a Windows server.

As for "how to set up DNS/DHCP service to make all nodes happy",Ii should be very simple.

  • A Windows server, probably the domain controller on a small network, should be providing DHCP.
  • The domain controllers (ideally you'd have more than one?) should have the DNS role installed and configured to support AD, and DNS should forward any requests it cannot resolve to the ISP's DNS servers.
  • The clients should have their DNS settings configured to point to the DNS server, and their gateway should point to the router.
  • Local firewall on each windows system (server or client) should either be disabled or, more ideally, should be correctly configured to see the whole of your internal IP address scheme as a workplace network, with an appropriately configured domain profile.
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