I'm building a local 2008 R2 domain as a test case to be able to write a roadmap for the real new domain that needs to be created soon.
What I would like to know if I'm able to make a record in DNS that will point the domain name:
www.example.com and example.com to one of the servers in my network.
I tried creating an a-record for it but that doesn't work. To be honest I'm not even sure if this is possible?
So can I do this? That way I would be able to fully test all our services (and webb app) offline before I build the real domain and switch the DNS records at the provider.
Some advice if possible and where to start is appreciated.
The solution (Thanks Brent):
- Create new Forward lookup zone pointing to example.com
- Create empty A record pointing to IP of the webserver you are targeting
- If www is needed create A record with Name: www and IP of your webserver
- sub domains repeat the process but then with names for example: sub or
www.sub (and ip your webserver) - Be aware of the DNS Cache while you are in this process. Things can take time or do the following:
- Right click the server and choose clear cache
- in CMD: ipconfig /flushdns (to flush the client cache)
Best Answer
Just create a new forward lookup zone in your DNS box that matches the domain name you are trying to redirect.
We did this for ADFS to resolve fs.mydomain.com to a local IP.
So create a new forward lookup zone and then setup whatever A records you want it to resolve.