Windows Server 2003 DNS added CNAME not working

cname-recordconfigurationdomain-name-systemwindows-server-2003

I'm trying to create a subdomain alias on my DNS server to have portal.domain.com instead obscureServer32324name.domain.com I've attempted both a a CNAME alias to the exact A host entry or creating a second A host entry for the same server IP and neither of them allow me to get a response back from even running ping right on the dns server.

Am I missing something that I need to do after adding these records to dnsmgmt like being required to start the dns service?

Best Answer

Create the CNAME record "portal.domain.com" referring to "obscureServer32324name.domain.com" in the "domain.com" DNS zone. From a command-prompt, do a:

nslookup portal.domain.com

What do you get back?

Bear in mind that if "domain.com" is an Active Directory-integrated zone you could have a slight delay before the DNS server begins to resolve it.

Also on the Active Directory integrated DNS front, bear in mind that your DNS client might not be trying to resolve against a DNS server that's "looking at" the same copy of AD where you added the record (via DNSMGMT) a moment before. Force AD replication or wait 5 minutes for AD replication to complete.

You don't need to stop / restart the Microsoft DNS server for changes like this to "take".

Edit re: your comments:

Bizarre. I'm at a bit of a loss. That's a pretty common configuration, so it ought to work fine. I have several Customers with servers that are configured just that way (w/ CNAME records like "WSUS" or "antivirus", etc).

The computer you're testing from is configured to use the server computer where you added the CNAME as its DNS server-- correct?

Do the following, just be sure that you're querying out of the right zone:

nslookup -querytype=SOA domain.com

You should get back something like this:

domain.com
        primary name server = server.domain.com
        responsible mail addr = hostmaster
        serial  = 425
        refresh = 900 (15 mins)
        retry   = 600 (10 mins)
        expire  = 86400 (1 day)
        default TTL = 3600 (1 hour)
server.domain.com     internet address = 192.168.1.1

Be sure the SOA record that you get back really is referring to the server computer you expect to be seeing the zone hosted from.

We'll figure it out, it just may take a moment.

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