Chapter 9. DNS
This chapter covers
- Administering DNS Servers
- Managing DNS Zones
- Working with DNS records
- Administering the IP configuration on server or workstation
DNS is at the heart of the modern Windows environment. It’s the telephone directory of our network. If it’s missing, or working incorrectly, our systems can’t talk to each other, we can’t logon because we can’t find a domain controller, and our applications may not work properly.
Bad Hair Day
All things considered, if DNS isn’t working properly, we’re definitely in the realm of “admins running around with their hair on fire” as one famous PowerShell speaker so vividly describes it.
The object of this chapter is to show you how to use PowerShell to administer and check your DNS systems to ensure that you don’t find yourself in such an exciting predicament. In administration terms, excitement is bad—very bad. We want calm. Lots and lots of calm.
DNS is one of those systems that we expect to set up and it’ll just keep on working. But mistakes happen. One large IT vendor lost access to its website because of an error that had been made during a change to the DNS configuration.
Assumption
This chapter won’t explicitly explain the workings of DNS. It’s assumed to be understood. It’s further assumed that Windows Server 2008 DNS is being used. The scripts were created and tested using Windows Server 2008. They should work with Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 R2.