You can configure DNS settings on the DNS tab of the Advanced TCP/IP Settings dialog box. To access this dialog box, follow these steps:
1. Open Network And Sharing Center, and then tap or click Change Adapter Settings.
2. In Network Connections, press and hold or right-click the connection with which you want to work, and then tap or click Properties.
3. Double-tap or double-click Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) or Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), depending on the type of IP address you are configuring.
4. If the computer is using DHCP and you want DHCP to specify the DNS server address, select Obtain DNS Server Address Automatically. Otherwise, select Use The Following DNS Server Addresses, and then enter primary and alternate DNS server addresses in the text boxes provided.
5. Tap or click Advanced to display the Advanced TCP/IP Settings dialog box. In this dialog box, tap or click the DNS tab.
You use the options of the DNS tab as follows:
■ DNS Server Addresses, In Order Of Use Use this area to specify the IP address of each DNS server that is used for domain name resolution. Tap or click Add if you want to add a server IP address to the list. Tap or click Remove to remove a selected server address from the list. Tap or click Edit to edit the selected entry. You can specify multiple servers for DNS resolution. Their priority is determined by the order. If the first server isn’t available to respond to a host name resolution request, the next DNS server in the list is accessed, and so on. To change the position of a server in the list box, select it, and then use the up or down arrow.
■ Append Primary And Connection Specific DNS Suffixes Typically, this option is selected by default. Select this option to resolve unqualified computer names in the primary domain. For example, if the computer name Gandolf is used and the parent domain is microsoft.com, the computer name would resolve to gandolf.microsoft.com. If the fully qualified computer name doesn’t exist in the parent domain, the query fails. The parent domain used is the one set on the Computer Name tab in the System Properties dialog box. (Tap or click System And Security\System in Control Panel, tap or click Change Settings, and then display the Computer Name tab to check the settings.)
■ Append Parent Suffixes Of The Primary DNS Suffix This option is selected by default. Select this option to resolve unqualified computer names by using the parent/child domain hierarchy. If a query fails in the immediate parent domain, the suffix for the parent of the parent domain is used to try to resolve the query. This process continues until the top of the DNS domain hierarchy is reached. For example, if the computer name Gandolf is used in the dev.microsoft.com domain, DNS would attempt to resolve the computer name to gandolf.dev.microsoft.com. If this didn’t work, DNS would attempt to resolve the computer name to gandolf.microsoft.com.
■ Append These DNS Suffixes (In Order) Select this option to set specific DNS suffixes to use rather than resolving through the parent domain. Tap or click Add if you want to add a domain suffix to the list. Tap or click Remove to remove a selected domain suffix from the list. Tap or click Edit to edit the selected entry. You can specify multiple domain suffixes, which are used in order. If the first suffix is not resolved properly, DNS attempts to use the next suffix in the list. If this fails, the next suffix is used, and so on. To change the order of the domain suffixes, select the suffix, and then use the up or down arrow to change its position. This option is especially useful in hybrid namespaces where there are multiple parent domain names.
■ DNS Suffix For This Connection This option sets a specific DNS suffix for the connection that overrides DNS names already configured for use on this connection. You usually set the DNS domain name on the Computer Name tab of the System Properties dialog box.
■ Register This Connection’s Addresses In DNS Select this option if you want all IP addresses for this connection to be registered in DNS under the computer’s fully qualified domain name. This option is selected by default.
NOTE Dynamic DNS updates are used in conjunction with DhCP to enable a client to update its A (host Address) record if its IP address changes and to enable the DhCP server to update the PTR (Pointer) record for the client on the DNS server. You can also configure DHCP servers to update both the A and PTR records on the client’s behalf. Dynamic DNS updates are supported by DNS servers with BIND 8.2.1 or later in addition to all server versions of Windows.
■ Use This Connection’s DNS Suffix In DNS Registration Select this option if you want all IP addresses for this connection to be registered in DNS under the parent domain.
Installing DNS servers
You can configure any Windows Server 2012 R2 system as a DNS server. Four types of DNS servers are available:
■ Active Directory-integrated primary server A DNS server that’s fully integrated with Active Directory. All DNS data is stored directly in Active Directory.
■ Primary server The main DNS server for a domain that is partially integrated with Active Directory. This server stores a master copy of DNS records and the domain’s configuration files. These files are stored as text files with the.dns extension.
■ Secondary server A DNS server that provides backup services for the domain. This server stores a copy of DNS records obtained from a primary server and relies on zone transfers for updates. Secondary servers obtain their DNS information from a primary server when they are started, and they maintain this information until the information is refreshed or expired.
■ Forwarding-only server A server that caches DNS information after lookups and always passes requests to other servers. These servers maintain DNS information until it’s refreshed or expired or until the server is restarted. Unlike secondary servers, forwarding-only servers don’t request full copies of a zone’s database files. This means that when you start a forwarding-only server, its database contains no information.
Before you configure a DNS server, you must install the DNS Server service. Then you can configure the server to provide integrated, primary, secondary, or forwarding-only DNS services.
Installing and configuring the DNS Server service
All domain controllers can act as DNS servers, and you might be prompted to install and configure DNS during installation of the domain controller. If you respond affirmatively to the prompts, DNS is already installed, and the default configuration is set automatically. You don’t need to reinstall.
If you’re working with a member server instead of a domain controller, or if you haven’t installed DNS, follow these steps to install DNS:
1. In Server Manager, tap or click Manage, and then tap or click Add Roles And Features, or select Add Roles And Features in the Quick Start pane to start the Add Roles And Features Wizard. If the wizard displays the Before You Begin page, read the Welcome text, and then tap or click Next.