Active Directory Interview QSTN Collection

8/2/2019 Active Directory Interview QSTN Collection

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Whats the difference between local, global and universal groups?

Domain local groups assign access permissions to global domain groups for local domain

resources. Global groups provide access to resources in other trusted domains. Universal groups

grant access to resources in all trusted domains.

I am trying to create a new universal user group. Why cant I?

Universal groups are allowed only in native-mode Windows Server 2003 environments. Native

mode requires that all domain controllers be promoted to Windows Server 2003 Active

Directory.

What is LSDOU?

Its group policy inheritance model, where the policies are applied to Local machines, Sites,

Domains and Organizational Units.

Why doesnt LSDOU work under Windows NT?

If the NTConfig.pol file exist, it has the highest priority among the numerous policies.

Where are group policies stored?

%SystemRoot%System32\GroupPolicy What is GPT and GPC?

Group policy template and group policy container.

Where is GPT stored?

%SystemRoot%\SYSVOL\sysvol\domainname\Policies\GUID

You change the group policies, and now the computer and user settings are in conflict.

Which one has the highest priority?

The computer settings take priority.

You want to set up remote installation procedure, but do not want the user to gain access

over it. What do you do?gponame> User Configuration> Windows Settings> Remote Installation Services> Choice

Options is your friend.

Whats contained in administrative template conf.adm?

Microsoft NetMeeting policies

How can you restrict running certain applications on a machine?

Via group policy, security settings for the group, then Software Restriction Policies.

You need to automatically install an app, but MSI file is not available. What do you do?

A .zap text file can be used to add applications using the Software Installer, rather than the

Windows Installer.

Whats the difference between Software Installer and Windows Installer?

The former has fewer privileges and will probably require user intervention. Plus, it uses .zap

files.

What can be restricted on Windows Server 2003 that wasnt there in previous products?

Group Policy in Windows Server 2003 determines a users right to modify network and dial-up

TCP/IP properties. Users may be selectively restricted from modifying their IP address and other

network configuration parameters.


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How frequently is the client policy refreshed?

90 minutes give or take.

Where issecedit?

Its now gpupdate.

You want to create a new group policy but do not wish to inherit.

Make sure you checkBlock inheritance among the options when creating the policy.

What is "tattooing" the Registry?

The user can view and modify user preferences that are not stored in maintained portions of the

Registry. If the group policy is removed or changed, the user preference will persist in the

Registry.

How do you fight tattooing in NT/2000 installations?

You cant.

How do you fight tattooing in 2003 installations?

User Configuration - Administrative Templates - System - Group Policy - enable - Enforce Show

Policies Only. What does IntelliMirror do?

It helps to reconcile desktop settings, applications, and stored files for users, particularly those

who move between workstations or those who must periodically work offline.

Whats the major difference between FAT and NTFS on a local machine?

FAT and FAT32 provide no security over locally logged-on users. Only native NTFS provides

extensive permission control on both remote and local files.

How do FAT and NTFS differ in approach to user shares?

They dont, both have support for sharing.

Explan theList Folder Contents

permission on the folder in NTFS.Same as Read & Execute, but not inherited by files within a folder. However, newly created

subfolders will inherit this permission.

I have a file to which the user has access, but he has no folder permission to read it. Can

he access it?

It is possible for a user to navigate to a file for which he does not have folder permission. This

involves simply knowing the path of the file object. Even if the user cant drill down the

file/folder tree using My Computer, he can still gain access to the file using the Universal

Naming Convention (UNC). The best way to start would be to type the full path of a file into

Run window.

For a user in several groups, are Allow permissions restrictive or permissive?

Permissive, if at least one group has Allow permission for the file/folder, user will have the same

permission.

For a user in several groups, are Deny permissions restrictive or permissive?

Restrictive, if at least one group has Deny permission for the file/folder, user will be denied

access, regardless of other group permissions.

What hidden shares exist on Windows Server 2003 installation?


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Admin$, Drive$, IPC$, NETLOGON, print$ and SYSVOL.

Whats the difference between standalone and fault-tolerant DFS (Distributed File

System) installations?

The standalone server stores the Dfs directory tree structure or topology locally. Thus, if a shared

folder is inaccessible or if the Dfs root server is down, users are left with no link to the shared

resources. A fault-tolerant root node stores the Dfs topology in the Active Directory, which is

replicated to other domain controllers. Thus, redundant root nodes may include multiple

connections to the same data residing in different shared folders.

Were using the DFS fault-tolerant installation, but cannot access it from a Win98 box.

Use the UNC path, not client, only 2000 and 2003 clients can access Server 2003 fault-tolerant

shares.

Where exactly do fault-tolerant DFS shares store information in Active Directory?

In Partition Knowledge Table, which is then replicated to other domain controllers.

Can you use Start->Search with DFS shares?

Yes. What problems can you have with DFS installed?

Two users opening the redundant copies of the file at the same time, with no file-locking

involved in DFS, changing the contents and then saving. Only one file will be propagated

through DFS.

I run Microsoft Cluster Server and cannot install fault-tolerant DFS.

Yeah, you cant. Install a standalone one.

Is Kerberos encryption symmetric or asymmetric?

Symmetric.

How does Windows 2003 Server try to prevent a middle-man attack on encrypted line?Time stamp is attached to the initial client request, encrypted with the shared key.

What hashing algorithms are used in Windows 2003 Server? RSA Data Securitys

Message Digest 5 (MD5), produces a 128-bit hash, and the Secure Hash Algorithm 1 (SHA-1),

produces a 160-bit hash.

What third-party certificate exchange protocols are used by Windows 2003 Server?

Windows Server 2003 uses the industry standard PKCS-10 certificate request and PKCS-7

certificate response to exchange CA certificates with third-party certificate authorities.

Whats the number of permitted unsuccessful logons on Administrator account?

Unlimited. Remember, though, that its the Administrator account, not any account thats part of

the Administrators group.

If hashing is one-way function and Windows Server uses hashing for storing passwords,

how is it possible to attack the password lists, specifically the ones using NTLMv1?

A cracker would launch a dictionary attack by hashing every imaginable term used for password

and then compare the hashes.

Whats the difference between guest accounts in Server 2003 and other editions?

More restrictive in Windows Server 2003.


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How many passwords by default are remembered when you check "Enforce Password

History Remembered"?

Users last 6 passwords.

What is Active Directory ?Active Directory is a Meta Data. Active Directory is a data base which store a data base like your

user information, computer information and also other network object info. It has capabilities to

manage and administor the complite Network which connect with AD.

What is domain ?

Windows NT and Windows 2000, a domain is a set of network resources (applications, printers,

and so forth) for a group of users. The user need only to log in to the domain to gain access to the

resources, which may be located on a number of different servers in the network. The 'domain' is

simply your computer address not to confused with an URL. A domain address might look

something like 211.170.469.

What is domain controller ?

A Domain controller (DC) is a server that responds to security authentication requests (logging

in, checking permissions, etc.) within the Windows Server domain. A domain is a concept

introduced in Windows NT whereby a user may be granted access to a number of computer

resources with the use of a single username and password combination.

What is LDAP ?

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol LDAP is the industry standard directory access protocol,

making Active Directory widely accessible to management and query applications. Active

Directory supports LDAPv3 and LDAPv2.

What is KCC ?

KCC ( knowledge consistency checker ) is used to generate replication topology for inter site

replication and for intrasite replication.with in a site replication traffic is done via remote

procedure calls over ip, while between site it is done through either RPC or SMTP.

Where is the AD database held? What other folders are related to AD?

The AD data base is store in c:\windows\ntds\NTDS.DIT.

What is the SYSVOL folder?

The sysVOL folder stores the server's copy of the domain's public files. The contents such as

group policy, users etc of the sysvol folder are replicated to all domain controllers in the domain.

What are the Windows Server 2003 keyboard shortcuts ?

Winkey opens or closes the Start menu. Winkey + BREAK displays the System Properties dialog


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box. Winkey + TAB moves the focus to the next application in the taskbar. Winkey + SHIFT +

TAB moves the focus to the previous application in the taskbar. Winkey + B moves the focus to

the notification area. Winkey + D shows the desktop. Winkey + E opens Windows Explorer

showing My Computer. Winkey + F opens the Search panel. Winkey + CTRL + F opens the

Search panel with Search for Computers module selected. Winkey + F1 opens Help. Winkey +

M minimizes all. Winkey + SHIFT+ M undoes minimization. Winkey + R opens Run dialog.

Winkey + U opens the Utility Manager. Winkey + L locks the computer.

Where are the Windows NT Primary Domain Controller (PDC) and its Backup Domain

Controller (BDC) in Server 2003 ?

The Active Directory replaces them. Now all domain controllers share a multimaster peer-to-

peer read and write relationship that hosts copies of the Active Directory.

I am trying to create a new universal user group. Why cant I ?

Universal groups are allowed only in native-mode Windows Server 2003 environments. Nativemode requires that all domain controllers be promoted to Windows Server 2003 Active

Directory.

What is LSDOU ?

Its group policy inheritance model, where the policies are applied toLocal

machines, Sites, Domains and Organizational Units.

Why doesnt LSDOU work under Windows NT ?

If the NTConfig.pol file exist, it has the highest priority among the numerous policies.

Whats the number of permitted unsuccessful logons on Administrator account? Unlimited.

Remember, though, that its the Administrator account, not any account thats part of the

Administrators group.

Whats the difference between guest accounts in Server 2003 and other editions?

More restrictive in Windows Server 2003.

How many passwords by default are remembered when you check "Enforce Password

History Remembered"?

Users last 6 passwords.

Can GC Server and Infrastructure place in single server If not explain why ?

No, As Infrastructure master does the same job as the GC. It does not work together.

Which is service in your windows is responsible for replication of Domain controller to

another domain controller.


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KCC generates the replication topology.

Use SMTP / RPC to replicate changes.

What Intrasite and Intersite Replication ?

Intrasite is the replication with in the same site & intersite the replication between sites.

What is lost & found folder in ADS ?

Its the folder where you can find the objects missed due to conflict.

Ex: you created a user in OU which is deleted in other DC & when replication happed ADS

didnt find the OU then it will put that in Lost & Found Folder.

What is Garbage collection ?

Garbage collection is the process of the online defragmentation of active directory. It happens

every 12 Hours.

What System State data contains ?

Contains Startup files,

Registry

Com + Registration Database

Memory Page file

System files

AD information

Cluster Service information

SYSVOL Folder

What is the difference between Windows 2000 Active Directory and Windows 2003 Active

Directory? Is there any difference in 2000 Group Polices and 2003 Group Polices? What is

meant by ADS and ADS services in Windows 2003?

Windows 2003 Active Directory introduced a number of new security features, as well as

convenience features such as the ability to rename a domain controller and even an entire domain

Windows Server 2003 also introduced numerous changes to the default settings that can be

affected by Group Policy - you can see a detailed list of each available setting and which OS is

required to support it by downloading the Group Policy Settings Reference.

ADS stands for Automated Deployment Services, and is used to quickly roll out identically-configured servers in large-scale enterprise environments. You can get more information from

the ADS homepage.

I want to setup a DNS server and Active Directory domain. What do I do first? If I install

the DNS service first and name the zone 'name.org' can I name the AD domain 'name.org'

too?


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Not only can you have a DNS zone and an Active Directory domain with the same name, it's

actually the preferred way to go if at all possible. You can install and configure DNS before

installing Active Directory, or you can allow the Active Directory Installation Wizard (dcpromo)

itself install DNS on your server in the background.

How do I determine if user accounts have local administrative access?

You can use the net localgroup administrators command on each workstation (probably in a

login script so that it records its information to a central file for later review). This command will

enumerate the members of the Administrators group on each machine you run it on. Alternately,

you can use the Restricted Groups feature of Group Policy to restrict the membership of

Administrators to only those users you want to belong.

Why am I having trouble printing with XP domain users?

In most cases, the inability to print or access resources in situations like this one will boil down

to an issue with name resolution, either DNS or WINS/NetBIOS. Be sure that your Windows XP

clients' wireless connections are configured with the correct DNS and WINS name servers, as

well as with the appropriate NetBIOS over TCP/IP settings. Compare your wireless settings to

your wired LAN settings and look for any discrepancies that may indicate where the functional

difference may lie.

What is the ISTG? Who has that role by default?

Windows 2000 Domain controllers each create Active Directory Replication connection objects

representing inbound replication from intra-site replication partners. For inter-site replication, one

domain controller per site has the responsibility of evaluating the inter-site replication topology and

creating Active Directory Replication Connection objects for appropriate bridgehead servers within its

site. The domain controller in each site that owns this role is referred to as the Inter-Site Topology

Generator (ISTG).

What is difference between Server 2003 vs 2008?

1. Virtualization. (Windows Server 2008 introduces Hyper-V (V for Virtualization) but only on

64bit versions. More and more companies are seeing this as a way of reducing hardware costs by

running several 'virtual' servers on one physical machine.)

2. Server Core (provides the minimum installation required to carry out a specific server role,

such as for a DHCP, DNS or print server)

3. Better security.4. Role-based installation.

5. Read Only Domain Controllers (RODC).

6. Enhanced terminal services.

7. Network Access Protection - Microsoft's system for ensuring that clients connecting to Server

2008 are patched, running a firewall and in compliance with corporate security policies.

8. PowerShell - Microsoft's command line shell and scripting language has proved popular with


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some server administrators.

9. IIS 7 .

10. Bitlocker - System drive encryption can be a sensible security measure for servers located in

remote branch offices. >br> The main difference between 2003 and 2008 is Virtualization,

management. 2008 has more in-build components and updated third party drivers.

11. Windows Aero.

What are the requirements for installing AD on a new server?

1 The Domain structure.

2 The Domain Name .

3 storage location of the database and log file.

4 Location of the shared system volume folder.

5 DNS config Methode.

6 DNS configuration.

What is LDP?

LDP : Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) is often used to establish MPLS LSPs when traffic

engineering is not required. It establishes LSPs that follow the existing IP routing, and is

particularly well suited for establishing a full mesh of LSPs between all of the routers on the

network.

What are the Groups types available in active directory ?

Security groups: Use Security groups for granting permissions to gain access to resources.

Sending an e-mail message to a group sends the message to all members of the group. Therefore

security groups share the capabilities of distribution groups.

Distribution groups: Distribution groups are used for sending e-main messages to groups of

users. You cannot grant permissions to security groups. Even though security groups have all the

capabilities of distribution groups, distribution groups still requires, because some applications

can only read distribution groups.

Explain about the groups scope in AD ?

Domain Local Group: Use this scope to grant permissions to domain resources that are located in

the same domain in which you created the domain local group. Domain local groups can exist in

all mixed, native and interim functional level of domains and forests. Domain local groupmemberships are not limited as you can add members as user accounts, universal and global

groups from any domain. Just to remember, nesting cannot be done in domain local group. A

domain local group will not be a member of another Domain Local or any other groups in the

same domain.


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Global Group: Users with similar function can be grouped under global scope and can be given

permission to access a resource (like a printer or shared folder and files) available in local or

another domain in same forest. To say in simple words, Global groups can be use to grant

permissions to gain access to resources which are located in any domain but in a single forest as

their memberships are limited. User accounts and global groups can be added only from the

domain in which global group is created. Nesting is possible in Global groups within other

groups as you can add a global group into another global group from any domain. Finally to

provide permission to domain specific resources (like printers and published folder), they can be

members of a Domain Local group. Global groups exist in all mixed, native and interim

functional level of domains and forests.

Universal Group Scope: These groups are precisely used for email distribution and can be

granted access to resources in all trusted domain as these groups can only be used as a security

principal (security group type) in a windows 2000 native or windows server 2003 domain

functional level domain. Universal group memberships are not limited like global groups. Alldomain user accounts and groups can be a member of universal group. Universal groups can be

nested under a global or Domain Local group in any domain.

What is REPLMON ?

The Microsoft definition of the Replmon tool is as follows; This GUI tool enables administrators

to view the low-level status of Active Directory replication, force synchronization between

domain controllers, view the topology in a graphical format, and monitor the status and

performance of domain controller replication.

What is ADSIEDIT ?ADSIEDIT :ADSIEdit is a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in that acts as a low-

level editor for Active Directory. It is a Graphical User Interface (GUI) tool. Network

administrators can use it for common administrative tasks such as adding, deleting, and moving

objects with a directory service. The attributes for each object can be edited or deleted by using

this tool. ADSIEdit uses the ADSI application programming interfaces (APIs) to access Active

Directory. The following are the required files for using this tool: ADSIEDIT.DLL ADSIEDIT.

What is NETDOM ?

NETDOM is a command-line tool that allows management of Windows domains and trust

relationships. It is used for batch management of trusts, joining computers to domains, verifyingtrusts, and secure channels.

What is REPADMIN?

This command-line tool assists administrators in diagnosing replication problems between

Windows domain controllers.Administrators can use Repadmin to view the replication topology

(sometimes referred to as RepsFrom and RepsTo) as seen from the perspective of each domain


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controller. In addition, Repadmin can be used to manually create the replication topology

(although in normal practice this should not be necessary), to force replication events between

domain controllers, and to view both the replication metadata and up-to-dateness vectors.

How to take backup of AD ?

For taking backup of active directory you have to do this : first go START -> PROGRAM -

>ACCESORIES -> SYSTEM TOOLS -> BACKUP OR Open run window and ntbackup and

take systemstate backup when the backup screen is flash then take the backup of SYSTEM

STATE it will take the backup of all the necessary information about the syatem including AD

backup , DNS ETC.

What are the DS* commands ?

The following DS commands: the DS family built in utility .

DSmod - modify Active Directory attributes.

DSrm - to delete Active Directory objects.

DSmove - to relocate objects

DSadd - create new accounts

DSquery - to find objects that match your query attributes.

DSget - list the properties of an object

What are the requirements for installing AD on a new server?

An NTFS partition with enough free space.

An Administrator's username and password.

The correct operating system version.

A NIC Properly configured TCP/IP (IP address, subnet mask and - optional - default gateway).A network connection (to a hub or to another computer via a crossover cable) .

An operational DNS server (which can be installed on the DC itself) .

A Domain name that you want to use .

The Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 CD media (or at least the i386 folder) .

Explain about Trust in AD ?

To allow users in one domain to access resources in another, Active Directory uses trusts. Trusts

inside a forest are automatically created when domains are created.

The forest sets the default boundaries of trust, not the domain, and implicit, transitive trust isautomatic for all domains within a forest. As well as two-way transitive trust, AD trusts can be a

shortcut (joins two domains in different trees, transitive, one- or two-way), forest (transitive,

one- or two-way), realm (transitive or nontransitive, one- or two-way), or external (nontransitive,

one- or two-way) in order to connect to other forests or non-AD domains.


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Trusts in Windows 2000 (native mode)

One-way trustOne domain allows access to users on another domain, but the other domain

does not allow access to users on the first domain.

Two-way trustTwo domains allow access to users on both domains.

Trusting domainThe domain that allows access to users from a trusted domain.

Trusted domainThe domain that is trusted; whose users have access to the trusting domain.

Transitive trustA trust that can extend beyond two domains to other trusted domains in the

forest.

Intransitive trustA one way trust that does not extend beyond two domains.

Explicit trustA trust that an admin creates. It is not transitive and is one way only.

Cross-link trustAn explicit trust between domains in different trees or in the same tree when

a descendant/ancestor (child/parent) relationship does not exist between the two domains.

Windows 2000 Serversupports the following types of trusts:

Two-way transitive trusts.

One-way intransitive trusts.Additional trusts can be created by administrators. These trusts can be:

Shortcut

Windows Server 2003 offers a new trust typethe forest root trust. This type of trust can be

used to connect Windows Server 2003 forests if they are operating at the 2003 forest functional

level. Authentication across this type of trust is Kerberos based (as opposed to NTLM). Forest

trusts are also transitive for all the domains in the forests that are trusted. Forest trusts, however,

are not transitive.

Difference between LDIFDE and CSVDE?

CSVDE is a command that can be used to import and export objects to and from the AD into aCSV-formatted file. A CSV (Comma Separated Value) file is a file easily readable in Excel. I

will not go to length into this powerful command, but I will show you some basic samples of

how to import a large number of users into your AD. Of course, as with the DSADD command,

CSVDE can do more than just import users. Consult your help file for more info.

LDIFDE is a command that can be used to import and export objects to and from the AD into a

LDIF-formatted file. A LDIF (LDAP Data Interchange Format) file is a file easily readable in

any text editor, however it is not readable in programs like Excel. The major difference between

CSVDE and LDIFDE (besides the file format) is the fact that LDIFDE can be used to edit and

delete existing AD objects (not just users), while CSVDE can only import and export objects.

What is tombstone lifetime attribute ?

The number of days before a deleted object is removed from the directory services. This assists

in removing objects from replicated servers and preventing restores from reintroducing a deleted

object. This value is in the Directory Service object in the configuration NIC.


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What are application partitions? When do I use them ?

AN application diretcory partition is a directory partition that is replicated only to specific

domain controller.Only domain controller running windows Server 2003 can host a replica of

application directory partition.

Using an application directory partition provides redundany,availability or fault tolerance by

replicating data to specific domain controller pr any set of domain controllers anywhere in the

forest.

How do you create a new application partition ?

Use the DnsCmd command to create an application directory partition.

To do this, use the following syntax:

DnsCmd ServerName /CreateDirectoryPartition FQDN of partition

How do you view all the GCs in the forest?

C:\>repadmin /showreps domain_controller where domain_controller is the DC you want to

query to determine whether it?s a GC.

The output will include the text DSA Options: IS_GC if the DC is a GC.

Can you connect Active Directory to other 3rd-party Directory Services? Name a few

options.

Yes, you can use dirXML or LDAP to connect to other directories.

In Novell you can use E-directory.

What is IPSec Policy

IPSec provides secure gateway-to-gateway connections across outsourced private wide areanetwork (WAN) or Internet-based connections using L2TP/IPSec tunnels or pure IPSec tunnel

mode. IPSec Policy can be deployed via Group policy to the Windows Domain controllers 7

Servers.

What are the different types of Terminal Services ?

User Mode & Application Mode.

What is RsOP

RsOP is the resultant set of policy applied on the object (Group Policy).

What is the System Startup process ?

Windows 2K boot process on a Intel architecture.

1. Power-On Self Tests (POST) are run.

2. The boot device is found, the Master Boot Record (MBR) is loaded into memory, and its

program is run.


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password, or use the null argument to specify the local machine.

For example, to reset the password on server testing, enter the following argument at the Reset

DSRM Administrator Password prompt: Reset DSRM Administrator Password: reset password

on server testing

To reset the password on the local machine, specify null as the server name:

Reset DSRM Administrator Password: reset password on server null

4. You?ll be prompted twice to enter the new password. You?ll see the following messages:

5. Please type password for DS Restore Mode Administrator Account:

6. Please confirm new password:

Password has been set successfully.

7. Exit the password-reset utility by typing ?quit? at the following prompts:

8. Reset DSRM Administrator Password: quit

ntdsutil: quit

I am upgrading from NT to 2003. The only things that are NT are the PDC and BDCs;

everything else is 2000 or 2003 member servers. My question is, when I upgrade my NT

domain controllers to 2003, will I need to do anything else to my Windows 2000/2003

member servers that were in the NT domain?

Your existing member servers, regardless of operating system, will simply become member

servers in your upgraded AD domain. If you will be using Organizational Units and Group

Policy (and I hope you are), you'll probably want to move them to a specific OU for

administration and policy application, since they'll be in the default "Computers" container

immediately following the upgrade.

How do I use Registry keys to remove a user from a group?

In Windows Server 2003, you can use the dsmod command-line utility with the -delmbr switch

to remove a group member from the command line. You should also look into the freeware

utilities available from www.joeware.net . ADFind and ADMod are indispensable tools in my

arsenal when it comes to searching and modifying Active Directory.

Why are my NT4 clients failing to connect to the Windows 2000 domain?

Since NT4 relies on NetBIOS for name resolution, verify that your WINS server (you do have a

WINS server running, yes?) contains the records that you expect for the 2000 domain controller,and that your clients have the correct address configured for the WINS server.

How to add your first Windows 2003 DC to an existing Windows 2000 domain ?

The first step is to install Windows 2003 on your new DC. This is a straighforward process, so

we aren?t going to discuss that here.


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Because significant changes have been made to the Active Directory schema in Windows 2003,

we need to make our Windows 2000 Active Directory compatible with the new version. If you

already have Windows 2003 DCs running with Windows 2000 DCs, then you can skip down to

the part about DNS.

Before you attempt this step, you should make sure that you have service pack 4 installed on

your Windows 2000 DC. Next, make sure that you are logged in as a user that is a member of the

Schema Admin and Enterprise Admin groups.

Next, insert the Windows 2003 Server installation CD into the Windows 2000 Server.

Bring up a command line and change directories to the I386 directory on the installation CD. At

the command prompt, type: Code :

adprep /forestprep After running this command, make sure that the updates have been

replicated to all existing Windows 2000 DCs in the forest. Next, we need to run the following

command: Code : adprep /domainprep

The above command must be run on the Infrastructure Master of the domain by someone who is

a member of the Domain Admins group.

Once this is complete, we move back to the Windows 2003 Server. Click ?start? then ?run? -

type in dcpromo and click OK. During the ensuing wizard, make sure that you select that you are

adding this DC to an existing domain.

After this process is complete, the server will reboot. When it comes back online, check and

make sure that the AD database has been replicated to your new server.

Next, you will want to check and make sure that DNS was installed on your new server.

If not, go to the control panel,

click on ?Add or Remove Programs?, and click the ?Add/Remove Windows Components?

button.

In the Windows Components screen, click on ?Networking Services? and click the details

button.

In the new window check ?Domain Name System (DNS)? and then click the OK button. Click

?Next? in the Windows Components screen.

This will install DNS and the server will reboot. After reboot, pull up the DNS Management

window and make sure that your DNS settings have replicated from the Windows 2000 Server.You will need to re-enter any forwarders or other properties you had set up, but the DNS records

should replicate on their own.

The next 2 items, global catalog and FSMO roles, are important if you plan on decomissioning

your Windows 2000 server(s). If this is the case, you need to tansfer the global catalog from the

old server to the new one.


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First, let?s create a global catalog on our new server. Here are the steps:

1. On the domain controller where you want the new global catalog, start the Active Directory

Sites and Services snap-in.

To start the snap-in, click ?Start?, point to ?Programs?, point to ?Administrative Tools?, and then

click ?Active Directory Sites and Services?.

2. In the console tree, double-click ?Sites?, and then double-click ?sitename?.

3. Double-click ?Servers?, click your domain controller, right-click ?NTDS Settings?, and then

click ?Properties?.

4. On the General tab, click to select the Global catalog check box to assign the role of global

catalog to this server.

5. Restart the domain controller.

Make sure you allow sufficient time for the account and the schema information to replicate to

the new global catalog server before you remove the global catalog from the original DC or take

the DC offline.

After this is complete, you will want to transfer or seize the FSMO roles for your new server.

For instructions, read Using Ntdsutil.exe to transfer or seize FSMO roles to a domain controller.

After this step is complete, we can now run DCPROMO on the Windows 2000 Servers in order

to demote them.

Once this is complete, copy over any files you need to your new server and you should have

successfully replaced your Windows 2000 server(s) with a new Windows 2003 server.

How do you view replication properties for AD partitions and DCs?

By using replication monitor

go to start > run > type repadmin

go to start > run > type replmon

Why can't you restore a DC that was backed up 4 months ago?

Because of the tombstone life which is set to only 60 days.

Different modes of AD restore ?A nonauthoritative restore is the default method for restoring Active Directory. To perform a

nonauthoritative restore, you must be able to start the domain controller in Directory Services

Restore Mode. After you restore the domain controller from backup, replication partners use the

standard replication protocols to update Active Directory and associated information on the

restored domain controller.


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An authoritative restore brings a domain or a container back to the state it was in at the time of

backup and overwrites all changes made since the backup. If you do not want to replicate the

changes that have been made subsequent to the last backup operation, you must perform an

authoritative restore. In this one needs to stop the inbound replication first before performing the

An authoritative restore.

How do you configure a stand-by operation master for any of the roles?

# Open Active Directory Sites and Services.

# Expand the site name in which the standby operations master is located to display the Servers

folder.

# Expand the Servers folder to see a list of the servers in that site.

# Expand the name of the server that you want to be the standby operations master to display its

NTDS Settings.

# Right-click NTDS Settings, click New, and then click Connection.

# In the Find Domain Controllers dialog box, select the name of the current role holder, and thenclick OK.

# In the New Object-Connection dialog box, enter an appropriate name for the Connection object

or accept the default name, and click OK.

What's the difference between transferring a FSMO role and seizing ?

Seizing an FSMO can be a destructive process and should only be attempted if the existing

server with the FSMO is no longer available.

If you perform a seizure of the FSMO roles from a DC, you need to ensure two things:

the current holder is actually dead and offline, and that the old DC will NEVER return to thenetwork. If you do an FSMO role Seize and then bring the previous holder back online, you'll

have a problem.

An FSMO role TRANSFER is the graceful movement of the roles from a live, working DC to

another live DC During the process, the current DC holding the role(s) is updated, so it becomes

aware it is no longer the role holder

I want to look at the RID allocation table for a DC. What do I do?

dcdiag /test:ridmanager /s:servername /v (servername is the name of our DC)

What is BridgeHead Server in AD ?

A bridgehead server is a domain controller in each site, which is used as a contact point to

receive and replicate data between sites. For intersite replication, KCC designates one of the

domain controllers as a bridgehead server. In case the server is down, KCC designates another

one from the domain controller. When a bridgehead server receives replication updates from

another site, it replicates the data to the other domain controllers within its site.


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What is the default size of ntds.dit ?

10 MB in Server 2000 and 12 MB in Server 2003 .

Where is the AD database held and What are other folders related to AD ?

AD Database is saved in %systemroot%/ntds. You can see other files also in this folder. These

are the main files controlling the AD structure.

ntds.dit

edb.log

res1.log

res2.log

edb.chk

When a change is made to the Win2K database, triggering a write operation, Win2K records the

transaction in the log file (edb.log). Once written to the log file, the change is then written to the

AD database. System performance determines how fast the system writes the data to the AD

database from the log file. Any time the system is shut down, all transactions are saved to the

database.

During the installation of AD, Windows creates two files: res1.log and res2.log. The initial size

of each is 10MB. These files are used to ensure that changes can be written to disk should the

system run out of free disk space. The checkpoint file (edb.chk) records transactions committed

to the AD database (ntds.dit). During shutdown, a "shutdown" statement is written to the edb.chk

file.

Then, during a reboot, AD determines that all transactions in the edb.log file have been

committed to the AD database. If, for some reason, the edb.chk file doesn't exist on reboot or the

shutdown statement isn't present, AD will use the edb.log file to update the AD database. The

last file in our list of files to know is the AD database itself, ntds.dit. By default, the file is

located in\NTDS, along with the other files we've discussed

What FSMO placement considerations do you know of ?

Windows 2000/2003 Active Directory domains utilize a Single Operation Master method called

FSMO (Flexible Single Master Operation), as described in Understanding FSMO Roles in

Active Directory.

In most cases an administrator can keep the FSMO role holders (all 5 of them) in the same spot

(or actually, on the same DC) as has been configured by the Active Directory installation

process.


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However, there are scenarios where an administrator would want to move one or more of the

FSMO roles from the default holder DC to a different DC.

Windows Server 2003 Active Directory is a bit different than the Windows 2000 version when

dealing with FSMO placement.

In this article I will only deal with Windows Server 2003 Active Directory, but you should bear

in mind that most considerations are also true when planning Windows 2000 AD FSMO roles

What do you do to install a new Windows 2003 R2 DC in a Windows 2003 AD?

If you're installing Windows 2003 R2 on an existing Windows 2003 server with SP1 installed,

you require only the second R2 CD-ROM.

Insert the second CD and the r2auto.exe will display the Windows 2003 R2 Continue Setup

screen. If you're installing R2 on a domain controller (DC), you must first upgrade the schema to

the R2 version (this is a minor change and mostly related to the new Dfs replication engine).

To update the schema, run the Adprep utility, which you'll find in the Components\r2\adprep

folder on the second CD-ROM.

Before running this command, ensure all DCs are running Windows 2003 or Windows 2000 with

SP2 (or later).

Here's a sample execution of the Adprep /forestprep

command:

D:\CMPNENTS\R2\ADPREP>adprep /forestprep

ADPREP WARNING:

Before running adprep, all Windows 2000 domain controllers in the forest should be upgraded to

Windows 2000 Service Pack 1 (SP1) with QFE 265089, or to Windows 2000 SP2 (or later).

QFE 265089 (included in Windows 2000 SP2 and later) is required to prevent potential domain

controller corruption.

[User Action] If ALL your existing Windows 2000 domain controllers meet this requirement,

type C and then press ENTER to continue. Otherwise, type any other key and press ENT ER to

quit.

C Opened Connection to SAV

DALDC01 SSPI Bind succeeded Current Schema Version is 30 Upgrading schema to version 31

Connecting to "SAVDALDC01" Logging in as current user using SSPI Importing directory from

file "C:\WINDOWS\system32\sch31.ldf" Loading entries... 139 entries modified successfully.


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Sites can be used to Assign Group Policy Objects, facilitate the discovery of resources, manage

active directory replication, and manage network link traffic.

Sites can be linked to other Sites. Site-linked objects may be assigned a cost value that represents

the speed, reliability, availability, or other real property of a physical resource. Site Links may

also be assigned a schedule.

Trying to look at the Schema, how can I do that ?

register schmmgmt.dll using this command

c:\windows\system32>regsvr32 schmmgmt.dll

Open mmc --> add snapin --> add Active directory schema

name it as schema.msc

Open administrative tool --> schema.msc

What is the port no of Kerbrose ?

88

What is the port no of Global catalog ?

3268

What is the port no of LDAP ?

389

Explain Active Directory Schema ?

Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 Active Directory uses a database set of rules called

"Schema". The Schema is defines as the formal definition of all object classes, and the attributes

that make up those object classes, that can be stored in the directory. As mentioned earlier, the

Active Directory database includes a default Schema, which defines many object classes, such as

users, groups, computers, domains, organizational units, and so on.

These objects are also known as "Classes". The Active Directory Schema can be dynamically

extensible, meaning that you can modify the schema by defining new object types and their

attributes and by defining new attributes for existing objects. You can do this either with the

Schema Manager snap-in tool included with Windows 2000/2003 Server, or programmatically.

How can you forcibly remove AD from a server, and what do you do later? ? Can I get userpasswords from the AD database?

Dcpromo /forceremoval , an administrator can forcibly remove Active Directory and roll back

the system without having to contact or replicate any locally held changes to another DC in the

forest. Reboot the server then After you use the dcpromo /forceremoval command, all the

remaining metadata for the demoted DC is not deleted on the surviving domain controllers, and

therefore you must manually remove it by using the NTDSUTIL command.


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In the event that the NTDS Settings object is not removed correctly you can use the Ntdsutil.exe

utility to manually remove the NTDS Settings object. You will need the following tool:

Ntdsutil.exe, Active Directory Sites and Services, Active Directory Users and Computers

What are the FSMO roles? Who has them by default? What happens when each one fails?

Flexible Single Master Operation (FSMO) role. Currently there are five FSMO roles:

Schema master

Domain naming master

RID master

PDC emulator

Infrastructure master

What is domain tree ?

Domain Trees: A domain tree comprises several domains that share a common schema and

configuration, forming a contiguous namespace. Domains in a tree are also linked together by

trust relationships. Active Directory is a set of one or more trees.

Trees can be viewed two ways. One view is the trust relationships between domains. The other

view is the namespace of the domain tree.

What is forests ?

A collection of one or more domain trees with a common schema and implicit trust relationships

between them. This arrangement would be used if you have multiple root DNS addresses.

How to Select the Appropriate Restore Method ?

You select the appropriate restore method by considering:Circumstances and characteristics of the failure. The two major categories of failure, From an

Active Directory perspective, are Active Directory data corruption and hardware failure.

Active Directory data corruption occurs when the directory contains corrupt data that has been

replicated to all domain controllers or when a large portion of the Active Directory hierarchy has

been changed accidentally (such as deletion of an OU) and this change has replicated to other

domain controllers.

Where are the Windows NT Primary Domain Controller (PDC) and its Backup Domain

Controller (BDC) in Server 2003?The Active Directory replaces them. Now all domain controllers share a multimaster peer-to-

peer read and write relationship that hosts copies of the Active Directory.


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What is Global Catalog?

The Global Catalog authenticates network user logons and fields inquiries about objects across a

forest or tree. Every domain has at least one GC that is hosted on a domain controller. In

Windows 2000, there was typically one GC on every site in order to prevent user logon failures

across the network.

How long does it take for security changes to be replicated among the domain controllers?

Security-related modifications are replicated within a site immediately. These changes include

account and individual user lockout policies, changes to password policies, changes to computer

account passwords, and modifications to the Local Security Authority (LSA).

When should you create a forest?

Organizations that operate on radically different bases may require separate trees with distinct

namespaces. Unique trade or brand names often give rise to separate DNS identities.

Organizations merge or are acquired and naming continuity is desired. Organizations form

partnerships and joint ventures. While access to common resources is desired, a separately

defined tree can enforce more direct administrative and security restrictions.

Describe the process of working with an external domain name ?

If it is not possible for you to configure your internal domain as a subdomain of your external

domain, use a stand-alone internal domain. This way, your internal and external domain names

are unrelated. For example, an organization that uses the domain name contoso.com for their

external namespace uses the name corp.internal for their internal namespace.

The advantage to this approach is that it provides you with a unique internal domain name. The

disadvantage is that this configuration requires you to manage two separate namespaces. Also,

using a stand-alone internal domain that is unrelated to your external domain might create

confusion for users because the namespaces do not reflect a relationship between resources

within and outside of your network.

In addition, you might have to register two DNS names with an Internet name authority if youwant to make the internal domain publicly accessible.


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DNS

What is the main purpose of a DNS server?

DNS servers are used to resolve FQDN hostnames into IP addresses and vice versa.

What is the port no of dns ?

53.

What is a Forward Lookup?

Resolving Host Names to IP Addresses.

What is Reverse Lookup?

It?s a file contains host names to IP mapping information.

What is a Resource Record?

It is a record provides the information about the resources available in the N/W infrastructure.

What are the diff. DNS Roles?

Standard Primary, Standard Secondary, & AD Integrated.

What is a Zone?

Zone is a sub tree of DNS database.

Secure services in your network require reverse name resolution to make it more difficult

to launch successful attacks against the services. To set this up, you configure a reverse

lookup zone and proceed to add records. Which record types do you need to create?

PTR Records

SOA records must be included in every zone. What are they used for ?

SOA records contain a TTL value, used by default in all resource records in the zone. SOA

records contain the e-mail address of the person who is responsible for maintaining the zone.

SOA records contain the current serial number of the zone, which is used in zone transfers.

By default, if the name is not found in the cache or local hosts file, what is the first step the

client takes to resolve the FQDN name into an IP address ?

Performs a recursive search through the primary DNS server based on the network interface

configuration .


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What is primary, Secondary, stub & AD Integrated Zone?

Primary Zone: - zone which is saved as normal text file with filename (.dns) in DBS folder.

Maintains a read, write copy of zone database.

Secondary Zone: - maintains a read only copy of zone database on another DNS server. Provides

fault tolerance and load balancing by acting as backup server to primary server.

Stub zone: - contains a copy of name server and SOA records used for reducing the DNS search

orders. Provides fault tolerance and load balancing.

How do you manually create SRV records in DNS?

This is on windows server go to run ---> dnsmgmt.msc rightclick on the zone you want to add

srv record to and choose "other new record" and choose service location(srv).

What is the main purpose of SRV records ?

SRV records are used in locating hosts that provide certain network services.

Before installing your first domain controller in the network, you installed a DNS server

and created a zone, naming it as you would name your AD domain. However, after the

installation of the domain controller, you are unable to locate infrastructure SRV records

anywhere in the zone. What is the most likely cause of this failure ?

The zone you created was not configured to allow dynamic updates. The local interface on the

DNS server was not configured to allow dynamic updates.

Which of the following conditions must be satisfied to configure dynamic DNS updates for

legacy clients ?

The zone to be used for dynamic updates must be configured to allow dynamic updates. The

DHCP server must support, and be configured to allow, dynamic updates for legacy clients.

At some point during the name resolution process, the requesting party received

authoritative reply. Which further actions are likely to be taken after this reply ?

After receiving the authoritative reply, the resolution process is effectively over.

Name 3 benefits of using AD-integrated zones.

Active Directory integrated DNS enables Active Directory storage and replication of DNS zone

databases. Windows 2000 DNS server, the DNS server that is included with Windows 2000

Server, accommodates storing zone data in Active Directory.

When you configure a computer as a DNS server, zones are usually stored as text files on name

servers that is, all of the zones required by DNS are stored in a text file on the server computer.


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These text files must be synchronized among DNS name servers by using a system that requires

a separate replication topology and schedule called a zone transfer However, if you use Active

Directory integrated DNS when you configure a domain controller as a DNS name server, zone

data is stored as an Active Directory object and is replicated as part of domain replication.

Your company uses ten domain controllers, three of which are also used as DNS servers.

You have one companywide AD-integrated zone, which contains several thousand resource

records. This zone also allows dynamic updates, and it is critical to keep this zone up-to-

date. Replication between domain controllers takes up a significant amount of bandwidth.

You are looking to cut bandwidth usage for the purpose of replication. What should you

do?

Change the replication scope to all DNS servers in the domain.

You are administering a network connected to the Internet. Your users complain that

everything is slow. Preliminary research of the problem indicates that it takes a

considerable amount of time to resolve names of resources on the Internet. What is the

most likely reason for this?

DNS servers are not caching replies.. Local client computers are not caching replies The

cache.dns file may have been corrupted on the server.

What are the benefits of using Windows 2003 DNS when using AD-integrated zones?

If your DNS topology includes Active Directory, use Active Directory integrated zones. Active

Directory integrated zones enable you to store zone data in the Active Directory database.Zone

information about any primary DNS server within an Active Directory integrated zone is always

replicated.

Because DNS replication is single-master, a primary DNS server in a standard primary DNS

zone can be a single point of failure. In an Active Directory integrated zone, a primary DNS

server cannot be a single point of failure because Active Directory uses multimaster replication.

Updates that are made to any domain controller are replicated to all domain controllers and the

zone information about any primary DNS server within an Active Directory integrated zone is

always replicated.

Active Directory integrated zones: Enable you to secure zones by using secure dynamic update.

Provide increased fault tolerance. Every Active Directory integrated zone can be replicated to all

domain controllers within the Active Directory domain or forest. All DNS servers running on

these domain controllers can act as primary servers for the zone and accept dynamic updates.


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Enable replication that propagates changed data only, compresses replicated data, and reduces

network traffic. If you have an Active Directory infrastructure, you can only use Active

Directory integrated zones on Active Directory domain controllers.If you are using Active

Directory integrated zones, you must decide whether or not to store Active Directory integrated

zones in the application directory partition.

You can combine Active Directory integrated zones and file-based zones in the same design. For

example, if the DNS server that is authoritative for the private root zone is running on an

operating system other than Windows Server 2003 or Windows 2000, it cannot act as an Active

Directory domain controller. Therefore, you must use file-based zones on that server. However,

you can delegate this zone to any domain controller running either Windows Server 2003 or

Windows 2000.

You installed a new AD domain and the new (and first) DC has not registered its SRV

records in DNS. Name a few possible causes.

The machine cannot be configured with DNS client her own .

The DNS service cannot be run.

What are the benefits and scenarios of using Stub zones?

Understanding stub zones

A stub zone is a copy of a zone that contains only those resource records necessary to identify

the authoritative Domain Name System (DNS) servers for that zone.

A stub zone is used to resolve names between separate DNS namespaces. This type of resolutionmay be necessary when a corporate merger requires that the DNS servers for two separate DNS

namespaces resolve names for clients in both namespaces.

A stub zone consists of:

? The start of authority (SOA) resource record, name server (NS) resource records, and the glue

A resource records for the delegated zone. The IP address of one or more master servers that can

be used to update the stub zone. The master servers for a stub zone are one or more DNS servers

authoritative for the child zone, usually the DNS server hosting the primary zone for the

delegated domain name.

Use stub zones to:

? Keep delegated zone information current.

By updating a stub zone for one of its child zones regularly, the DNS server hosting both the

parent zone and the stub zone will maintain a current list of authoritative DNS servers for the

child zone.


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? Improve name resolution.

Stub zones enable a DNS server to perform recursion using the stub zone's list of name servers

without needing to query the Internet or internal root server for the DNS namespace.

? Simplify DNS administration.

By using stub zones throughout your DNS infrastructure, you can distribute a list of the

authoritative DNS servers for a zone without using secondary zones. However, stub zones do not

serve the same purpose as secondary zones and are not an alternative when considering

redundancy and load sharing.

There are two lists of DNS servers involved in the loading and maintenance of a stub zone:

? The list of master servers from which the DNS server loads and updates a stub zone. A master

server may be a primary or secondary DNS server for the zone. In both cases, it will have a

complete list of the DNS servers for the zone.

? The list of the authoritative DNS servers for a zone. This list is contained in the stub zone using

name server (NS) resource records. When a DNS server loads a stub zone, such as

widgets.example.com, it queries the master servers, which can be in different locations, for the

necessary resource records of the authoritative servers for the zone widgets.example.com. The

list of master servers may contain a single server or multiple servers and can be changed

anytime.

What are the benefits and scenarios of using Conditional Forwarding?

Rather than having a DNS server forward all queries it cannot resolve to forwarders, the DNS

server can forward queries for different domain names to different DNS servers according to the

specific domain names that are contained in the queries. Forwarding according to these domain-

name conditions improves conventional forwarding by adding a second condition to the

forwarding process.

A conditional forwarder setting consists of a domain name and the IP address of one or more

DNS servers. To configure a DNS server for conditional forwarding, a list of domain names is

set up on the Windows Server 2003-based DNS server along with the DNS server IP address.

When a DNS client or server performs a query operation against a Windows Server 2003- based

DNS server that is configured for forwarding, the DNS server looks to see if the query can beresolved by using its own zone data or the zone data that is stored in its cache, and then, if the

DNS server is configured to forward for the domain name that is designated in the query (a

match), the query is forwarded to the IP address of a DNS Server that is associated with the

domain name. If the DNS server has no domain name listed for the name that is designated in the

query, it attempts to resolve the query by using standard recursion.


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What is the 224.0.1.24 address used for?

WINS server group address. Used to support auto discovery and dynamic configuration of

replication for WINS servers. For more information, see WINS replication overview WINS

server group address. Used to support auto discovery and dynamic configuration of replication

for WINS servers.

Describe the importance of DNS to AD ?

When Microsoft began development on Active Directory, full compatibility with the domain

name system (DNS) was a critical priority. Active Directory was built from the ground up not

just to be fully compatible with DNS but to be so integrated with it that one cannot exist without

the other. Microsoft's direction in this case did not just happen by chance, but because of the

central role that DNS plays in Internet name resolution and Microsoft's desire to make its product

lines embrace the Internet.

While fully conforming to the standards established for DNS, Active Directory can expand upon

the standard feature set of DNS and offer some new capabilities such as AD-Integrated DNS,

which greatly eases the administration required for DNS environments. In addition, Active

Directory can easily adapt to exist in a foreign DNS environment, such as Unix BIND, as long as

the BIND version is 8.2.x or higher. When Microsoft began development on Active Directory,

full compatibility with the domain name system (DNS) was a critical priority.

Active Directory was built from the ground up not just to be fully compatible with DNS but to be

so integrated with it that one cannot exist without the other. Microsoft's direction in this case didnot just happen by chance, but because of the central role that DNS plays in Internet name

resolution and Microsoft's desire to make its product lines embrace the Internet.

While fully conforming to the standards established for DNS, Active Directory can expand upon

the standard feature set of DNS and offer some new capabilities such as AD-Integrated DNS,

which greatly eases the administration required for DNS environments. In addition, Active

Directory can easily adapt to exist in a foreign DNS environment, such as Unix BIND, as long as

the BIND version is 8.2.x or higher.

What is the "in-addr.arpa" zone used for?In a Domain Name System (DNS) environment, it is common for a user or an application to

request a Reverse Lookup of a host name, given the IP address. This article explains this process.

The following is quoted from RFC 1035: "The Internet uses a special domain to support gateway

location and Internet address to host mapping. Other classes may employ a similar strategy in

other domains. The intent of this domain is to provide a guaranteed method to perform host


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address to host name mapping, and to facilitate queries to locate all gateways on a particular

network on the Internet.

"The domain begins at IN-ADDR.ARPA and has a substructure which follows the Internet

addressing structure. "Domain names in the IN-ADDR.ARPA domain are defined to have up to

four labels in addition to the IN-ADDR.ARPA suffix. Each label represents one octet of an

Internet address, and is expressed as a character string for a decimal value in the range 0-255

(with leading zeros omitted except in the case of a zero octet which is represented by a single

zero).

"Host addresses are represented by domain names that have all four labels specified." Reverse

Lookup files use the structure specified in RFC 1035.

For example, if you have a network which is 150.10.0.0, then the Reverse Lookup file for this

network would be 10.150.IN-ADDR.ARPA. Any hosts with IP addresses in the 150.10.0.0

network will have a PTR (or 'Pointer') entry in 10.150.IN- ADDR.ARPA referencing the host

name for that IP address. A single IN- ADDR.ARPA file may contain entries for hosts in many

domains. Consider the following scenario. There is a Reverse Lookup file 10.150.IN-

ADDR.ARPA with the following contents: Exp : 1.20 IN PTR WS1.ACME.COM.

What are the requirements from DNS to support AD?

When you install Active Directory on a member server, the member server is promoted to a

domain controller. Active Directory uses DNS as the location mechanism for domain controllers,

enabling computers on the network to obtain IP addresses of domain controllers. During the

installation of Active Directory, the service (SRV) and address (A) resource records aredynamically registered in DNS, which are necessary for the successful functionality of the

domain controller locator (Locator) mechanism.

To find domain controllers in a domain or forest, a client queries DNS for the SRV and A DNS

resource records of the domain controller, which provide the client with the names and IP

addresses of the domain controllers. In this context, the SRV and A resource records are referred

to as Locator DNS resource records.

When adding a domain controller to a forest, you are updating a DNS zone hosted on a DNS

server with the Locator DNS resource records and identifying the domain controller. For this

reason, the DNS zone must allow dynamic updates (RFC 2136) and the DNS server hosting thatzone must support the SRV resource records (RFC 2782) to advertise the Active Directory

directory service. For more information about RFCs, see DNS RFCs.

If the DNS server hosting the authoritative DNS zone is not a server running Windows 2000 or

Windows Server 2003, contact your DNS administrator to determine if the DNS server supports

the required standards. If the server does not support the required standards, or the authoritative


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DNS zone cannot be configured to allow dynamic updates, then modification is required to your

existing DNS infrastructure.

For more information, see Checklist: Verifying DNS before installing Active Directory and

Using the Active Directory Installation Wizard.

Important

The DNS server used to support Active Directory must support SRV resource records for the

Locator mechanism to function. For more information, see Managing resource records. It is

recommended that the DNS infrastructure allows dynamic updates of Locator DNS resource

records (SRV and A) before installing Active Directory, but your DNS administrator may add

these resource records manually after installation. After installing Active Directory, these records

can be found on the domain controller in the following location:

systemroot\System32\Config\Netlogon.dns .

What does a zone consist of & why do we require a zone?

Zone consists of resource records and we require zone for representing sites.

What is Caching Only Server?

When we install 2000 & 2003 server it is configured as caching only server where it maintains

the frequently accessed sites information and again when we access the same site for next time it

is obtain from cached information instead of going to the actual site.

What is forwarder?

When one DNS server can?t receive the query it can be forwarded to another DNS once

configured as forwarder.

What is secondary DNS Server?

It is backup for primary DNS where it maintains a read only copy of DNS database.

How to enable Dynamic updates in DNS?

Start>Program>Admin tools> DNS >Zone properties.

What are the properties of DNS server?

INTERFACES, FORWARDERS, ADVANCED, ROUTINGS, SECURITY, MONITORING,

LOGGING, DEBUG LOGGING.

Properties of a Zone ?

General, SOA, NAMESERVER, WINS, Security, and ZONE Transfer.

What is scavenging?

Finding and deleting unwanted records.


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What are SRV records?

SRV are the service records, there are 6 service records. They are useful for locating the services.

What are the types of SRV records?

MSDCS:Contains DCs information.

TCP:Contains Global Catalog, Kerberos & LDAP information.

UDP:Contains Sites information.

Sites:Contains Sites information.

Domain DNS Zone:Conations domain?s DNS specific information.

Forest DNS zone:Contains Forest?s Specific Information.

Where does a Host File Reside?

c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc.

What is SOA?

Start of Authority: useful when a zone starts. Provides the zone startup information.

What is a query?

A request made by the DNS client to provide the name server information.

What are the diff. types of Queries?

Recursion, iteration.

Tools for troubleshooting DNS?

DNS Console, NSLOOKUP, DNSCMD, IPCONFIG, Logs.

What is WINS server? where we use WINS server? difference between DNS and WINS?

WINS is windows internet name service used to resolve the NetBIOS(computer name)name to

IP address.This is proprietary for Windows.You can use in LAN.DNS is a Domain Naming

System, which resolves Host names to IP addresses. It uses fully qualified domain names. DNS

is an Internet standard used to resolve host names.

What is new in Windows Server 2003 regarding the DNS management?

When DC promotion occurs with an existing forest, the Active Directory Installation Wizard

contacts an existing DC to update the directory and replicate from the DC the required portions

of the directory.

If the wizard fails to locate a DC, it performs debugging and reports what caused the failure and

how to fix the problem. In order to be located on a network, every DC must register in DNS DC

locator DNS records. The Active Directory Installation Wizard verifies a proper configuration of

the DNS infrastructure. All DNS configuration debugging and reporting activity is done with the

Active Directory Installation Wizard.


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SOA records must be included in every zone. What are they used for?

SOA records contain a TTL value, used by default in all resource records in the zone. SOA

records contain the e-mail address of the person who is responsible for maintaining the zone.

SOA records contain the current serial number of the zone, which is used in zone transfers.

By default, if the name is not found in the cache or local hosts file, what is the first step the client

takes to resolve the FQDN name into an IP address? Performs a recursive search through the

primary DNS server based on the network interface configuration.

How do I clear the DNS cache on the DNS server?

Go to cmd prompt and type ipconfig /flushdns .

What is the main purpose of SRV records?

SRV records are used in locating hosts that provide certain network services.

Before installing your first domain controller in the network, you installed a DNS server

and created a zone, naming it as you would name your AD domain. However, after the

installation of the domain controller, you are unable to locate infrastructure SRV records

anywhere in the zone. What is the most likely cause of this failure?

The zone you created was not configured to allow dynamic updates. The local interface on the

DNS server was not configured to allow dynamic updates.

What is the "." zone in my forward lookup zone?

This setting designates the Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 DNS server to be a root hint

server and is usually deleted. If you do not delete this setting, you may not be able to perform

external name resolution to the root hint servers on the Internet.

Do I need to configure forwarders in DNS?

No. By default, Windows 2000 DNS uses the root hint servers on the Internet; however, you can

configure forwarders to send DNS queries directly to your ISP's DNS server or other DNS

servers. Most of the time, when you configure forwarders, DNS performance and efficiency

increases, but this configuration can also introduce a point of failure if the forwarding DNS

server is experiencing problems.

The root hint server can provide a level of redundancy in exchange for slightly increased DNStraffic on your Internet connection. Windows Server 2003 DNS will query root hints servers if it

cannot query the forwarders.

Should I point the other Windows 2000-based and Windows Server 2003-based computers

on my LAN to my ISP's DNS servers?

No. If a Windows 2000-based or Windows Server 2003-based server or workstation does not


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