Chapter 6: Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining a Name Resolution Strategy


Introduction

Computers “think” in ones and zeros, and the computers and routers on your Windows Server 2003 network communicate with one another using numbers in the form of IP addresses and MAC addresses. People, on the other hand, prefer to think in terms of names, which they use to represent computers and resources. This means that there must be a way to resolve the names used by the people to the numbers used by the computers, and that is where name resolution comes in. Without this mechanism, users will be unable to connect to resources using the “friendly” names they’re used to employing. Thus, it is an important part of the network administrator’s job to design and implement an effective strategy for name resolution on the network.

In this chapter, you’ll learn how to plan for the best way of resolving host and NetBIOS names on your network. We’ll first present an overview of host naming, including how host names are resolved using the hosts file and using the Domain Name System (DNS). We’ll discuss issues involved in designing a DNS namespace, such as choosing the parent domain name, the conventions and limitations that govern host names, the relationship of DNS and Active Directory (AD), and how to support multiple namespaces.

Then we move onto planning DNS server deployment. You’ll find out how to consider factors such as the number of servers, server roles, server capacity, and server placement. We’ll also show you how to plan for zone replication between your DNS servers, and we’ll address planning for forwarding and how DNS interacts with the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) on a Windows Server 2003 network. We’ll discuss Windows Server 2003 DNS server interoperability with Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) and other non-Windows DNS implementations. You’ll learn about zone transfers between Windows Server 2003 DNS servers and BIND servers, and we’ll discuss supporting AD with BIND. You’ll learn about split DNS configurations and how interoperability relates to other services such as Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) and DHCP. Next, we’ll address DNS security issues, including common DNS threats such as footprinting, redirection, and DNS denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. You’ll learn how to best secure your DNS deployment by using a split namespace and packet filtering. We’ll discuss how to determine the best DNS security level for your network. Next, we’ll look at DNS performance issues. We’ll show you how to monitor DNS server performance and how to analyze DNS server tests.

In the next section, we’ll address NetBIOS name resolution and provide an overview of how NetBIOS names are resolved using LMHOSTS files and NetBIOS name servers such as WINS servers. You’ll find out what’s new for WINS in Windows Server 2003, and we’ll show you how to plan WINS server deployment and WINS replication. We’ll walk you through the process of configuring WINS replication partnerships, including push-only, pull-only, and push/pull configurations. We’ll also discuss common WINS issues, including configuration, performance, and security issues. We’ll show you how to plan for WINS database backup and how to troubleshoot name resolution problems related to both host names and NetBIOS names.




MCSE Planning and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure. Exam 70-293 Study Guide and DVD Training System
MCSE Planning and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure: Exam 70-293 Study Guide and DVD Training System
ISBN: 1931836930
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 173

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