Summary

DNS is an essential service when you are using any TCP/IP-based environment. DNS provides hostname to IP address resolution as well as a method of locating services within your infrastructure. In an Active Directory network, DNS is required, otherwise Active Directory will not function. Along with its counterpart WINS, DNS acts as the centerpiece to the name resolution infrastructure.

When designing the name resolution infrastructure, your primary design goal is to make sure you have servers to support the name resolution needs of your users and the systems within your organization. You will need to determine where you will place the DNS and WINS servers, how many you will need to support the clients , and how you will integrate then into the network.

When designing for DNS, make sure that you place DNS servers where they can function on behalf of clients trying to locate servers and services on the network. At the same time, make sure that you have DNS servers that support your domain controllers because Active Directory requires DNS in order to function.

Design your namespace to support both your internal name and the Internet presence that you use. Your internal namespace should be different than the namespace you employ on the Internet; however, some organizations wish to have both the same. Using the same namespace is more difficult to manage.

You will need a WINS infrastructure if you wish to support NetBIOS-based operating systems or applications. If this is the case, you will need to determine where you will place the WINS servers to support your clients and how you will manage replication between all of the WINS servers. A hub-and-spoke topology will usually work the best for any organization, but you can enhance the design based upon the replication needs of the organization.

Both name resolution methods require you to understand the security requirements needed to secure your systems. Attackers can discover information about your network if they intercept packets transmitted from your DNS or WINS servers. If an attacker gains access to your DNS or WINS server, they could enter false records and cause clients to receive incorrect information.

In the next chapter, we are going to take a look at how you will implement an efficient IP addressing infrastructure. This will include designing your subnets for IP addressing and working with addressing assignment types ”both automatic and static.