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Chris S.
Asked: 2009-08-12 13:10:27 +0800 CST

DNS Server resolves server name but NOT fully qualified domain name

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I have a new Windows Server 2003 machine I'm trying to configure as a DNS server and Domain Controller.

Whenever I add an XP client to the domain I get the following event log error on boot up: "Windows cannot determine the user or computer name. (The RPC server is unavailible). Group Policy processing aborted."

This seems to be because it can't resolve the fully qualified domain name of the domain controller. I can ping the domain controller. Then I try to ping it's fully qualified domain name and it fails. Then I try to ping the fully qualified domain name with a . at the end and it succeeds. Now all attempts to ping it's fully qualified domain name succeed (until I reboot). (see below)

I can work around this by adding a host file entry mapping the IP to the fully qualified domain name but I'd like to avoid that hack if I can.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

What follows is the attempt to resolve the domain controller from a XP machine on the domain (where dc-server is the domain controller): 

C:\>nslookup dc-server
Server:  dc-server.localdomain.org
Address:  192.168.42.2

Name:    dc-server.localdomain.org
Address:  192.168.42.2


C:\>nslookup dc-server.localdomain.org
Server:  dc-server.localdomain.org
Address:  192.168.42.2

Name:    dc-server.localdomain.org
Address:  192.168.42.2


C:\>ping dc-server
Pinging dc-server [192.168.42.2] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.42.2: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128

C:\>ping dc-server.localdomain.org
Ping request could not find host dc-server.localdomain.org. Please check the name
 and try again.

C:\>ping dc-server.localdomain.org.
Pinging dc-server.localdomain.org [192.168.42.2] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.42.2: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128

C:\>ping dc-server.localdomain.org
Pinging dc-server.localdomain.org [192.168.42.2] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.42.2: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128

ipconfig /all on the client follows:

C:\>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

        Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : LMCA8-E03
        Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . : LOCALDOMAIN.ORG
        Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
        IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
        WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
        DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : LOCALDOMAIN.ORG

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

        Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Dell Wireless 1397 WLAN Mini-Card
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-22-5F-61-F5-08

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:

        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) 82567LM Gigabit Network Con
nection
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-21-70-DE-43-69
        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.42.13
        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.42.1
        DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.42.2
windows-server-2003 domain-name-system

6 Answers

  1. Run dcdiag (dcdiag /q -show errors; dcdiag /fix - fix problems)

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  2. Update: I wouldn't think that this is suppose to be an issue. But maybe the capital letters in the dns suffix are the problem. Try changing that ( in the dhcp or on the local machine).

    Before update: Can you please post the output of ipconfig /all on one of the xp clients.

    Specially the:"DNS Suffix Search List".

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  3. are you actually using localdomain.org or are you using that as an example? If you are using localdomain.org problems would arise depending on how you DNS search order is set up on your machines, including the domain controller itself.

    You'll also need to ensure that your DNS server has reverse lookup zones as well as forward lookup zones. You may want to consider doing DHCP, with your domain controller as the primary dns, and your other dns as your secondary, then in your windows DNS add forwarders to your DNS server's properties.

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  4. One little note: the nslookup command will use a separate sequence to resolve names than the ping command. nslookup will only resolve using the configured DNS server. Use the "server" command under the nslookup ">" prompt to see and change the actual server IP address.

    On the other hand, the ping command will try to resolve the hostname to an IP address using other means first, such as the c:\windows\system32=drivers\etc\hosts fil, a possible WINS and Windows AD domain controller, and then will try to resolve using the actual registered DNS server. The actual sequence may vary, depending on your registry or other settings you may have.

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  5. Maybe you have a host file somewhere that's screwing this up?

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  6. Ensure that you have Reverse lookup zones for each subnet, or at least for the subnet that you are trying to get the FQDN for.

    Also check that your Forward zone isn't dc-server.localdomain.org. with the period actually there.

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