setting up secondary server and some basics

[vf]

Hello,
I'm having some problems setting up a secondary dns server and getting
things easily done.

My machines are named mycompany01 and mycompany02 and are both in
workgroups. When I add a dns entry to my current server (mycompany01)
the SOA record and one NS record are created. Both are:
mycompany01.
Should both of my machine names be part of my domain and not in
workgroups or does that not effect dns in any way?

How can I change this to default to:
SOA ns1.mycompany.com
NS ns1.mycompany.com
NS ns2.mycompany.com
So those are added each time I create a new zone for a domain?

I have the dns for mycompany.com hosted on mycompany01. I have A records
for ns1 and ns2 both pointing to mycompany01 and it's also correct with
my registrar. What I'd like to do is change ns2 to point to mycompany02
(both the A record and then change the IP with my registrar) and have
mycompany02 be a secondary dns server. I've followed some vague
instructions I found on the net, but can't seem to get it done correctly.
Can I just set something up so that the dns is mimiced for all domains
listed or do I have to add each site/zone separately (which seems awfully
tedious)? I'd love to do this now because I have quite a few domains
pointing to ns1.mycompany.com and ns2.mycompany.com and if I can have a
smooth transition to redundancy without editing every domain in my
registrar, that'd be great. Besides setting up the secondary server to
do this - do I have to do anything on the primary to allow it?

If I should provide any other info or clarify myself, please let me know.

Thanks,
vf

[Roger Abell]

You can use dnscmd or the DNS provider for Wmi to
automate zone definition and resource records in them.
There is no "template" zone that can be defined and then
used when a new zone is created in the DNS mgmt UI.

--
Roger Abell
Microsoft MVP (Windows Server System: Security)
MCSE (W2k3,W2k,Nt4) MCDBA
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