Determining Preferred & Alternate DNS Servers

[Christian M. Mericle]

I have a Windows Server 2003 machine that isn't yet running AD. It is
acting as a file and print server but I would like to expand its
functionality. It is a standalone. The netwrok is 192.168.1.0.

For TCP/IP on the Local Area Connection, the Preferred DNS Server is
set to 65.247.145.15 and the Alternate is set to 198.6.1.122. I'm not
entirely sure where these numbers came from. They may have been
entered by my ISP when we upgraded our Internet connection (which uses
a router rather than ICS).

What do these addresses point to? Had they not been set for me, how
would I determine what to use for the Preferred and Alternate DNS
Servers?

Thanks in advance for the help.

-- Christian

[Christian M. Mericle]

Follow-up note...

I ran the netsh diag gui command and found that pings to the Preferred
and Alternate DNS Servers failed. So, since they're not working, what
should I change them to? Just delete them?

Thanks again.

-- Christian

[Kevin D. Goodknecht [MVP]]

In news:2q2cb0hn1a9lapd4t...@4ax.com,
Christian M. Mericle <newsgr...@hotmail.com> posted a question
Then Kevin replied below:

These are both DNS servers, probably your ISP's. Whether they are pingable
or not is not relevant, many servers are not pingable because ICMP has been
blocked. I checked them, they do work and are recursive.

IF you plan on implementing Active Directory, you should configure these
into your local DNS as Forwarders and remove them from the NIC and replace
them with you local DNS IP.

Once you implement AD, all clients and servers must use the local DNS only.
825036 - Best practices for DNS client settings in Windows 2000 Server and
in Windows Server 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;825036

323380 - HOW TO: Configure DNS for Internet Access in Windows Server 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;323380

If you are using a Firewall take a read of this.
828731 - An External DNS Query May Cause an Error Message in Windows Server
2003
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;828731

--
Best regards,
Kevin D4 Dad Goodknecht Sr. [MVP]
Hope This Helps
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