DNS Suggestion Requested (SBS 2003/Server 2008/Exchange 2007)

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Level 1

93 points

DNS Suggestion Requested (SBS 2003/Server 2008/Exchange 2007)

Hi,

I have an existing small office network.

DSL->Airport Extreme->Switch->LAN
LAN= 4 XP Workstations, 1 Mac Pro 10.5, 1 Mac Book Pro 10.5 & Mac Pro 10.5 Server*
*Mac Pro 10.5 Server running VMWARE Fusion. SBS 2003 is running, handling Exchange, DNS, File Sharing and push to our iPhones.

My objective is to light up the services on the 10.5 Server to compliment the SBS.

Currently, the 10.5 Server's name is vader.local and is looking to the SBS 2003 for DNS queries.

All the services on the 10.5 server are currently Dark and I have never setup a 10.5 server before.

___ with all that said, I have some guides and it seems like the first step in setting up 10.5 server is DNS and it must be done correctly.

Questions:
Should I have 10.5 Server running its own DNS? Suggested setup?
Should I have the 10.5 Server look to the SBS for DNS? Suggested setup?
Since my server has the name vader.local, should I rename that to a FQDN such has xxxx.xxxx.com?

Lastly.. I will be upgrading my network to Standard 2008 Server and Exchange 2007 unless 10.6 Server supports push mail, contacts, and cal for iPhone, Outlook, etc. I would prefer to get rid of the MSFT servers but can not until they have push (which I have read is in the works)

Thank you everyone

Mac Book Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Apr 28, 2009 7:04 PM

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Answer 1

Camelot

Level 9

58,575 points

Apr 28, 2009 7:23 PM in response to itsamacthing

It doesn't really matter where you run DNS, as long as all the machines on the LAN can reliably resolve their own hostname, and that of other LAN servers they need.

I've never used Windows 2003 Server to know what its DNS admin interface is like, but I suggest that the interface be one of your primary factors when deciding where to run your DNS.

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Answer 2

itsamacthing Author

Level 1

93 points

Apr 28, 2009 7:57 PM in response to Camelot

Thank you for your response.

So then I should just be able to set the SBS DNS on the 10.5 interface and then setup pointers for the host names in the DNS of the SBS so the names resolve.

Let me try that and get back to you guys

thank you

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Answer 3

itsamacthing Author

Level 1

93 points

Apr 29, 2009 3:38 AM in response to itsamacthing

Hi

So I setup DNS as per Lynda/Rocco and it went off really well. The DNS is working like a charm and all is well.

I choose to setup a separate FQDN from my SBS Domain. That way, I have my OS X running as a full independent DNS server that can act as a back up to my SBS.

So now I want to be able to point back and forth between the Apple Zone and the MSFT Zone.

?s
Should I enable "zone transfers"?
Should I setup the SBS DNS as a "Slave"?
Or should I setup A records to point to the devices on the other zone? If that is true, then how will Apple DNS handle the different zone names ie: myhost.appledns.com : 192.168.1.2
A record setup server01.msftsmallbusinessnetwork.local : 192.168.1.7

If I setup that A record and enable zone transfers, will that do the trick? Or is setting up a slave better?

Your thoughts?

thanks

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Answer 4

Apr 29, 2009 3:54 AM in response to itsamacthing

I just wanted to mention that it's better that your Mac server and all clients get their DNS from the SBS server because that's what would be required should you wish to integrate them all with Active Directory for single sign-on. Without Active Directory DNS the Macs would not be able to join Active Directory (if you desired that anyway).

Your Mac server cannot (without advanced command line modifications) serve as a slave or backup to your AD DNS. Although the bits you're mainly interested in may look identical you'll be missing the AD magic (DNS Service records) required by Windows and Mac clients for various AD interactions.

Mac OS X Server's DNS service could be modified to support those, but you would have to be prepared to implement and maintain these on your own without the support of the GUI.

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Answer 5

itsamacthing Author

Level 1

93 points

Apr 30, 2009 11:08 AM in response to Andrew-ACT-ACSA

Hey guys

Moving on...
Setting up a new Server 2008 AD/Exchange 2007, DNS Server
xxxx.com
Existing LEO Server OD, DNS Server
xxxxx.com

Respective A records in both DNS Servers

Am going to attempt :
“Mixing Active Directory and Open Directory Master and Replica Services”

via Bombich
http://www.bombich.com/mactips/activedir.html

Has anyone gone there?

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