You can use the boot, zone, cache, and other files from non-Microsoft RFC-compliant DNS servers on a Microsoft DNS server. (RFCs, or Requests for Comments, are the official documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force specifying the details for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, or TCP/IP, protocols.) To do this, you must install these files in the \Systemroot\System32\DNS directory, and then stop and restart the DNS server.
Before installing files from other DNS servers on a Microsoft DNS server, you must edit the filename and directory location text in the ported files and make additional changes as described in this section.
The boot file is used to load the data files you want to port into a Microsoft DNS server. A boot file is actually a file that controls the startup behavior of DNS servers running under a Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) implementation of DNS. It is a BIND-specific feature and not a requirement of the DNS RFCs. The Microsoft DNS server ability to use a boot file on initial startup is provided to support migration of data from BIND-based DNS servers to Microsoft DNS servers.
Although Microsoft DNS server supports boot files, you must install the edited boot file before using DNS Manager. Starting DNS Manager configures the Microsoft DNS server to use the Windows NT Server Registry instead of the boot file.
If you need to port data files after starting DNS Manager, you must change the value of the EnableRegistryBoot Registry parameter from 1 to 0. The EnableRegistryBoot parameter is located in the following key:
\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System
\CurrentControlSet
\Services
\DNS
\Parameters
Û To change the value of the EnableRegistryBoot parameter
1. Click the Start button, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type regedit, and then press ENTER.
3. Open the following key folder:
\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System
\CurrentControlSet
\Services
\DNS
\Parameters
4. Select the EnableRegistryBoot parameter in the right pane of the Registry Editor, and then on the Edit menu click Modify.
5. In the Value Data box, type 0.
6. Click OK.
7. On the Edit menu, click New, and then click DWORD Value.
8. Type 0 in the value box, and press enter.
9. Stop and restart the Microsoft DNS server by using Services in Control Panel.
The following table describes the format of boot file commands. You can use any text editor to edit or create a boot file. Commands must start at the beginning of a line, and no spaces may precede the commands.
Table A.1 BIND Boot File Commands (Replaces Table 9.4 in Windows NT Server 4.0 Networking Guide)
Command | Description | Syntax | ||
Directory | Specifies a directory where other files referred to in the boot file can be found. | directory directory | ||
Cache | Specifies a file used to help the DNS service contact DNS servers for the root domain. This command and the file it refers to must be present. | cache filename | ||
Primary | Specifies a domain for which this DNS server is authoritative, and a database file that contains the resource records for that domain in the zone file. Multiple primary command records can be entered in the boot file. | primary domain filename | ||
Secondary | Specifies a domain for which this DNS server is authoritative, and a list of master server Internet Protocol (IP) addresses from which to attempt downloading the zone information. | secondary domain hostlist local filename | ||
Forwarder | Identifies other DNS servers to which the local DNS server can send recursive queries when the local DNS server cannot resolve the queries itself. | forwarders hostlist | ||
Slave | Specifies that the local DNS server cannot resolve queries and must send the queries to DNS servers identified in the forwarders host list. This command can only be used directly following the forwarder command. | slave | ||