HOWTO: Registry Settings for the Microsoft DNS Server

• Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0

SUMMARY

This article describes settings for the Microsoft Domain Name Service (DNS) Server. You can modify most settings using the DNSADMIN tool, although some settings can only be altered using Registry Editor.

MORE INFORMATION

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys And Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it.

To change these parameters, use the following procedure:

1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).



2. From the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE subtree, go to the following key:
   
   \SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services



3. From the Edit menu, click Add Value and add a value to the key described in the appropriate entry below. Type in the value, and using the Data Type checkbox to set the value type.



4. Click OK.



5. Quit Registry Editor.



6. Restart the DNS Server for the above changes to take affect.

      Key: DNS\Parameters<BR/>
      Value Type: REG_DWORD - Boolean<BR/>
      Default: 0 (False)<BR/>
      Valid Range: 0,1 (False, True)<BR/>
      Description: Configure the DNS Server to read information about
      Zones either from a Bind style boot file or from the Registry.
<BR/><BR/>
      <B>NOTE</B>: If you return to using a boot file, ALL changes to zone
      information, including new zones, made through the DNS Manager
      will be lost.<BR/> 

      Key: DNS\Parameters<BR/>
      Value Type: REG_BINARY - Binary list of ip addresses.<BR/>
      Default: none<BR/>
      Description: IP address(es) of Forwarder(s).<BR/> 

      Key: DNS\Parameters<BR/>
      Value Type: REG_DWORD - Time in seconds<BR/>
      Default: 5<BR/>
      Description: Timeout in seconds until a forwarded query is
      regarded as unsuccessful.<BR/> 

      Key: DNS\Parameters<BR/>
      Value Type: REG_DWORD - Boolean<BR/>
      Default: 0 (False)<BR/>
      Valid Range: 0,1 (False, True)<BR/>
      Description: Configures the DNS Server to be a Slave server.
      Can only be used when the DNS Server is configured to use
      Forwarder(s).<BR/> 

      Key: DNS\Parameters<BR/>
      Value Type: REG_BINARY - Binary list of ip addresses.<BR/>
      Default: none<BR/>
      Description: The ListenAddresses key is a list of IP
      addresses for the DNS server to listen on. The list is not
      dotted IP strings, but a counted array of raw addresses in
      net byte order. It should be configured through the
      ServerProperties\Interfaces dialog box in the admin tool.
      Editing the rekey is discouraged. If the ListenAddresses key
      does not exist, the DNS server attempts to bind to every IP
      address on the computer. This is in general desirable
      behavior.<BR/> 

      Key: DNS\Parameters<BR/>
      Value Type: REG_DWORD - Boolean<BR/>
      Default: 1 Bind compatibility Enabled.<BR/>
      Valid Range: 0,1 (False, True)<BR/>
      Description: Disables (old) Bind compatible Zone Transfer.
      Prior to BIND version 4.9.4, implementations of DNS would send
      one resource record per message to secondary servers. For this
      reason, Windows NT defaults to this standard when sending
      messages to a non-Microsoft secondary DNS Server.
<BR/><BR/>
      If the DNS secondary servers are running BIND version 4.9.4 or
      later, it will be able to send multiple resource records at a time.<BR/> 

      Key: DNS\Parameters<BR/>
      Value Type: REG_DWORD - Time in seconds<BR/>
      Default: 900 (15 minutes)<BR/>
      Valid Range: 600 - 86400 (ten minutes - one day)<BR/>
      Description: Specifies how often the DNS Server will clean up
      the database from expired entries. The DNS Server will also verify
      that it can find root servers at this interval. If no root servers
      can be found using cached information, the DNS Server will reload
      the cache file.
<BR/><BR/>
     <B> NOTE</B>: The DNS Server will normally only update any cached NS and
      corresponding A entries if current time-to-live (TTL) is less than
      CleanupInterval. (that is, if the entry risks to be removed from the
      cache before next CleanupInterval)<BR/> 

      Key: DNS\Parameters<BR/>
      Value Type: REG_DWORD - Boolean<BR/>
      Default: 0 (Create AutoreverseZones Enabled.)<BR/>
      Valid Range: 0,1 (False, True)<BR/>
      Description: By default, when the DNS Server is started, three zones       are always created (In Memory only). These zones are used for       localhost lookups and they should always exist on the DNS Server.
<BR/><BR/>
         0.in-addr.arpa<BR/>
         127.in-addr.arpa<BR/>
         255.in-addr.arpa
<BR/><BR/>
      You should normally never disable this because, if they do not exist,
      lookup to any of these zones will be sent to a root server.
<BR/><BR/>
      As these zones are only created in memory and not stored in any zone
      files, if you need to modify the localhost reverse lookup zone, then
      you need to manually create it. The correct name for that zone is:
      0.0.127.in-addr.arpa<BR/> 

      Key: DNS\Parameters<BR/>
      Value Type: REG_DWORD - Boolean<BR/>
      Default: 0 (Recursion Enabled.)<BR/>
      Valid Range: 0,1 (False, True)<BR/>
      Description: Enables/disables if the DNS Server should do
      recursive lookups to other DNS Servers.<BR/> 

      Key: DNS\Parameters<BR/>
      Value Type: REG_DWORD - Time in seconds<BR/>
      Default: 2<BR/>
      Description: Specifies number of seconds that the DNS Server
      waits for a recursive query to another DNS Server to return.<BR/> 

      Key: DNS\Parameters<BR/>
      Value Type: REG_DWORD - Time in seconds<BR/>
      Default: 15<BR/>
      Description: Specifies maximum number of seconds that the DNS Server
      waits before returning an unsuccessful answer to the client.
<BR/><BR/>
      If RecursionTimeout is set to 15 and RecursionRetry is set to 2,
      then if every query is unsuccessful, the DNS Server will make up
      to eight queries to other DNS servers before returning an             unsuccessful response to the resolver (client). 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\DNS\Zones

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\DNS\Zones\(ZoneName)\

      Key: DNS\Zones\(ZoneName)\ <BR/>
      Value Type: REG_SZ - String that holds File name.<BR/>
      Default: (zone.dns  i.e. microsoft.com -&gt; microsoft.com.dns)<BR/>
      Description: Name of the database file.
      The file is stored in Winnt\System32\DNS<BR/> 

      Key: DNS\Zones\(ZoneName)\ <BR/>
      Value Type: REG_DWORD - Number 0-2<BR/>
      Default:<BR/>
      Valid Range: 0,1,2<BR/>
      Description: Type of Zone/Database.<BR/>
      0=Cache file, 1=Primary Zone, 2=Secondary Zone.
<BR/><BR/>
      <B>NOTE</B>: If the server is configured as a root server, then the       Type of the Zone file of the "." domain will be set to 1. And the      format of the file has to be the same as any other zone file.
<BR/><BR/>
      <B>NOTE</B>: A root server does not cache resolved queries. It will      always respond from the zone file.<BR/> 

      Key: DNS\Parameters<BR/>
      Value Type: REG_BINARY - Binary list of ip addresses.<BR/>
      Default: none<BR/>
      Description: IP addresses of Master servers. This entry is only
      available for secondary zones. The DNS Server will contact
      servers listed here to request a zone transfer.<BR/> 

      Key: DNS\Parameters<BR/>
      Value Type: REG_BINARY - Binary list of IP addresses.<BR/>
      Default: none<BR/>
      Description: IP addresses of secondary servers to be notified
      about changes to the zone. This list is also used if you
      configure the DNS Server to only allow specific servers to
      request a zone transfer (SecureSecondaries).<BR/> 

      Key: DNS\Parameters<BR/>
      Value Type: REG_DWORD - Boolean<BR/>
      Default: 0<BR/>
      Valid Range: 0,1 (False, True)<BR/>
      Description: Allow ONLY in SecondaryServers listed servers
      to function as secondary servers.(Request ZoneTransfer.) 

Additional query words: dns

Keywords : kb3rdparty kbenv kbnetwork kbsample kbsetup kbADO kbASP kbSQLServ NTInterop nttcp ntconfig ntregistry NTSrv
Version : winnt:4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbhowto