6.6 Using Application Partitions for DNS
Application partitions, as described in
Chapter 3, are user-defined partitions that have
customized replication scope. Domain controllers that are configured
to contain replicas of an application partition will be the only
servers that replicate the data contained within the partition. One
of the benefits of application partitions is that they are not
limited by domain boundaries. You can configure domain controllers in
completely different domains to replicate an application partition.
It is for these reasons that application partitions make a lot of
sense for storing AD Integrated DNS zones. No longer do you have to
store DNS data within the domain context and replicate to every
domain controller in the domain, even if only a handful are DNS
servers. With application partitions you can configure Active
Directory to replicate only the DNS data between the domain
controllers running the DNS service within a domain or forest.
When installing a new
Windows Server 2003 Active
Directory forest, the default DNS application partitions are created
automatically. If you are upgrading from Windows 2000, you can
manually create them by using the DNS MMC snap-in or the
dnscmd.exe utility. There is one default
application partition for each domain and forest. When configuring an
AD Integrated zone in a Windows Server 2003 forest, you have
several options for storing the DNS data. These options are listed in
Table 6-2.
Table 6-2. Active Directory Integrated DNS zone storage options
|
cn=System,DomainDN
Example:
cn=System,dc=amer,dc=mycorp,dc=com
|
To all domain controllers in the domain. This is the only storage
method available under Windows 2000.
|
|
dc=domaindnszones,DomainDN
Example:
dc=domaindnszones,dc=amer, dc=mycorp,dc=com
|
To domain controllers in the domain that are also DNS servers.
|
|
dc=forestdnszones,ForestDN
Example:
dc=forestdnszones,dc=mycorp,dc=com
|
To domain controllers in the forest that are also DNS servers.
|
|
AppPartitionDN
Example:
dc=dnsdata,dc=mycorp,dc=com
|
To domain controllers that have been configured to replicate the
application partition.
|
|
