IgNiTeD SoUL

Creating a Reverse Lookup Zone

Problem

You want to create a reverse lookup zone. A reverse lookup zone maps IP addresses to names.

Solution

Using a graphical user interface

1. Open the DNS Management snap-in.
2. If an entry for the DNS server you want to connect to does not exist, right-click on DNS in the left pane and select “Connect to DNS Server.” Select “This computer” or “The following computer,” then enter the server you want to connect to (if applicable) and click OK.
3. Expand the server in the left pane and click on Reverse Lookup Zones.
4. Right-click on Reverse Lookup Zones and select New Zone.
5. Click Next.
6. Select the zone type (Primary, Secondary, or Stub zone). To AD-integrate the zone, place a check mark next to “Store the zone in Active Directory (available only if DNS server is a domain controller)” and click Next.
7. If you selected to store the zone data in Active Directory, next you will be asked which servers you want to replicate the DNS data to: all DNS servers in the forest, all DNS servers in the domain, all domain controllers in the domain, or all DCs that are hosting a particular application partition. Click Next after you make your selection.

Step 7 applies only to DNS servers that are installed on Windows Server 2003 domain controllers. If you still have Windows 2000 DNS servers in your environment, choose the option of replicate the zone to all domain controllers in your domain.

2. Type the Network ID for the reverse zone or enter a reverse zone name to use.
3. Fill out the information for the remaining screens. They will vary depending on if you are creating a primary, secondary, or stub zone.

Using a command-line interface

The following command creates an AD-integrated reverse zone:

> dnscmd <DNSServerName> /zoneadd <ZoneName> /DsPrimary

Using VBScript

‘ This code creates an

AD-integrated reverse zone.

‘ —— SCRIPT CONFIGURATION ——

strServer = “<DNSServerName>” ‘ e.g. dc1.rallencorp.com

strNewZone = “<ZoneName>” ‘ e.g. 8.10.192.in-addr.arpa.

‘ —— END CONFIGURATION ——–

set objDNS = GetObject(“winMgmts:\\” & strServer & “\root\MicrosoftDNS”)

set objDNSZone = objDNS.Get(“MicrosoftDNS_Zone”)

strNull = objDNSZone.CreateZone(strNewZone, 0 , True)

WScript.Echo “Created zone ” & strNewZone

Discussion

Creating a reverse zone is very similar to creating a forward zone.