reverse lookup vs forward lookup zone

[crazeeplayer]

guys i was asked by my senior network admin to configure active directory. i did that an he wanted me to go ahead and configure DNS. the thing is that i forgot the difference between reverse lookup and forward lookup zone as im fairly new to the microsoft side of networking. could someone highklight the difference for me real quick.

[Arch_Angel]

Forward lookup is the opposite of reverse lookup. Reverse lookup is the determination of an ip address with a domain name.

Forward lookup is the determination of a domain name from an ip address.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_DNS_lookup

[jamrock]

im fairly new to the microsoft side of networking.

DNS is implemented the same way on different operating systems. What side of networking are you coming from?

i was asked by my senior network admin to configure active directory. i did that

Did you run dcpromo to promote the Windows server to a domain controller? I think it is easiest to configure DNS during this process. If you do this, dcpromo will ask you a few questions and then do all the work for you.

Note that dcpromo does not create reverse lookup zones. It only creates forward lookup zones. Windows works quite well without a reverse lookup zone on a LAN.

[crazeeplayer]

DNS is implemented the same way on different operating systems. What side of networking are you coming from?

my background is in cisco............. hard ware side which is configuring routers and switches, telecoms .....im fairly new to the microsoft side(software side)....i.e. servers, group policy, ad,dns,Ous etc.

[jamrock]

I see...

You may want to get some training in Windows networking if you are going to be setting up things like DNS, GPO's and Active Directory.

[crazeeplayer]

i have the cbt nuggets and train signal series....... actually setup server on vmware to practice.

guys what should be the entry in reverselookup... because my main dns server . xxx.xxx.x.2. and my file server is xxx.xxx.x.3. should i create a pointer to the dns server and the file server in reverse lookup.? or should it be just dns server u create the pointer for?
confused

[jamrock]

You are going to need a good understanding of how DNS works.

I hope these documents can assist you a bit.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/323445

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../bb742582.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l...7085.aspx#EGAA

[crazeeplayer]

thanks..........
forward lookup- hostname to ip
reverse lookup - ip to hostname

forward lookup- add the domain name and the hosts that are dns server
reverse lookup- add the networks that are in the domain and create the pointer that should map to the dns server

and then i used ns lookup to verify............

thanks...............
this is one of those things is either u know it or you dont.....
rather easy when u know it.

[jamrock]

No problem. I know almost nothing about Cisco routers so I guess we are even.