bind, Microsoft Active Directory, Exchange and Magic Pixie Dust

[Barry Finkel]

Martin McCormick <martin at dc.cis.okstate.edu> wrote:

>	One of the latest things I am hearing is that "You must have a
>Microsoft DNS" in order for the Microsoft Exchange package to work
>correctly.
>
>	We presently delegate an active directory zone on the site in
>question and am trying to get all the clients to point their resolvers
>at our bind master DNS.  This does appear to work properly for
>everything else.
>
>	Those of us closest to DNS on our site would ultimately like
>to use the solution in Chapter 16 of DNS and Bind, 4TH Edition so that
>no Microsoft DNS is used at all and the AD controllers are allowed to
>update bind.
>
>	My own experience with that approach is that it works
>perfectly as long as one makes sure all the controllers can update all
>the special AD zones, but I don't have an honest example of what
>Microsoft Exchange does or doesn't need so I can't argue intelligently
>one way or the other and I certainly don't want to recommend a
>harmful course of action since people tend not to listen even more
>than they already don't listen when we give them good information.:-)
>
>	Can anyone describe a failure mode in Microsoft Exchange that
>is actually caused by not using a MS DNS?
>
>	Thank you greatly.

I am not sure what is meant by

     "You must have a Microsoft DNS" in order for the Microsoft
     Exchange package to work correctly.

And it appears that you do not know either.  A quick Google search
did not show any relevant pages.

As I have posted previously, here is the setup I have:

     ONE MS W2k+3 DNS for the four "_" zones and two W2k+3 zones
          for anl.gov

     That MS DNS Server also has sets of four "_" zones for about 11
          subdomains of anl.gov.

     All of the zones on the MS DNS Server are slaved on my four local
          BIND servers and two off-site BIND servers.

     ALL clients (Windows, Mac, Unix, VMS, et alia) are configured to
          use my local BIND servers for DNS resolution; no client should
          ever query my MS DNS Server (but there is no harm if it does).
      
     There are at least six MS Exchange Servers here, and none has DNS
     problems.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Barry S. Finkel
Computing and Information Systems Division
Argonne National Laboratory          Phone:    +1 (630) 252-7277
9700 South Cass Avenue               Facsimile:+1 (630) 252-4601
Building 222, Room D209              Internet: BSFinkel at anl.gov
Argonne, IL   60439-4828             IBMMAIL:  I1004994