nslookup

What OS do you have installed on your computer?
Is set up your computer as dns server for your network?
If it is, you need to configure a forward lookup zone and a reverse lookup zone for your network, also you may want to configure forwarders for dns server ( like dns server from your ISP ).
For more details, try this:

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/standard/proddocs/en-us/dns_server_role.asp

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/IIS/6/all/proddocs/en-us/dns_server_role.asp

IF YOUR COMPUTER IS A WORKSTATION, NOT A SERVER,

Go Start, Control Panel, Network conections, right click on network conection, properties, click Internet protocol TCP/IP, properties,
choose "Use the following DNS server adresses" and fill at least first field with ip adress of one DNS server in your network.
If your NIC obtain IP adress from DHCP server, ask your network administrator to set up DHCP options as DNS, Gateway, etc.

Good Luck

I have W2K. My computer is a server. How do I name the server so that I don't get "server unknown".  I have  configured a forward and reverse lookup zone for mydomain.com and test.mydomain.com. I have gone to MyNetwork places, selected TCP/IP and assigned a static IP address, subnet mask, default gateway and assigned IP addressed to preferred DNS server (which is the same as the IP address I gave earlier on). When I type ls mydomain.com, I get a list of what I've setup. Is something still wrong or have I configured my DNS server correctly?

Peter

That works ok. I think I have configured my DNS server correctly. Is this all that I need to do in order to install Active Directory?

Peter

I cannot have my zones Active Directory integrated as AD is not installed! Am I misunderstanding something basic? Any help is much appreciated.

My zone name is mydomain.com and my domain name is mydomain (as stated in the setup completion when I turned the server on for the first time). So I think I'm alright there.

Peter

IF you want to use AD and your server as a PDC,
Change the name of your server as desired, restart machine and after restart type at the command prompt dcpromo. Will launch active directory wizard. Warning, after AD wizard you will need to reconfigure DNS server in order to use forwarders :).

Good Luck again!

If the goal here is to install AD on your network I assume that you want to promote the server on your network to a domain controller.  When you go through the wizard to promote the server the wizard will create DNS zones that are active directory integrated.  I have never configured DNS without actually having a domain controller present so your situation is unique to me.

Hope this helps

Ed

How many Workstations are in Your Lan ?
How many NIC's are in your server?

I am just curious ....

One workstation. I think I only have one nic in my server. Can I easily check this?

Peter

Try to set up Active Directory and all will be more complicated but we will have a lot of fun chating here.

I have managed to set up AD. Now the education starts! I have set up two users before installing AD. Will I have to set them up again? I am looking forward to group policies and permissions as well as the rest.

Peter

It's been a while since I used nslookup, but AFAIK, that error comes from not having a reverse zone configured for the IP you set as your nameserver.  127.0.0.1 apparently works because your computer knows that 127.0.0.1 = localhost (or something similar)

Cheers,
-Jon

You are getting that error "Server unknown because the primary DNS surfix is not set.

To enter the primary DNS surfix right click on my computer icon on the desktop and then click on properties.
Click on the network identification tab. Then click on properties. Then click on more.
Enter the your domain name here.

Before you can do this, you will need to remove active directory using DCPromo.