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ESXi - DNS Quetion

Hi,

I'm trying to figure out what DNS settings to use on my ESXi server.

Here is my setup.
I have a firewall, that has external 2 external DNS settings, then then to
a ESXi server that at the moment has the 2 internal DNS settings from a virtual windows nameserver.

Here is my question, I have 4 nameserver addresses on my windows DNS servers.

ns1, ns2, ns3, ns4
so for example, my web server uses 2 nics, one nic has
nic1 zone
192.168.2.4
192.168.2.5

nic2 zone
192.168.2.8
192.168.2.9

this is where I get confused. Should I set my esxi server up with 2 nics, with the same dns?
but that doesn't seem right since the DNS server is in windows, within the ESXi server.

I would almost think the ESXi DNS should be the external DNS, or 192.168.2.1
also, should it be a single IP, load balanced, or 2 Different Ip's?

I hope I am making sense, input appreciated.

attached is my network topology

network-topalogy.psd

TheWebGuy38

ASKER

oops, attached A psd, should be a jpg, sorry

Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

use the DNS servers which are internal to you LAN for esx servers to resolve servers and computers on your internal lan.

you external dns servers probably provide name resolution for internet domain names.

but you could link the internal dns servers to external dns servers by configuring forwarders on the first set of dns servers. and then you have have one pair of dns servers that are being used to resolve ip addresses in the network. if internal dns doesnt have the ip address being queried it will request from forwarder.

TheWebGuy38

ASKER

Internally,

I could use
192.168.2.1

or I have the 4 ns server ips

192.168.2.4
192.168.2.5
192.168.2.8
192.168.2.9

but I think I can only use 2 of these. at least at console

IanTh

the internal vswitch is connected to the lan so you can use dns in or out out the esx server

TheWebGuy38

ASKER

if I go to vmkernal, I see some dns entries, but they are grayed out and can't edit. also, Can I set a second adaptor, so 1 points to ns1, ns2, and another to ns3 ns4?

Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

use the internal dns entries.

dns is modified from the esx console, not the vsphere client, under network settings

TheWebGuy38

ASKER

I guess don't undersatand

ns1, ns2, ns3, ns4 are my internal DNS

so how do I add them all, so if one server goes down, the other stays online,

I could use 1 IP from each server, instead of all 4

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

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lnkevin

192.168.2.1 seems to be your router and dns. For your esxi, you should use the internal dns out side of your physical server (not the ones inside of your ESXi) if you would like your server connected to the Internet. Remember ESXi comes up before the internal DNS vm's can be started. However, for all the vm's inside of ESXi (webservers ....) you can using the internal DNS

K

SOLUTION

lnkevin

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