Troubleshooting Active Directory & DNS

1.  Verify that the source domain controller is using a valid DNS server for DNS services, and that the source domain controller's host record and CNAME record are correctly registered, using the DNS Enhanced version of DCDIAG.EXE available on http://www.microsoft.com/dns

dcdiag /test:dns

2.Verify that the DNS Server service is running.

If the destination domain controller is configured to use a local DNS server, verify that the DNS Server service is running. To do this, type net start “DNS Server” at a command prompt, and then press ENTER.

3. Register DNS resource records in DNS.

The Net Logon service on a domain controller registers the DNS resource records that are required for the domain controller to be located in the network. To manually initiate this registration on the source domain controller, type the following at a command prompt, and then press ENTER after each command:

net stop "net logon"

net start "net logon"

4. The DNS Client service registers the host (A) resource record that the CNAME record points to. To initiate this registration on the source domain controller, type ipconfig /registerdns at a command prompt, and then press ENTER.

5. Force replication on the source and destination domain controllers.

a.                   On the destination domain controller, open Active Directory Sites and Services.

2. In the console tree, click NTDS Settings for the domain controller that you want to force replication on.
3. In the details pane, right-click the connection that you want to use to replicate directory information, and then click Replicate Now.

You can also use the repadmin and replmon command-line tools. These tools are available on your Windows Server 2003 installation CD. (The repadmin command is repadmin /syncall /d /e /P source_domain_controller.)

6. You can also use the Netdiag.exe and Dcdiag.exe command-line tools to troubleshoot DNS and Active Directory infrastructure issues. Both tools are available online or on the Windows Server 2003 installation CD. To download these tools, visit the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools Web page:

7.  NBTSTAT helps to troubleshoot the NETBIOS name resolutions problems.

8. HOSTNAME

9. NSLOOKUP

10. ARP
ARP displays and modifies IP to Physical address translation table that is used by the ARP protocols.
11. FINGER
Finger command is used to retrieve the information about a user on a network.
12.  Use the nltest /dsgetdc:domainname command to verify that a domain controller can be located for a specific domain. The NLTest tool is installed with the Windows XP support tools.
13. Delete the DNS zones.
14. Use ipconfig /flushdns command.
15. Recreate the DNS zones.
16. Restart Net Logon service
17. Use ipconfig /registerdns