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        Creating a Reverse Lookup Zone using DNSCMD

Section(s): Active Directory, Admin, Network
Published on Oct 29, 2009.
Last Modified on May 03, 2009.
Last Modified by Mitch Tulloch.
Rating: Not Rated

An example of how to use the DNSCMD command to create a reverse lookup zone from the command-line.

If your DNS server is running Windows Server Core, you can create reverse lookup zones from the command-line by using the DNSCMD command. While forward lookup zones are named using the FQDN of the domain to which the zone maps, reverse lookup zones are named using the following convention:

[octet address form of network ID in reverse order].in-addr.arpa.

For example, if the network ID for clients in the forward lookup zone is 172.16.11/24 (that is, 172.16.11.0 with subnet mask 255.255.255.0), then the reverse lookup zone usually is named 11.16.172.in-addr.arpa.

As an example, you can use the following command to create a reverse lookup standard primary zone named 11.16.172.in-addr.arpa on a DNS server named SEA-SC4:

dnscmd SEA-SC4 /zoneadd 11.16.172.in-addr.arpa /primary

For more information on managing DNS servers running on Windows Server Core, see my book Windows Server 2008 Server Core Administrator's Pocket Consultant from Microsoft Press.

About Mitch Tulloch

Mitch Tulloch is a widely recognized expert on Windows administration, networking, and security. He has been repeatedly awarded Most Valuable Professional (MVP) status by Microsoft for his outstanding contributions in supporting users who deploy and use Microsoft platforms, products and solutions. Mitch has published over two hundred articles on different IT websites and magazines, and he has written or contributed to almost two dozen books and is lead author for the Windows 7 Resource Kit from Microsoft Press. For more information, see www.mtit.com .