I'm looking for some advice regarding a recent change in our network setup. We have a customer using an old ERP system that requires each client to be resolvable through a PTR record. We separated our network into different VLANs and switched from a Windows Server DHCP to a DHCP server on our firewall. Since this change, our Citrix Windows Servers (using Citrix MCS with DHCP) no longer receive updated PTR records in the Windows DNS server, even though their A-records are being updated. I've come across similar issues with other Citrix MCS clients, but the resulting problems there are mostly cosmetic, not technical. What can be done to ensure our Windows Server produces the proper PTR records with a 3rd party DHCP server?
4 Answers
Have you looked into the dynamic updates setting for your reverse lookup zone? The DNS event logs might also provide some useful clues about what's happening.
I was curious why you switched from the Windows Server DHCP to the firewall DHCP. Was it for better VLAN management or something else?
I'm not the network specialist, but I believe it simplifies management in a multi-VLAN setup. They've always done it this way after years of being on one large subnet.
This is exactly why it's preferred to use Active Directory with DNS. Switching to a 3rd party DHCP can lead to losing that functionality with dynamic DNS updates.
I don't quite follow. We're still on Windows AD and DNS, but we're no longer using Windows DHCP. I thought A and PTR records could be updated without it, but only the A records seem to be updating.
Is this all happening in an Active Directory setup? I thought clients would automatically update their A and PTR records in that case.
Yes, it's an Active Directory environment. I assumed it would work as you said, but A-records update while PTRs do not.
Yeah, but those won't update since we're not using Active Directory DNS anymore.