Hey everyone! I'm facing a bit of a dilemma with domain joining, and I could really use some insights. My company, CompanyA, was recently acquired by another company, CompanyB. Currently, we're tasked with managing both IT environments separately because they're not merging just yet. The networks are connected, so while we can ping and use FQDN to access their resources, we can't seem to ping devices using just their hostnames. The real kicker is that CompanyB uses an MDM solution to automate device setup when they join their domain. For us to be able to provision devices, we need to join their laptops to their domain from our network.
Here's what I've gathered so far:
- We can resolve and ping their domain controllers via FQDN.
- SRV record lookups are working fine.
- The DNS appears to be correctly configured with A records in place.
- The client devices are set to use their DNS servers.
Despite all this, the domain join still fails. I'm thinking it's probably a DNS-related issue, but I can't quite figure out what's wrong. Has anyone been in a similar situation with separate domains and networks, and run into domain joining issues? Any tips on what to check or troubleshoot?
By the way, I know a VPN could solve this, but I'd love to avoid that extra step if possible. Thank you for any advice!
1 Answer
It sounds like the issue could be related to the DNS Suffix Search List, or perhaps the Connection-Specific DNS Suffix needs matching. Make sure your DHCP server isn't distributing the wrong settings. A hardware VPN might be the best solution for the join process, but if you're looking for alternatives, try adjusting the Primary DNS suffix to match CompanyB's. You can do this by navigating through the system settings. I know it’s a pain, but it could help with the domain join issue.
Yeah, definitely give that a shot! It should help align your settings with theirs. Plus, verifying those settings might just uncover the root of the problem.
Good luck! I'm rooting for you to find a solution without needing that VPN. Hoping someone else has more quick fixes for you!