How to have your DNS servers forward queries for internet names

Question

I have 2 Domain Controllers / DNS servers on Windows 2012, their IPs are 10.0.1.10 and 10.0.1.11

Another server acts as the DHCP server for clients, and sets their primary and secondary DNS to the IP addresses of the previously mentioned domain controllers / DNS servers.

However I cannot resolve internet domain names, presumably as they are not hosted on the DNS servers. So my question is what do I have to do on my setup to resolve external domains?

Thank you!

Xavier.

Solution

Edit the properties of your DNS server > Forwarders tab > enter the ip address(es) of your ISP/external DNS servers. You can use root hints if you prefer, or if the forwarders are not available. You should also confirm that the Advanced tab > Disable recursion box is unchecked.

If you want to use root hints:

• If the DNS Server Root Hints tab is not populated, you can re-enter them from the file: %systemroot%\system32\dns\cache.dns.

• To have your DNS server recursively resolve queries, your DNS server cannot host a root (. dot) zone.