NETLOGON Event Warning Dynamic Registration 5781

Question

I've set up a couple of Domain Controllers and the first DC I set up is taking a while to start up and occassionally displaying a warning in the Windows Event Log that I think may be related to the long startup times during the 'Preparing Network Connections...' phase of loading. Note this is Windows 2003 Server.

1. I have included below:
   • Event Description
   • Netdiag output
   • Nltest /dsregdns output

Event Description

Dynamic registration or deletion of one or more DNS records associated with DNS domain 'intranet.example.com.' failed. These records are used by other computers to locate this server as a domain controller (if the specified domain is an Active Directory domain) or as an LDAP server (if the specified domain is an application partition).

Possible causes of failure include:
- TCP/IP properties of the network connections of this computer contain wrong IP address(es) of the preferred and alternate DNS servers - Specified preferred and alternate DNS servers are not running - DNS server(s) primary for the records to be registered is not running - Preferred or alternate DNS servers are configured with wrong root hints - Parent DNS zone contains incorrect delegation to the child zone authoritative for the DNS records that failed registration

USER ACTION
Fix possible misconfiguration(s) specified above and initiate registration or deletion of the DNS records by running 'nltest.exe /dsregdns' from the command prompt or by restarting Net Logon service. Nltest.exe is available in the Microsoft Windows Server Resource Kit CD.

Output from netdiag

..................................

    Computer Name: ExampleServer
    DNS Host Name: ExampleServer.intranet.example.com
    System info : Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 (Build 3790)
    Processor : EM64T Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 6, GenuineIntel
    List of installed hotfixes :
        KB926139-v2
        KB926141
        KB942288-v4
        KB954550-v7
        Q147222


Netcard queries test . . . . . . . : Passed


Per interface results:

    Adapter : Local Area Connection

        Netcard queries test . . . : Passed

        Host Name. . . . . . . . . : ExampleServer
        IP Address . . . . . . . . : 192.168.12.250
        Subnet Mask. . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
        Default Gateway. . . . . . : 192.168.12.1
        Dns Servers. . . . . . . . : 127.0.0.1

        AutoConfiguration results. . . . . . : Passed

        Default gateway test . . . : Passed

        NetBT name test. . . . . . : Passed
        [WARNING] At least one of the <00> 'WorkStation Service', <03> 'Messeng
r Service', <20> 'WINS' names is missing.

        WINS service test. . . . . : Skipped
            There are no WINS servers configured for this interface.

    Global results:

    Domain membership test . . . . . . : Passed

    NetBT transports test. . . . . . . : Passed
        List of NetBt transports currently configured:
            NetBT_Tcpip_{C022111A-...}
        1 NetBt transport currently configured.

    Autonet address test . . . . . . . : Passed

    IP loopback ping test. . . . . . . : Passed

    Default gateway test . . . . . . . : Passed

    NetBT name test. . . . . . . . . . : Passed
        [WARNING] You don't have a single interface with the <00> 'WorkStation Serv
    ice', <03> 'Messenger Service', <20> 'WINS' names defined.

    Winsock test . . . . . . . . . . . : Passed

    DNS test . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Passed
        PASS - All the DNS entries for DC are registered on DNS server '127.0.0.1'
    and other DCs also have some of the names registered.

    Redir and Browser test . . . . . . : Passed
        List of NetBt transports currently bound to the Redir
            NetBT_Tcpip_{C022111A-...}
        The redir is bound to 1 NetBt transport.

        List of NetBt transports currently bound to the browser
            NetBT_Tcpip_{C022111A-...}
        The browser is bound to 1 NetBt transport.

    DC discovery test. . . . . . . . . : Passed

    DC list test . . . . . . . . . . . : Passed

    Trust relationship test. . . . . . : Skipped

    Kerberos test. . . . . . . . . . . : Passed

    LDAP test. . . . . . . . . . . . . : Passed

    Bindings test. . . . . . . . . . . : Passed

    WAN configuration test . . . . . . : Skipped
        No active remote access connections.

    Modem diagnostics test . . . . . . : Passed

    IP Security test . . . . . . . . . : Skipped

        Note: run "netsh ipsec dynamic show /?" for more detailed information

    The command completed successfully

nltest /dsregdns

Flags: 0

Connection Status = 0 0x0 NERR_Success

The command completed successfully

Solution

Configuring each DC to use only itself for DNS via 127.0.0.1 is your problem.
Configure DC1 to use DC2 as the first try for DNS resolution. Configure DC2 to use DC1 as the first try for DNS resolution. Configure each DC to use itself as a secondary DNS source.

You could also take the action described here about making the Netlogon service depend on the DNS service. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/259277

NOTE: A common cause for these errors is that a domain controller references itself as a primary DNS server in its TCP/IP properties. When the domain controller starts in this configuration, the Netlogon service may start before the DNS service starts. Because the Netlogon service must register records in DNS and the DNS service is not yet available, errors may occur. In this situation, you can safely ignore the errors because the Netlogon service will again try to register the records in approximately five minutes, at which time it will be successful. However, there are two ways to avoid the errors in this scenario:

1. Make sure that domain controllers do not reference themselves as a primary DNS server in their TCP/IP properties.
2. Configure the Netlogon service to depend on the DNS service. This will cause the Netlogon service to start after the DNS service starts. To do this, run REGEDT32, and go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netlogon In the right pane, double-click the value DependOnService and add DNS to the next available blank line.
3. Click OK and exit Registry Editor.

For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base 193888: How to Delay Loading of Specific Services

Comments

[user125248]

Could this possibly lead to slow resolution of domain names? The two DCs are in phyiscally different locations across DSL links.

[jojojoj]

Event 5781 is no going to cause slow DNS. Its reporting a problem that the Netlogon service cannot perform a Dynamic DNS registration because the DNS service is not yet running. Suggest you config machines in site1 to use the dns svr in site1 first, machines in site2 to use dns svr in site2 first.