After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

 Describe name resolution.

 Describe DNS.
 Explain how to troubleshoot name resolution.
 Configure and test name resolution settings in Windows 10.
 Name resolution is the process of converting computer names to IP addresses.
 Name resolution is an essential part of computer networking because it is easier for users to
remember names than abstract numbers, such as an IPv4 or IPv6 address.
 Windows 10 supports a number of different methods for resolving computer names, such as:
o DNS,
o Windows Internet Name Service (WINS),
o local hosts or LMHOSTS resolution.

Computer names
 A host name is a user-friendly name that is associated with a host’s IP address and identifies it as a
TCP/IP host.
 A host name can be no more than 255 characters in length, and must contain only alphanumeric
characters, periods, and hyphens.
 A host name is an alias or a fully qualified domain name (FQDN).
 Note: An alias is a single name associated with an IP address, and
 the host name combines an alias with a domain name to create the FQDN.
 The elements of the name include periods as separators.
 Applications use the structured FQDN on the Internet.
 An example of an FQDN is payroll.contoso.com.
 A NetBIOS name is a nonhierarchical name that some older apps use.
 A 16-character NetBIOS name identifies a NetBIOS resource on a network.
 A NetBIOS name represents a single computer or a group of computers.
 NetBIOS uses the first 15 characters for a specific computer’s name and the final sixteenth character
to identify a resource or service on that computer.
 An example of a NetBIOS name is NYC-SVR2[20h].

Methods for resolving names

 There are a number of ways in which apps resolve names to IP addresses.

 DNS is the Microsoft standard for resolving host names to IP addresses.
 Apps also use DNS to do the following:
 Locate domain controllers and global catalog servers.
 Apps use this functionality when you sign in to Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS).
 Resolve IP addresses to host names.
 Apps use this functionality when a log file contains only a host’s IP address.
 Locate a mail server for email delivery.
 Apps use this functionality for the delivery of all Internet email.
 When an app specifies a host name, TCP/IP uses the DNS resolver cache, DNS, and Link-Local
Multicast Name Resolution when it attempts to resolve the host name.
  The Hosts file is loaded into the DNS resolver cache.
 Note: If NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled, TCP/IP also uses NetBIOS name resolution methods
when resolving single-label, unqualified host names.
 Depending on the configuration, Windows 10 resolves host names by performing the following
actions:
1. Checking whether the host name is the same as the local host name.
2. Searching the DNS resolver cache which is populated from the local Hosts file.
3. Sending a DNS request to its configured DNS servers. Note: Windows 10 can use Link-
Local Multicast Name Resolution for networks that do not have a DNS server.

Overview of DNS
o DNS is a service that manages the resolution of host names to IP addresses.
o Microsoft provides a DNS Server role on Windows Server 2012 R2 that you can use to
resolve host names in your organization.
o Typically, you will deploy multiple DNS servers in your organization to help improve both
the performance and the reliability of name resolution.
o Note: The Internet uses a single DNS namespace with multiple root servers.
o To participate in the Internet DNS namespace, you must register a domain name with a
DNS registrar.
o This ensures that no two organizations attempt to use the same domain name.

Structure of DNS
o The DNS namespace consists of a hierarchy of domains and subdomains. A DNS zone is a
specific portion of that namespace that resides on a DNS server in a zone file. DNS uses
both forward and reverse lookup zones to satisfy name resolution requests.

Forward lookup zones

o Forward lookup zones are capable of hosting a number of different record types.
o The most common record type in forward lookup zones is an A record, also known as a
host record.
o This record is used when resolving a host name to an IP address.
o Record types in forward lookup zones include:
 A. A host record, the most common type of DNS record.
 SRV. Service records are used to locate domain controllers and global catalog
servers.
 MX. Mail exchange records are used to locate the mail servers responsible for a
domain.
 CNAME. Canonical name records (CNAME records) resolve to another host
name, also referred to as an alias

Reverse lookup zones

 Reverse lookup zones contain PTR records.
 PTR records are used to resolve IP addresses to host names.
 An organization typically has control over the reverse lookup zones for its internal network.
  However, some PTR records for external IP addresses obtained from an ISP could be managed
by the ISP.

How names are resolved with DNS

 Resolving DNS names on the Internet involves an entire system of computers, not just a single
server.
 There are hundreds of servers on the Internet, called root servers, which manage the overall
process of DNS resolution.
 13 FQDNs represent these servers.
 A list of these 13 FQDNs is preloaded on each DNS server.
 When you register a domain name on the Internet, you are paying to become part of this
system.
 To understand how these servers work together to resolve a DNS name, see the following name
resolution process for the name www.microsoft.com:
1. A workstation queries the local DNS server for the IP address www.microsoft.com.
2. If the local DNS server does not have the information, it queries a root DNS server for
the location of the .com DNS servers.
3. The local DNS server queries a .com DNS server for the location of the microsoft.com
DNS servers.
4. The local DNS server queries the microsoft.com DNS server for the IP address of
www.microsoft.com.
5. The microsoft.com DNS server returns the IP address of www.microsoft.com to the local
DNS server.
6. The local DNS server returns the result to the workstation.

Caching and forwarding can modify the name resolution process:

 Caching.
o After a local DNS server resolves a DNS name, it caches the results for the period that
the Time to Live (TTL) value defines in the Start of Authority (SOA) record for the DNS
zone.
o The default TTL is one hour.
o Subsequent resolution requests for the DNS name receive the cached information.
o Note that it is not the caching server that sets the TTL, but the authoritative DNS server
that resolved the name from its zone.
o When the TTL expires, the caching server must delete it. Subsequent requests for the
same name would require a new name resolution request to the authoritative server.
 Forwarding.
o Instead of querying root servers, you can configure a DNS server to forward DNS
requests to another DNS server.
o For example, requests for all Internet names can be forwarded to a DNS server at an ISP.

Troubleshooting Name Resolution

 When you troubleshoot name resolution, you must understand which name resolution methods
the computer is using, and in what order.
  As you know, the operating system resolves host names either by using a local text file named
Hosts, or by using DNS.
 Note: Windows 10 appends the primary and connection-specific suffixes to all names that it is
resolving.
 If the name resolution is unsuccessful initially, Windows 10 applies parent suffixes of the
primary DNS suffix.
 For example, if the DNS resolver attempts to resolve the name LON-CL1, Windows 10 appends
the .adatum.com suffix to attempt resolution.
 If that is unsuccessful, the operating system appends .com to the name, and attempts to resolve
it once again.
 You can configure this behavior from the Advanced TCP/IP Settings page.
 The primary tools for troubleshooting host name resolution are IPConfig and NSLookup, and
their Windows PowerShell equivalents Get-NetIPAddress, Get-NetIPv4Protocol, and Resolve-
dnsname.
 Best Practice: Be sure to clear the DNS resolver cache between resolution attempts.

The process for troubleshooting name resolution

 If you cannot connect to a remote host, and if you suspect a name resolution problem, you can
troubleshoot name resolution by using the following procedure:
1. Open an elevated command prompt, and then clear the DNS resolver cache by typing the
following command: IPConfig /flushdns

Note: Alternately, you can use the Windows PowerShell cmdlet Clear-DnsClientCache.

2. Attempt to verify connectivity to a remote host by using its IP address. This helps you
identify whether the issue is due to name resolution. You can use the Ping command or the
test-connection Windows PowerShell cmdlet. If the Ping command succeeds with the IP
address but fails by the host name, the problem is with name resolution.

Note: Remember that the remote host must allow inbound ICMP echo packets through its
firewall for this test to be viable.

3. Attempt to verify connectivity to the remote host by its host name, by using the FQDN
followed by a period. For example, type the following command at the command prompt:
Test-connection LON-cl1.adatum.com

Note: You also can use the ping command.

4. If the test is successful, the problem is likely unrelated to name resolution.

5. If the test is unsuccessful, edit the C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts text file, and
then add the appropriate entry to the end of the file. For example, add this line, and then
save the file: 172.16.0.51 LON-cl1.adatum.com
6. Perform the test-by-host-name procedure again. Name resolution should now be successful.
7. Examine the DNS resolver cache to verify that the name resolved correctly. To examine the
DNS resolver cache, type the following command at a command prompt: IPConfig
/displaydns

Note: You also can use the Windows PowerShell cmdlet Get-DnsClientCache.
8. Remove the entry that you added to the Hosts file, and then clear the resolver cache once
more. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then examine the contents of
the filename.txt file to identify the failed stage in name resolution: NSLookup.exe –d2
LON-cl1.adatum.com. \> filename.txt The Windows PowerShell equivalent
command is: Resolve-dnsname lon-cl1.adatum.com. \> filename.txt