DSfW uses the Novell DNS service that is included with OES. The DNS server that gets installed when you choose the DSfW pattern for installation is configured with DSfW-specific configuration.
While installing the first domain controller of a domain, you can configure a new DNS server or use an existing parent domain DNS server to host the new domain information. By default, the first domain controller in the forest root domain is automatically configured to be the DNS server. This is done for both name-mapped and non-name-mapped installations, if the option in YaST is selected while configuring the first domain controller of the forest root domain.
When a domain controller is added to a forest, the DNS zone hosted on a DNS server is updated with the DNS Locator object, the Address (A) record and the Service (SRV) record. To find domain controllers in a domain or forest, a client queries DNS for the SRV and A resource records of the domain controller. These records help in domain name resolution and service identification. For more information about A and SRV resource records, see Types of Resource Records
in the OES 2 SP3: Novell DNS/DHCP Administration Guide.
While provisioning the DSfW server, secure dynamic updates are enabled as part of the task. Dynamic updates enable DNS client computers to register and dynamically update their resource records with a DNS server whenever changes occur.
An existing DSfW DNS server can be migrated to Active Directory DNS in order to facilitate management of DNS data from the MMC DNS plug-in. However, migration of DNS does not provide Active Directory's inherent storage and replication benefits. For information about how to migrate DSfW DNS to Active Directory DNS, see Setting Up a Windows DNS Server for DSfW.
It is also possible to migrate an existing DSfW DNS server to any other domain controller of the same domain or to a domain that has a read/write replica of the partition where the zone records are located. For details, see Section 13.4, Migrating DNS to Another Domain Controller
It is not possible to use an existing Novell DNS server configured on a local or remote server to work with DSfW.
Third-party DNS servers are also not supported, with the exception of the Windows DNS, which can later be used by transferring the DNS data from an existing DSfW DNS to the Windows DNS. For more details, see Section 13.2.3, Configuring a Domain Controller by Using an Existing DNS Server.
DSfW cannot be configured with an existing Windows DNS. However, an existing DSfW DNS server can be migrated to a Windows DNS server. For details, see Setting Up a Windows DNS Server for DSfW