Menu
On our router we have the primary DNS set to a local IP, which is running Windows Server 2008 and the built in DNS server. We use this to resolve domains to local servers, if the domain is not founds locally we have forwarders set up to query external name servers.
The secondary DNS on the router is set to our ISP's primary DNS, incase the local DNS server is down.
The mac clients in our office pick up the DNS servers correctly from the router but it seems very random as to what DNS server it uses. For example, a local site would load up but some of the images would not. If I hard coded my DNS address to be the local DNS server everything would work fine.
So my question is, when would a mac client use the secondary DNS server? I though it'd only use it if the primary DNS was unavailable?
Thanks!
618
Secondary DNS service affords you an extra set of authoritative nameservers to answer queries for your domain. The information that is stored on both nameservers is identical. Secondary DNS allows your domain zone file to be backed up automatically and stored as a copy on a secondary server.
Secondary DNS servers are not mandatory—the DNS system can work even if only a primary server is available. But it is standard, and often required by domain registrars, to have at least one secondary server.
The major point in having a secondary DNS server is as backup in the event the primary DNS server handling your domain goes down. In this case, your server would be still up, and so without having a backup, nobody could get to your server possibly costing you lots of lost customers (i.e. REAL MONEY).
Open your Command Prompt from the Start menu (or type “Cmd” into the search in your Windows task bar). Next, type ipconfig/all into your command prompt and press Enter. Look for the field labeled “DNS Servers.” The first address is the primary DNS server, and the next address is the secondary DNS server.
I googled this article which explains newer MacOS DNS search order. And this one which explains how to tweak it to obtain results that you desire.
Though the general idea is that it was never intended (in any OS) that first server is the one used and the second one is a backup. ( Even on windows, if first server for some reason doesn't answers very quickly, the second one will be queried.) It's wiser to regard server query order as unspecified.
171
If you love us? You can donate to us via Paypal or buy me a coffee so we can maintain and grow! Thank you!
Donate Us With
