DNS on Windows Server 2003, 3rd Edition

Managing the DNS Server Configuration

The DNS server is one of the few Microsoft services that you can configure completely from a command line. The dnscmd utility has been around since Windows NT. Microsoft has added new options with every major operating system release. With it, you can modify server settings and create, query, and manipulate zones and resource records. In the Windows Server 2003 version, there are even dnscmd commands for managing Active Directory application partitions.

Using dnscmd is straightforward. Here is the generic syntax:

dnscmd ServerName Command AdditionalOptions
         

The ServerName parameter is used to target a remote name server. It is optional and, if not included, runs the command against the local server (which must be a name server). You can also use a single dot (.) to target the local server.

The Command parameter is required and corresponds to an action you can perform against the server. The Windows Server 2003 version of dnscmd supports 37 different commands. Running dnscmd from a command line without passing any parameters displays the complete list of supported commands.

The AdditionalOptions parameter is optional for some commands, required for some, and not used for others. To see what additional parameters are needed for a command, run dnscmd Command /? from the command line.

The final point worth mentioning about dnscmd is that it does not communicate with a name server via dynamic updates, zone transfers, or any other standard DNS ...