Mac OS X Lion Server For Dummies®

Prerequisites

Before running Open Directory, you need to properly configure two aspects of your network: domain name service (DNS) and time synchronization for Kerberos.

Checking for proper DNS setup

If, during initial setup, you configured Server Assistant so that it created an Open Directory master for you, it should have also set up DNS. If you didn't do this configuration during initial setup or have a DNS server running on another server, you'll need to ensure that DNS is configured to support Open Directory.

Properly configured DNS is critical to the configuration and normal operation of an Open Directory domain. All Open Directory servers need static IP addresses, a zone with the host domain name, and two types of records: a fully qualified DNS address (A) and pointer (PTR) records. Verify the server's DNS records prior to promoting a Mac OS X Server to either master or replica status.

In an A record, also called a machine record, the system's hostname is resolved to an IP address. That is, when another computer requests the IP address for a given domain name, the machine record supplies it. A pointer (PTR) record, also known as a reverse lookup, resolves a domain name for any given IP address. Reverse resolution inquires about an IP address and returns the hostname. You can find more information about hosting your own DNS and creating these records on a Mac OS X server ...