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HOW TO: Create the Windows Server 2003 DNS Application Partitions

After upgrading Active Directory from Windows 2000 Server to Windows Server 2003 you might want to utilise the new DNS application partitions. These are not created by default, unless you allow the Windows Server 2003 DCPROMO to configure DNS for you. This article briefly discusses these application partitions, and explains how to create the partitions if you don't have them.

If you upgrade your Active Directory from Windows 2000 Server to Windows Server 2003 you will find that you are still running DNS in what Microsoft now call "legacy DNS" mode. This is because in Windows 2000 Server the Active Directory-Integrated DNS was stored in the domain naming context; under CN=MicrosoftDNS, CN=System, DC=domain-name,DC=tld

If the Windows Server 2003 version of DCPROMO configures DNS for you, the Active Directory Installation Wizard creates two new application partitions for the storage of DNS zones - ForestDNSZones and DomainDNSZones. Active Directory stores DNS zones in either of these application partitions, as opposed to the domain partition, for the purpose of replication, depending on the scope of replication defined. Application Partitions can have a wider scope of replication than the domain partition. DNS can now be replicated to all DCs in the forest, which overcomes the requirement for secondary zones when running Active Directory-Integrated DNS in a multi-domain forest.

After upgrading to Windows Server 2003 DCs, it is usually preferable to utilise the application partitions and therefore some of the new features of Windows' DNS. To create the Windows Server 2003 DNS Application Partitions, and enable the ability to replicate forest-wide, etc. perform the following steps:

Via the GUI

Open the DNS Management Snap-In (Start\ Run\ dnsmgmt.msc)
Right-click on the server object and choose Create Default Application Directory Partitions... (figure 1)

Figure 1: The DNS Server object's context-sensitive menu

Choose yes or no, in the dialogs that appear depending on whether you wish to create both, or just one, etc.

Via command line

You can also do this by using the DNSCMD application. Firstly open a command prompt (Start\ Run\ cmd), and then type:

C:\>dnscmd /createbuiltindirectorypartitions /Domain
C:\>dnscmd /createbuiltindirectorypartitions /Forest

For more information on DNSCMD and the /CreateBuiltinDirectoryPartitions switch type the following or view the Technet information:

C:\>dnscmd /?
C:\>dnscmd /createbuiltindirectorypartitions /?

Document information

Author: Paul Williams
Written: 11-06-2005
Version: 2.0
Last updated: 02-08-2007
Last updated by: Paul Williams

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