If you are planning on taking exam 70-297, I can guarantee that you will encounter exam questions about integrating Windows Server 2003 and BIND. So one of the things you must know is how the different versions of BIND integrate with Windows Server 2003.

BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Daemon) is a Unix-based DNS service. It is not uncommon for many organizations to have BIND DNS servers on a Windows-based network. This is important to remember for both the exam and in the real world. Since DNS plays such an important role, many organizations will not be willing to do away with their existing BIND servers for Windows Server 2003 DNS servers. Kind of like “if it ain’t broke, don’t mess with it.” In such cases, you need to be aware of how the two DNS systems will interoperate with one another.

Windows Server 2003 DNS is capable of interoperating with various versions of BIND. Newer versions of BIND support many of the features not found in earlier versions. So one of the most important things to look at is the BIND version currently being used to determine how it will integrate with Windows Server 2003 DNS.

First thing you need to remember is in regards to SRV records. In Windows Server 2003 (as well as Windows 2000), the DNS service locator records (SRV records) are used to locate domain controllers that are running specific services. SRV records are mandatory for integrating with Windows Server 2003 domain controllers. BIND version 4.9.7 and above support SRV records. Therefore, you need to be running, at the minimum, BIND version 4.9.7. Remember that for the exam!

Second point to keep in mind is in regards to dynamic updates. Although not required, it is recommended that any DNS used supports dynamic updates. Dynamic Updates enable a DNS client to update its own host records with a DNS server. This is particularly useful when adding new domain controllers as there are a number of SRV records that must be created. Dynamic update eliminates the need for having to manually add these records to a DNS zone file. BIND version 8.2.2 supports dynamic updates.

So for a quick exam summary, BIND version 4.9.7 supports the SRV records. However, if you want to use dynamic updates, you need BIND version 8.2.2 or higher. It is also worth mentioning here that only a standard primary DNS server needs to support dynamic update. Secondary DNS servers pull updates from the primary server and therefore do not need dynamic update capability.