Diff between "DNSDoman" in "Microsoft-Windows-DNS-Client&#

[srihariram]

Hi,

Can someone let me know the difference between "DNSDoman" in "Microsoft-Windows-DNS-Client" component and "Domain" in "Microsoft-Windows-UnattendJoin".

When to use what? Do they both mean the same?

Thanks in adavance..

[Tripredacus]

These are different. The domain in UnattendJoin is when you want Setup to join the computer to an Active Directory domain automatically. The DNS Domain is likely the DNS Suffix, which is a domain name that is appended to the computer name, also it will search first within that domain for servers. Some network setups will require that the correct DNS Suffix is assigned to the computer, but this is only for static IPs. If your network has a DHCP server, you can have it send along the DNS Suffix with the IP address when the client requests it.

So to better explain the DNS Suffix in a real world situation, we will use the example in the help file of FABRIKAM.COM. When your computer needs to go somewhere on the intranet/network, let's say you have a computer on the network called \\HELPDESK. Windows will send a request to the DNS Server for the IP Address for HELPDESK.FABRIKAM.COM. Also, your computer name would be COMPUTERNAME.FABRIKAM.COM (the FQDN) and usually the DNS Suffix is going to match the AD Domain the computer is on, but as I mentioned before, networks can be set up differently so this isn't always the case.

[srihariram]

These are different. The domain in UnattendJoin is when you want Setup to join the computer to an Active Directory domain automatically. The DNS Domain is likely the DNS Suffix, which is a domain name that is appended to the computer name, also it will search first within that domain for servers. Some network setups will require that the correct DNS Suffix is assigned to the computer, but this is only for static IPs. If your network has a DHCP server, you can have it send along the DNS Suffix with the IP address when the client requests it.

So to better explain the DNS Suffix in a real world situation, we will use the example in the help file of FABRIKAM.COM. When your computer needs to go somewhere on the intranet/network, let's say you have a computer on the network called \\HELPDESK. Windows will send a request to the DNS Server for the IP Address for HELPDESK.FABRIKAM.COM. Also, your computer name would be COMPUTERNAME.FABRIKAM.COM (the FQDN) and usually the DNS Suffix is going to match the AD Domain the computer is on, but as I mentioned before, networks can be set up differently so this isn't always the case.

Thanks a lot for the info.