DNS scenario

Dear junior IT,

First off thank you for contacting my with your questions ill will try to help you to the best of my ability. So you are working at two branch offices and have been tasked with where to place Active-Directory Integrated DNS Servers and what type to use. Before I answer these questions I will ask you one myself. Do you know what an ADI DNS is and the different type of zones there are? If not I will enclose some details two my question.

Secondly you say One of the branch offices is very small (maybe 5 users) and has very slow network connectivity. Do you need a DNS Server and, if so, which type of zone should it host? I would not recommend placing an ADI in your group because it isn’t big enough also it will slow the network down more than it already is.

Finally you also said the second branch office is much larger (about 30 users) and has better network connectivity. Does this office need a DNS Server and, if so, what type of zone would I recommend? I would say yes you need a dns sever for this group and I would set it with the primary zone the DNS server is the primary source for information about this zone, and it stores the master copy of zone data in a local file or in AD DS.

Thank you,
IT administrator

Active Directory–integrated DNS enables Active Directory storage and replication of DNS zone databases. Windows 2008 DNS server, the DNS server that is included with Windows 2008 Server, accommodates storing zone data in Active Directory. When you configure a computer as a DNS server, zones are usually stored as text files on name servers — that is, all of the zones required by DNS are stored in a text file on the server computer. These text files must be synchronized among DNS name servers by using a system that requires a separate replication topology and schedule called a zone transfer However, if you use Active Directory–integrated DNS when you configure a domain controller as a DNS name server, zone data is stored as an Active Directory object and is replicated as part of domain replication.
Only DNS servers that run on domain controllers can load Active Directory–integrated zones
The DNS Server service provides for three types of zones:
• Primary zone
• Secondary zone
• Stub zone
• Primary zone
• When a zone that this DNS server hosts is a primary zone, the DNS server is the primary source for information about this zone, and it stores the master copy of zone data in a local file or in AD DS. When the zone is stored in a file, by default the primary zone file is named zone_name.dns and it is located in the %windir%\System32\Dns folder on the server.
• Secondary zone
• When a zone that this DNS server hosts is a secondary zone, this DNS server is a secondary source for information about this zone. The zone at this server must be obtained from another remote DNS server computer that also hosts the zone. This DNS server must have network access to the remote DNS server that supplies this server with updated information about the zone. Because a secondary zone is merely a copy of a primary zone that is hosted on another server, it cannot be stored in AD DS.
• Stub zone
• When a zone that this DNS server hosts is a stub zone, this DNS server is a source only for information about the authoritative name servers for this zone. The zone at this server must be obtained from another DNS server that hosts the zone. This DNS server must have network access to the remote DNS server to copy the authoritative name server information about the zone.