Stephanie McFadden
NT1230
Unit 8 Assignment 1

The Just Legal Company in Figmont, Nebraska has acquired a new internet address - www.justafigmont.com. They want to set up a DNS server. What would a basic DNS file look like?
Describe the file.
The DNS or (Domain Name System) names the number mappings on your computer. For example www.justfigmont.com could be the number 160.92.3.6. This is achieved through the DNS. The DNS is a hierarchy. There are a small number of root domain name servers that are responsible for tracking the top level domains and who are under them. The root domain servers between them know about all the people who have name servers that are authoritative for domains under the root.
A basic DNS file may look like this:
C:\>nslookup
Default Server: vnsc-bak.sys.gtei.net
Address: 4.2.2.2

> set type=mx
> bellcs.com
Server: vnsc-bak.sys.gtei.net
Address: 4.2.2.2

Non-authoritative answer: bellcs.com MX preference = 0, mail exchanger = bellcs.com

bellcs.com nameserver = ns2.server766.net bellcs.com nameserver = ns.server766.net bellcs.com internet address = 66.78.26.7

"Setting up a Basic DNS Server for a Domain." Setting up a Basic DNS Server for a Domain. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Aug. 2015.
"Learn Exchange Server 2000: Setting Up DNS for Internet Access." RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Aug. 2015.

Unit 8 Assignment 2

What benefits do you see in moving an organization to an Active Directory environment?
Four Benefits of Moving an Organization to an Active Directory Environment: 1. Using an Active Directory environment gives a better representation of the network. The active Directory structure allows the possibility of a greatly centralized management of users no matter how large the client’s network has become. In Windows NT each domain is its own independent identity. Although it is possible to have multiple domains exist on a common network they are never actually integrated with each other because there is no authoritative manager for the domains. That is why it is beneficial to have an Active Directory environment so that everything is represented better in the network through centralization. 2. The Active Directory domain environment is great to have even if your client’s network is big or it could be small as well. As an example for Windows 2000 and 2003 Server, the domain Administrator account and the Domain Admin group are still existent and can be used the same way that you were used to using them in Windows NT. There is also an Enterprise Admin group. Members of this group can manage any object within the entire Active Directory, regardless of what domain it exists within. 3. Another way that Active Directory improves scalability in large organizations is through the use of organizational units (OUs). An OU is a cluster of users and computers. This means if you have a large domain, you can organize the domain into OUs. For example, suppose that your client's company used one large domain that spanned the entire corporation. Normally, this would mean that the administrative team would be responsible for managing the entire domain and all of the objects within it. Now imagine that your client's company has a really large finance department and that the finance department’s secretary is good with computers. 4. Another cool benefit of an Active Directory environment is the concept of sites and multimaster replication. In Windows NT, when you make a change to the SAM, the change is applied directly to the PDC and is later replicated to each BDC. In an Active Directory multimaster replication environment, each domain controller contains a copy of Active Directory, not just the information for a single domain. Therefore, when a change is made to Active Directory, the change is applied to whatever domain controller is the closest, and is then replicated to the remaining domain controllers. This prevents a designated PDC from being overburdened.
"The Benefits of Moving Clients to an Active Directory Environment." TechRepublic. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Aug. 2015.