What are GlobalNames Zones in Windows Server 2008?

On July 10, 2009

It is much more convenient to access servers in a Windows network by simply using single-label names, which are far easier to remember than the traditional fully qualified domain names (FQDNs) that are part of the default naming convention for Domain Name System (DNS). Before Windows Server 2008, network administrators used Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) technology to utilize single-label names. WINS is an alternative to DNS for name resolution. Because WINS depends on NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT), and WINS and NetBT do not support IPv6 protocols, administrators can now use GlobalNames zones in Windows Server 2008 to take advantage of single-label names. WINS has been pretty much on its way out for the past few years and the new GlobalNames zone capability in Windows Server 2008 pushes it further out the door.

The GlobalNames zones in Windows Server 2008 are new zones that allow network administrators to completely migrate to DNS for all their name resolution needs. Keep in mind that GlobalNames zones are not meant to be a complete replacement for WINS because, unlike WINS, they do not support dynamically registered records. GlobalNames zones are ideal for static, global records with single-label names where you do not need to rely on WINS.

One of the more common usages of GlobalNames zone could be to put all the Windows Server 2008 servers on your network that are using static IP addresses in GlobalNames zone. In a pure IPv6 environment, which is not supported by WINS, you can use GlobalNames zones to provide all the DNS resolution. Your goal should be to get rid of WINS, migrate to WS08 environment, deploy GlobalNames zone and run IPv6 on your network. As a best practice, make sure that the GlobalNames zones are integrated with Active Directory Domain Services. The integration offers several benefits, such as security, better management, and future scalability.

When to Deploy GlobalNames Zone

Here are a few good reasons for deploying a GlobalNames zone on your network.
1. You want to use single-label name resolution for your statically registered servers, or Web sites. You cannot register host names that are registered dynamically in a GlobalNames zone.
2. You are planning to get rid of WINS, or you are switching to a pure IPv6 environment that won’t use IPv4. With GlobalNames zone you will be able to completely depend on DNS for all your DNS name resolution needs.
3. You have a pure Windows Server 2008 environment where all the DNS servers are authoritative for the zones and serve client query requests. In such a pure environment (with no pre-Windows Server 2008 servers) all DNS servers must either be configured with a local copy of the GlobalNames zone, or they must be able to connect to other DNS servers that are configured for GlobalNames zone.
4. Your domains are not centrally managed and therefore there is no guarantee that the host names will be unique. Although you can use the suffix search lists on your client computers for single-label name resolution, if you have too many target domains then using suffix search lists may not be feasible.

Configuring GlobalNames Zone

A GlobalNames zone is essentially just another forward lookup zone that is called GlobalNames. However, when you create a new GlobalNames zone, you need to ensure that you explicitly enable support for this zone on every authoritative DNS server in your forest. Until you enable this support, your GlobalNames zone will not be able to function properly. Frankly, it just won’t provide any name resolution to the DNS clients.

Use the following command on each and every authoritative DNS server in your forest to enable support for GlobalNames zones.

dnscmd <ServerName> /config /enableglobalnamessupport 1

where ServerName is the DNS name or IP address of the DNS server that hosts the GlobalNames zone. If you want to enable support on a local computer, simply replace the ServerName parameter with a period.

dnscmd . /config /enableglobalnamessupport 1

Once you have enabled the support, the next step is to replicate the GlobalNames zone to all the Domain Controllers in the forest. Finally, for each server that will be providing single-label name resolution, add a CNAME (alias) resource record to the GlobalNames zone.

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