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In Windows Server 2008 R2, and in an Active Directory Environment, how can I add an alias hostname to DNS, so that all workstation will know the internal ip address of that alias hostname?

I have a Linux web server, that contains some intranet resources.

Instead of accessing this server this way:

https://192.168.1.10/

I want users to be able to access this way:

https://someAliasNameWithoutAnyDots/

Basically, I'm trying to achieve, with Windows DNS, what you can achieve very easily in each workstation's host file, but I want to do it in one place so that all computers (that get their dhcp/dns from Windows) will know the alias hostname of this linux server (which differs from this linux server's actual hostname).

How do you do this in the DNS GUI of Windows Server 2008 R2? It seems like it only deals in fully qualified domain names, but in my case I don't want ".com" (or .anything) to be included in the https address.

Again, this is easily achieved by going into each workstation and editing its host file. The goal here is to avoid doing all that work and to do it in one place instead.

LonnieBest
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  • Did you join the Linux server to the domain? – Michael Hampton Jul 13 '20 at 16:37
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    Start with the fact that computers will typically attempt to apply the suffix to your queries automatically. So if you are in a domain `example.org` and you ping foo your client will usually try `foo.example.org` automatically. – Zoredache Jul 13 '20 at 16:37
  • @MichaelHampton No, and I don't want to unless it is absolutely necessary. I was hoping I could just add a host pointer, because it needs no further affiliation other than other computers to know its IP via name. – LonnieBest Jul 13 '20 at 16:44
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    It is not necessary to join the Linux server to the AD for that. – Tilman Schmidt Jul 13 '20 at 16:49
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    @TilmanSchmidt No, it's not necessary, but if it was domain joined it could register its own name in the DNS. – Michael Hampton Jul 13 '20 at 16:57

2 Answers2

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DNS itself works only with fully qualified domain names (FQDNs). When you enter a bare hostname, the workstation will try to complete it with one of the domains from its list of default search domains. It will try the domains on this list in turn until it gets a hit. So you need to put an entry for someAliasNameWithoutAnyDots in one of the domains which appear on all your workstations' default search domain lists.

For workstations that are members of a Windows AD domain, this search list by default contains as its first entry the FQDN of that AD domain. So if you put an entry for someAliasNameWithoutAnyDots in the DNS zone of your AD domain, your workstations will pick it up when looking up https://someAliasNameWithoutAnyDots/. (Except if your AD admin has configured something weird.)

Tilman Schmidt
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Install the DNS records with the fully qualified name, say intranet.example.net.

Confirm that clients have domain search list in their resolver that includes example.net. For maximum compatibility with clients, look into DHCPv4, DHCPv6, AD DS Group Policy. (Not necessarily right in the zone editor UI, as how to push DNS configuration out is a different protocol from the records themselves.)

John Mahowald
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