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We have a domain, from previous maintainer which have a 'long' FQDN e.g. dot.longname.top which makes the DFS structure longer, could of course have several DFS Namespace and that is also the goal further down the road also. The main issue is that the FQDN is long by default.

The interest lies in having an alternative FQDN in some way for the DFS Namespace if possible. Have any one looked in to this matter and have any facts or experience before we really start looking at it.

the NetBIOS name is LONGNAME the FQDN name is dot.longname.top the FQDN alternative name we seeking for example would be ln.top

We would then able to build this DFS Namespace

\ln.top\dfs \ln.top\sys \ln.top\users

and so on. I do understand the complications that exists and can't in this moment see a solution based on the architecture in the design. But you can always look into the matter and have hope...

gojj
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  • Do you want to maintain both the long and short FQDN? If you don't need, don't care about the long name, you may consider renaming the domain, although it is not a trivial matter. See http://serverfault.com/questions/630041/sbs-2003-rename-domain-netbios-name-without-renaming-active-directory-domain-n/630092#comment757418_630092 – Clayton Oct 04 '14 at 15:40
  • Tilting at windmills? How is this a problem? What problems are this causing that you need to resolve? – joeqwerty Oct 04 '14 at 15:44
  • @Craig620 yes absolutely renaming the domain is a possibility I just didn't address that one as you say, it's no trivial matter at all. And it contains Exchange. – gojj Oct 04 '14 at 18:15
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    @joeqwerty long paths, reaching the limit would be one that comes to mind – gojj Oct 04 '14 at 18:18

1 Answers1

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Create a new DNS zone "ln.top"
You cannot create a CNAME record for the name of the new short zone to resolve to the longname domain/zone. You can create HOST(A) records to do this.
For each DFS namespace servers, create a new A record in the "ln.top" zone:

Name: <blank>
FQDN: ln.top <MMC makes this value fixed, not changeable>
IP: <of.the.namespace.server>

If the addresses of the namespace servers change, update these A records.
You should then be able to use \\ln.top\dfs

If you're using offline files through this namespace they may be affected. While this is not a CNAME, it is a different name than the clients previously used. See http://blogs.technet.com/b/thenetworker/archive/2008/08/12/use-of-cname-records-for-availability-in-dfs-offline-files-integration.aspx
This is unconventional, unsure of any other risks or issues you may encounter with this setup. I do not use this method, but you question intriguied me, so I did a quick test in my lab. Do careful testing in your own dev environment or with pilot users before taking it widespread.

Clayton
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