Windows Server 2019 Essentials DNS not working

Question

Hello all, I have a small organization (church) with a single domain server. It is running Windows Server 2019 Essentials. My DNS does not work, and I am confident that I broke it when I changed the server name and IPv4 address at the same time. I had renamed and re-IP'd the server when I went to a new network setup with a Unifi Dream Machine as router/DHCP/DNS. On the Windows Server I turned off DHCP and DNS by removing the Roles from the DC. After having many issues with this scenario, I learned that with a Windows Domain Controller the DHCP and DNS must remain on the windows server. So I reinstalled the DNS role, but it has never worked correctly The client machines cannot find a DC to authenticate to. The test of dcdiag tool results in an error "the server is not responding to directory requests". The same error shows for LDAP as well. I have checked all DNS records and they seem to be present and correct. Nslookup gives "server unknown" error. I am at the end of my very limited knowledge. I would appreciate any help that can be given. Thanks

Answer 1

Hello there,

Is there anything in event viewer?

I would suggest you to use proc mon to identify if there is nothing on the event viewer.

Run ipconfig /all at a command prompt, and verify the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway.

Check whether the DNS server is authoritative for the name that is being looked up.

This article discusses how to troubleshoot issues on DNS servers.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/networking/dns/troubleshoot/troubleshoot-dns-server

Hope this resolves your Query !!

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Answer 2

Since you removed active directory domain service roles and reinstalled then its like a brand-new domain. So assuming the new domain controller is operational, the members will need to be joined to the new domain.

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