How to implement external DNS for A record outside the DNS forward lookup zone ?

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How to implement external DNS for A record outside the DNS forward lookup zone ?

Bruce Xu 20

The DNS server has a forward lookup zone: contoso.local; It has A lot of A records, and the client PC's DNS server is pointing to that server. How do I get all A records that don't exist in this zone to be resolved by external DNS?

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Answer 1

Marcin Policht 49,640 MVP Volunteer Moderator

You could potentially rely on the internet root servers, but the recommended approach is to configure DNS forwarding or conditional forwarding to resolve external queries:

1. Enable Forwarding for External Queries

Open DNS Manager (dnsmgmt.msc).
Right-click on the DNS Server (not the zone).
Click Properties.
Go to the Forwarders tab.
Click Edit and add public DNS servers, such as:
- Google DNS: 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4
- OpenDNS: 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220
Click OK and Apply the changes.

2. Ensure the Zone is Not Configured as a Root Zone If your DNS server has a root (.) zone, it will prevent forwarding. To check:

In DNS Manager, if you see a zone named (root), delete it.

3. Configure Conditional Forwarding If you want more control and only forward specific domains, configure Conditional Forwarders instead of default Forwarders:

In DNS Manager, expand the server node.
Right-click Conditional Forwarders and select New Conditional Forwarder.
Enter the external domain name (e.g., microsoft.com).
Add external DNS servers (like 8.8.8.8 or 1.1.1.1).
Click OK to save.

If the above response helps answer your question, remember to "Accept Answer" so that others in the community facing similar isues can easily find the solution. Your contribution is highly appreciated.

hth

Marcin

Bruce Xu 20 Reputation points

2025-03-16T15:26:10.2266667+00:00

First of all thank you for your answer. But it seems I didn't make my needs clear to you. I mean there are A lot of A records in this region, and I want to resolve the A records that don't exist in this region by transponder resolution. Because after my verification, it does not go to the transponder but tells me "request can not find host"; I think it seems to have something to do with the domain of authority, which doesn't recursively query.
Marcin Policht 49,640 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2025-03-16T15:53:53.0533333+00:00

This is not how DNS works (by design). If a record does not exist in a locally hosted zone, DNS will return an error (e.g., "Request cannot find host") rather than forwarding the query externally. In short, you'd need to ensure that all records for a given namespace/domain are present in the corresponding zone (contoso.local)

If the above response helps answer your question, remember to "Accept Answer" so that others in the community facing similar issues can easily find the solution. Your contribution is highly appreciated.

hth

Marcin
Bruce Xu 20 Reputation points

2025-03-16T16:11:46.3133333+00:00

Is there a solution for the scenario I mentioned? For instance, can DNS policies achieve it?
Marcin Policht 49,640 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2025-03-16T16:39:02.2+00:00

Not as far as I can tell. DNS policies allow you to modify the DNS response to a query targeting a given zone , not to forward a request for a non-existing record in that zone to another DNS server.

Instead, you should ensure that the zone contains all relevant records.

If the above response helps answer your question, remember to "Accept Answer" so that others in the community facing similar issues can easily find the solution. Your contribution is highly appreciated.

hth

Marcin

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How to implement external DNS for A record outside the DNS forward lookup zone ?

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