How to Configure DNS Forwarders in Windows Server 2008?

By default all DNS servers in the network are configured to resolve the queries on their own. In case they fail the query is forwarded to Root Hint servers which are listed in Root Hint tab. However in many cases administrators may not want to forward the queries to Root Hint servers but they would want to specify their own DNS server which is capable of resolving the queries forwarded to it. When this is the case administrators need to configure Forwarders in the DNS so that the server can forward the queries to the forwarders. This configuration saves a decent amount of network bandwidth which would otherwise be consumed if every DNS server starts sending the queries to Root hint servers. As a systems administrator if you want to configure forwarders for a DNS server you are required to follow the steps given below:

1.       Make sure that you are logged on to Windows server 2008 computer with administrator privileges.

2.       Open DNS Manager by going to Administrative Tools.

3.       On the opened window right click on the name of the server and from the appeared menu click on Properties.

4.       On properties window go to Forwarders tab and click on Edit button.

5.       On Edit Forwarders box type the IP address or the name of DNS server which will be responsible for resolving the queries forwarded by this DNS server.

6.       Click on Ok button and back on the previous box click on Ok button again to save the changes.

7.       Close DNS Manager Window.