DNS error "Registration of the DNS record"

The issue I am having is that sometimes host names are not resolving intermitantly and I am getting a bunch of errors in my Event Log. As a Network Admin this keeps me awake at night.

Here are the output (edited) from my logs, netdiag and nslookup. The corpserver01 is the 2000 DC, DNS and resides at 192.168.1.201



I am sure I am not the first person to see this...

Registration of the DNS record '_ldap._tcp.gc._msdcs.corp.mobilecomputers.com. 600 IN SRV 0 100 3268 CORPSERVER01.corp.mobilecomputers.com.' failed with the following error:
DNS server unable to interpret format.

I am getting several of these types of errors in my Event System Log. On a Windows 2000 Server AD box.

_ldap._tcp.corp.mobilecomputers.com. 600 IN SRV 0 100 389 CORPSERVER01.corp.mobilecomputers.com.'

'_kpasswd._tcp.corp.mobilecomputers.com. 600 IN SRV 0 100 464 CORPSERVER01.corp.mobilecomputers.com.'

All of which start with:
Registration of the DNS record
and end with:
failed with the following error: DNS server unable to interpret format.

It looks like systems are not able to update their information into DNS????

When i type
C:\Documents and Settings\admin>nslookup - 192.168.1.201
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
*** Can't find server name for address 192.168.1.201: Timed out
Default Server: UnKnown
Address: 192.168.1.201

but when i type

C:\Documents and Settings\admin>ping corpserver01

Pinging corpserver01 [192.168.1.201] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.1.201: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128

So I know that DNS is doing some resolution.

When I try Netdiag /test:dns

<output edited>
Per interface results:
Adapter : Local Area Connection
Netcard queries test . . . : Passed
Global results:
Domain membership test . . . . . . : Passed
Dns domain name is not specified.
Dns forest name is not specified.
NetBT transports test. . . . . . . : Passed
List of NetBt transports currently configured:
NetBT_Tcpip_{35BB793C-548D-4EA1-A99F317AB910005A}
1 NetBt transport currently configured.

DNS test . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Passed



If you know what might be causing this error... Or if you can tell me where else I need to look... Please do.

Thanks in advance.... I would like to sleep nights

Is the dns server's zone configured to allow dynamic updates?

Yes it is. I tried it with Yes and Secure only option.

hm... when I first joined this forum I knew next to nothing about Microsoft DNS Server. Even though I've learned a lot about it since then, I'm no guru in that area, and I still know next to nothing about AD. I'm not positive I can help with this. BUT... Let's explore a little further.

"Unable to interpret format" sounds like a "Format Error", which is returned by a dns server when it doesn't understand a request. So what I'm thinking is AD on one server is sending a dynamic update request to a dns server that doesn't understand it.

So let's get some more information.

What operating system and SP update is on the AD server?
What operating system and SP update is on the dns server that needs to be updated?
Has any updates been successful?
Is there any information in the AD server's logs that indicate what address the updates are being sent to?
Are you positive these requests are even making it to the expected server?
If so, how?

>What operating system and SP update is on the AD server?
Windows 2000 Server / SP4


>What operating system and SP update is on the dns server that needs to be updated?
They are the same machine... corpserver01

>Has any updates been successful?
I believe so, I can look in the DNS server utility under administrative tools. I drill down corpserver01/forward lookup zones/corp.mobilecomputers.com Attached is the small graphic of what it shows.

>Is there any information in the AD server's logs that indicate what address the updates are being sent to?
The earlier post was just a snipit of the number or errors that are showing up. But many look to be corpserver01 trying to do its own update. Corpserver01 is also the DHCP server that is set to update client connection into DNS. However it doesnt look like client info thats being put in, to me.


Are you positive these requests are even making it to the expected server?
Yes
If so, how?
It resides on the same server.

some of the errors from the syslog are contained in the attached file

That's it? The packet dump only has 4 bytes in the error log? Maybe there's some corruption someplace screwing things up. Since both AD and the dns server is on the same box, then I have no other explanation.

No the error log is much larger.. it grows by about 4-6 errors every 20 sec... but they are all of the same format. I can give you more data but do you have a MS event viewer? I had to copy and paste in to that text file.... for your viewing enjoyment.

That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about this:



Only 4 bytes...

ic

and no clue what that might be?

as a side note I went in to DHCP and turned off " auto update DHCP Client info into DNS"

That didnt stop the error.

nope, no clue. I'm just chalking it up to Microsoft blunders.