ADS discovery example

When enumerating a DNS server that serves an ADS domain, some phantom nodes seem to appear in the Configure Nodes dialog box. For example, in expanding the domain demonet.com, among the normal nodes displayed were the nodes demonet.com and gc._msdcs.demonet.com. An excerpt from the nslookup output for that DNS server is shown below:

Nodes	Record Type	IP Address
demonet.com	A	211.70.73.161
demonet.com	A	211.70.73.68
demonet.com	A	211.70.73.139
demonet.com	NS	server = gilligan.demonet.com
demonet.com	NS	server = professor.mobile.demonet.com
demonet.com	NS	server = luvie.demonet.com
demonet.com	NS	server = maryanne.demonet.com
gc._msdcs	A	211.70.73.144
gc._msdcs	A	211.70.73.68
gc._msdcs	A	211.70.73.139
gc._msdcs	A	211.70.73.161
gc._msdcs	A	211.70.73.4
maryanne	A	211.70.73.161
luvy	A	211.70.73.68
gilligan	A	211.70.73.139

Both demonet.com and gc._msdcs.demonet.com are present as "A" records in the DNS server, which means that the server treats them as normal nodes. In reality, these nodes are aliases to a real DNS node, a domain controller. The demonet.com record of type "A" is an alias to the IP of the domain controller. The gc._msdcs.demonnet.com "A" record is an alias to the IP of the node that takes care of the ADS Global Catalog (again, a domain controller.)

The situation is one of different DNS names but the same IP, which is permissible. While it is possible to bring these nodes under management, it is not recommended. The effective way to manage your ADS environment is to use ADS discovery, where these aliases are not visible.