Mac OS X (all ver) has issues with DNS resolution IPv6 with SBS-2008

Some time back, the SBS-2008 my client has in their office is causing some DNS resolution issues with IPv6 reverse lookup. As such, some times the MAC OS X'es are unable to resolve DNS entries to get connected to the mail server.

A work-around my colleague gave was to set-up VPN connection as PPTP VPN using RAS gives out a separate IPv4 address, and is able to resolve IPv4 DNS requests without using the IPv6. 

While this is an easy work-around, the easier method is to simply set-up hosts file to perform the mapping.

Unfortunately for him, he was unable to locate the hosts file to edit in the mac os X. I did some search in the web and encounter this blog post... (here) I don't wish to re-invent the wheel, but I thought I'll post it here anyway, with some pictures to guide my readers and my team how to make the changes.

Follow my print-screens below. It should be self-explanatory.

just press CTRL+o (Omega) to save.

press Enter to save the changes.

You are good to go! 

Now for the biggie.. the server needs to be fixed with the IPv6 issue.

This is the issue:

I ensured that all settings are right:

 

After hunting through different blogs, i found one here and I realize this guy faced the similar problem and fixed the issue!

the mistake i made was to create 8.c.2.f.0 where I should have done it like this:

 

 Once added with an AAA record, the PTR can be added.

  

Resolution now works.. but the problem still persists!

Shucks! 

 

:

 

 

 

A Weird Occurence of DNS problem faced on an SBS-2008 with some Windows PCs

A weird occurrence of an SBS-2008 environment where locally connected users are unable to resolve DNS even though network services are working well on the server.

This user encountered a similar issue as mine:
http://www.experts-exchange.com/OS/Microsoft_Operating_Systems/Server/Windows_Server_2008/Q_26804178.html#a39516961

To those of you who has no Expert Exchange account, I have printed and saved this article here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/170510614/DNS-issue-faced-with-Windows-SBS-2008-in-the-Local-Area-Network

I am using SBS-2008, updated with the latest patches.

One fine day my clients in their office are unable to resolve DNS addresses. However, all incoming connections including VPN-PPTP were working well.

My usual solution was to restart the server, and that should fix it. Initially we thought it was due to the Antivirus software installed on the server.

We manage to figure another way out, disable network adapter, and re-enabling it will resolve the issue.However, we couldn't do that all the time, as it will disconnect our remote support session. Restarting the server was a better choice for us.

Observations:
We ran nslookup on the server, it showed an ip v6 NS. It can resolve names properly.
We ran nslookup on the workstations, it showed ip v4 NS, which is the correct and default NS, and we couldn't resolve the DNS. We could still maintain a connection via teamviewer, but simply not resolve any DNS when browsing sites.

Work-around solution:
After disabling IPv6 on the network adapter on the server, we were able to resolve DNS entries fine on the server and the clients.

In addition, we were also able to connect to the internet on both server and clients. I do realize that Exchange might encounter problems, so I turned IPv6 back on again in the server network adapter and problem was resolved.

I believe this will come back again.. and I don't think the above is a real-solution yet, but it's a good enough solution for now to resolve this issue quickly.

Manually Map Office 365 MX records in my own DNS servers

I like Office 365, the features are decent, pretty much complete, and support is 'okay', a little slow at times, but generally, people on it-like Google Apps, don't complain with email unavailability, and issues with missing mails or even too much spam.

It goes to say that my own email hosting services, as well as implementing an onsite-exchange with SBS-es, have much to improve to match up to Office 365 and Google Apps set-up and maintenance team.

Having said that, there are some things that are set in place as a standard practice for Office 365 users or subscribers, to minimize problems with connections and reduce the complication of set-up. Wizards rule the configuration and I believe that is the strategy to allow any tom-dick-harry to set-up their own Office 365 subscriptions.

While that may be a good thing for the mass majority, IT pros like me would still like the flexibility of having to ala-carte our own variety of services too. Therefore, though we might like the Office 365 mail offerings, we could possibly maintain our own web-servers, and DNS servers too!

I did a quick search on the web and couldn't find a guide to do this manual configuration. As such, here are steps below to ala-carte my hosting plan.

Scenario:

1. Client has a web-hosting, joomla site with Hostgator with ip 90.87.10.1
2. Client has an email-hosting, previously in Hostgator too, on the same server as the web.
3. Client has a domain name registered with ENOM named wecando.sg
4. Client has a DNS server subscription with NO-IP for dynamic IP mapping for as well as DNS manangement. Which means, the authoritative name servers are currently set as:
   • ns1.no-ip.com
   • ns2.no-ip.com
   • ns3.no-ip.com
   • ns4.no-ip.com
   • ns5.no-ip.com
5. Client would like Office 365 email only subscription, with a P1 or Small Business Standard Office 365. Having said that, it'll still work for other Office 365 set-ups.

I applied and configured for the set-up in Office 365. That has to be the first thing done properly.
Create all the accounts, register for the domain within office 365... (oh well, there's a whole bunch of other guides out there on the set-up... I won't cover it here.)

Now, for the CUT-OVER.

You might be familiar with the DNS changes for the first MX or TXT/SRV record changes to the domain name in the DNS server to allow the domain ownership verification process. If not, please follow the instructions from the Microsoft guide.

Once you are left with step-5 in the set-up process, the last step was to simply change the authoritative name server from my no-ip.com to ns1.microsoft name servers, which I really don't wish to.

As such, we'll then have to head to:

1. Login to Office 365 portal
2. Scroll down or on the left Nav, to look for Domains
3. You'll see a list of domain names
4. Select the domain name you'd like to find out more on the details, then click View DNS Settings
5. You'll see that the DNS configuration is in progress and 'some things' are not yet completed.
6. Look below, click on View DNS records.
7. You'll get to see the current MX records and what is the server to use...such as:
   wecando-sg.mail.protection.outlook.com
   autodiscover.outlook.com
8. To ensure that you'll have autodiscover ready for use, please insert the CNAME record for the domain in your DNS server, in my case, the No-IP server.
9. I also need to remove current MX records from my No-IP DNS Server for the domain, and place the Microsoft MX Record.
10. Note that each domains registered with Microsoft will have their MX servers named differently! You can't use this address above as a template, always check and verify the DNS settings.

That's it. Changes to the domain and MX, thought we all like to believe that it's 48-hr, should actually take no more than 2-hrs depending on the TTL settings. I'd advise not to terminate the old mail hosting plan for 1-2 days, then once 1-2-days are over, do give the old mail server a check to ensure that there are no 'trapped' emails... Once ready, delete all old mailboxes and disable the SMTP or email services in the previous hosting plan. (VERY IMPORTANT) 

Hope this guide helps people out there!