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May 2004

Solving a Web Site Access Problem


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Since upgrading my Windows 2000 DNS servers to Windows Server 2003, I can't access certain Web sites. At first I thought I had a corrupt root cache, but replacing the cache didn't resolve the problem. Plus, I can ping the Web sites. I'm puzzled. Do you have an idea about what could be causing this problem?

The answer is probably a conflict between your firewall and Windows 2003's built-in Extension Mechanisms for DNS. EDNS is enabled by default in Windows 2003 and permits the use of UDP packets larger than 512KB to improve performance. Unfortunately, many firewalls don't permit such large UDP packets and, as a consequence, deny or discard them. To resolve this issue, you can see whether your firewall vendor has a software update that addresses the problem, or you can disable EDNS. Disabling EDNS is usually the easiest route and generally won't hurt the server's performance or operation.

To disable EDNS, you must first install the dnscmd.exe command-line tool from the Windows 2003 CD-ROM's Support Tools. Then, open a command prompt and type

dnscmd /config /enableednsprobes 0

To reenable EDNS if you later obtain a patch from your firewall vendor, run the same command but use 1 instead of 0 at the end of the command string. For more information about EDNS and Microsoft's implementation of it, see Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request for Comments (RFC) 2671 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2671.txt?number=2671) or the Microsoft site "Using Extension Mechanisms for DNS (EDNS0)" at http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windowsserv/2003/standard/proddocs/en-us/sag_dns_imp_ednssupport.asp.

End of Article



Reader Comments
I currently manage 207 windows 2000 domain controllers w/ active directory integrated DNS. I'm planning to upgrade my domain controllers to Windows Server 2003 in June. When will this EDNS issue impact me? Another individual told me EDNS is not enabled by default. Is this a setting change I need to make on all domain controllers or do I just make the change to disable on one?

Whew....one more question, is these something that surfaces when I'm in Windows 2003 Native mode or does this happen when the first Windows Server 2003 domain controller hits the network?

DTChrist May 19, 2004


I have to say, that it's really annoying that a new feature is enabled by default which mysteriously breaks DNS in some sporadic cases. I've been dealing with this problem for the last 6 months with my client, and have looked like a fool because I haven't been able to solve it, or find any technical documents which explained "random connection failures to some domains, sometimes". Your well crafted article immediately caught my eye. I implemented the solution and the DNS problems have magically disappeared.

Thank you!


Anonymous User October 27, 2004 (Article Rating: )


I'm about to try this...I'm having the exact same problem and am hoping your solution works. Thanks either way for the glimpse of hope!

Anonymous User March 15, 2005 (Article Rating: )


You need to apply this fix on the DNS servers that have forwarding enabled to external DNS servers, ie the ones that send queries to your ISP's DNS servers through the firewall.



Anonymous User June 22, 2005 (Article Rating: )


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