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Backing up and Restoring DNS

DNS Backup

  1. Stop the DNS service.
  2. Start Regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\DNS.
  3. Right-click the DNS folder and choose Export. Give the file the name dns1 and press Enter.
  4. Now navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\DNS Server.
  5. Right-click the DNS Server folder and choose Export. Name the file dns2 and press Enter.

You’ve just created two Registry files called dns1.reg and dns2.reg. Put them on a floppy or some other storage location that’s not on the server.

Look in your \Windows\System32\DNS directory and copy all of the files with the extension .dns to wherever you stored the .reg files. Now you’re backed up; restart the DNS service.

DNS Restoration Edit section

  1. Set up a Server 2003 system. Give it the same machine name, DNS suffix, and IP address as the old DNS server.
  2. Install the DNS service on the system.
  3. Copy all of the files with the .dns extension to \windows\system32\dns.
  4. Stop the DNS service.
  5. Locate the two files with the .reg extension. Double-click them, one at a time, and confirm that you want them installed in the Registry.
  6. Restart the DNS service.

You should now have a replacement for your DNS server. Remember that if all you want to do is move the primary role for a zone from one computer to another, you can just copy the *.dns file over to the target computer and run the New Zone Wizard, telling it that you already have a zone file.