DNS Root hints question

eldywan

Hi,
I'm having a little trouble understanding when to delete the root hints file. In the MSPress book, it states that :
"For a computer that is hosting a root DNS server, you should
not use root hints at all. In this scenario, Windows Server 2003 automatically deletes the Cache.dns file used for root hints."

I thought the definition of "root" was simply the highest level of a domain. ie.. microsoft.com would be the root of support.microsoft.com and technet.microsoft.com, etc. But if I had a DNS server that was authoritative for microsoft.com, wouldn't I still need root hints to resolve anything else for the .com namespace (or .edu, .net, etc..).
For this server, would the cache get deleted/would it be necessary to delete the cache?

Or does that statement only apply if your DNS server is one of the ones authoritative at the .com level? Or possibly I'm completely off base altogether.

fondue

You are correct, you would still need the root hints to resolve .com, .edu ect... unless you sent up a forwarder that would do the DNS work for you.

Also, beware of the DNS "." zone. It can cause you trouble.

eurotrash

I thought the definition of "root" was simply the highest level of a domain. ie.. microsoft.com would be the root of support.microsoft.com and technet.microsoft.com

if i'm not mistaken it is like this: microsoft.com is not the "root" of i.e. support.microsoft.com, it is just one level higher.
yes, the root is the highest level, and the highest level is "." i.e. support.microsoft.com(.)