dnscmd /createbuiltindirectorypartitions command
The DNS server is one of the few Microsoft services that you can configure completely from a command line. The dnscmd utility has been around since Windows NT. Microsoft has added new options with every major operating system release. With it, you can modify server settings and create, query, and manipulate zones and resource records. In the Windows Server 2003 version, there are even dnscmd commands for managing Active Directory application partitions.
Using dnscmd is straightforward. Here is the generic syntax:
dnscmd ServerName Command AdditionalOptions
The ServerName parameter is used to target a remote name server. It is optional and, if not included, runs the command against the local server (which must be a name server). You can also use a single dot (.) to target the local server.
The Command parameter is required and corresponds to an action you can perform against the server. The Windows Server 2003 version of dnscmd supports 37 different commands. Running dnscmd from a command line without passing any parameters displays the complete list of supported commands.
The AdditionalOptions parameter is optional for some commands, required for some, and not used for others. To see what additional parameters are needed for a command, run dnscmd Command /? from the command line.
The final point worth mentioning about dnscmd is that it does not communicate with a name server via dynamic updates, zone transfers, or any other standard DNS communication protocol. Instead, it uses RPC to talk directly to the DNS Server service on the target name server. This is why, if the DNS Server service is not running on a name server, you can’t run dnscmd against it; start it with sc first.
We will now take a tour through the dnscmd command options (all 37 of them). Normally, we wouldn’t go into so much detail about a utility’s options but, unfortunately, much of the Microsoft documentation on dnscmd is inconsistent. We’ve tested each command and attempted to provide definitive information about its usage and syntax. A positive side effect of reading through each command is that you will become well-versed in the capabilities and limitations of the Microsoft DNS Server.
Creates a DNS application directory partition. When DNS is installed, an application directory partition for the service is created at the forest and domain levels. Use this command to create DNS application directory partitions that were deleted or never created. With no parameter, this command creates a built-in DNS directory partition for the domain.
dnscmd [<servername>] /createbuiltindirectorypartitions [/forest] [/alldomains]
||Specifies the DNS server to manage, represented by IP address, FQDN, or host name. If this parameter is omitted, the local server is used.|
|/forest||Creates a DNS directory partition for the forest.|
|/alldomains||Creates DNS partitions for all domains in the forest.|