Registration of DNS records failed: The RPC server is unavailable

Hi;



Environment:

2003 Active Directory (Domain Functional Level is 2000 Mixed)

3 Domain Controllers, each running active directory integrated DNS

Domain members are mostly Windows 2003 Servers (WEB and Standard edition)

All Domain members with the exception of Domain Controllers have multiple
NICs installed.



Problem:

Some machines on the network do not register with DNS. When I try to
register them manually by running "ipconfig /registerdns" I get the
following error "Registration of DNS records failed: The RPC server is
unavailable". I have confirmed physical connectivity to all domain
controllers, I can copy files to and from the domain controllers, I have no
problems logging into the domain. Everything seems to be working properly
otherwise.



Thanks for your help

Paul Kus

pkus@cyence.com

"Paul Kus" <pkus@cyence.com> wrote in message...
>2003 Active Directory (Domain Functional Level is 2000 Mixed). 3 Domain
>Controllers, each running active directory integrated DNS. >Domain members
>are mostly Windows 2003 Servers (WEB and Standard edition). All Domain
>members with the exception of Domain >Controllers have multiple NICs
>installed.
>Problem:
>Some machines on the network do not register with DNS. When I try to
>register them manually by running "ipconfig /registerdns" I get the
> >following error "Registration of DNS records failed: The RPC server is
>unavailable". I have confirmed physical connectivity to all domain
>controllers, I can copy files to and from the domain controllers, I have no
>problems logging into the domain. Everything seems to be >working properly
>otherwise.

RPC traffic may know where to go based on the machine being multihomed. You
can do things like adjust the binding order of the NICs so that the NIC
facing the LAN containing your DCs/DNS servers is on top thereby directing
your RPC traffic automatically in that direction first. RPC traffic will
try the NIC bound first in the network stack I believe.

--
Todd J Heron, MCSE
Windows Server 2003/2000/NT; CCA
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights

Hi Todd;

That's not it. I disabled all interfaces except for the one facing the
Domain Controllers and tried re-registering... no luck. Any other ideas?

Thanks
Paul



"Todd J Heron" <todd_heron(delete)@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:%23Dqnvx37FHA.3804@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> "Paul Kus" <pkus@cyence.com> wrote in message...
>>2003 Active Directory (Domain Functional Level is 2000 Mixed). 3 Domain
>>Controllers, each running active directory integrated DNS. >Domain
>>members
>>are mostly Windows 2003 Servers (WEB and Standard edition). All Domain
>>members with the exception of Domain >Controllers have multiple NICs
>>installed.
>>Problem:
>>Some machines on the network do not register with DNS. When I try to
>>register them manually by running "ipconfig /registerdns" I get the
>> >following error "Registration of DNS records failed: The RPC server is
>>unavailable". I have confirmed physical connectivity to all domain
>>controllers, I can copy files to and from the domain controllers, I have
>>no
>>problems logging into the domain. Everything seems to be >working
>>properly
>>otherwise.
>
> RPC traffic may know where to go based on the machine being multihomed.
> You
> can do things like adjust the binding order of the NICs so that the NIC
> facing the LAN containing your DCs/DNS servers is on top thereby directing
> your RPC traffic automatically in that direction first. RPC traffic will
> try the NIC bound first in the network stack I believe.
>
> --
> Todd J Heron, MCSE
> Windows Server 2003/2000/NT; CCA
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights
>

"Paul Kus" <pkus@cyence.com> wrote...
>Hi Todd;
>
>That's not it. I disabled all interfaces except for the one facing the
>Domain Controllers and tried re-registering... no luck. Any other ideas?

Other possible causes:
1) DNS resolution problem. Look at the DNS configuration for Win2000 and
above. If you rule out name resolution, try mapping a drive to a share on
the target computer, and then try the operation again.
2) RPC services not running on target machine
3) TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper service not running on target machine
4) Firewall blocking RPC ports in between the source and target machine

Troubleshooting "RPC Server is Unavailable" in Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?id=224370

See also:
How to Test Microsoft Remote Procedure Call Performance:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=177446

--
Todd J Heron, MCSE
Windows Server 2003/2000/NT; CCA
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights

Hi Todd;

I was able to resolve the issue. Machines on which the DHCP Client service
was disabled and stopped couldn't register wth DNS. Machines on which the
DHCP Client service was running had no issues. That was it.

Paul


"Todd J Heron" <todd_heron(delete)@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:etf1Sw57FHA.720@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> "Paul Kus" <pkus@cyence.com> wrote...
>>Hi Todd;
>>
>>That's not it. I disabled all interfaces except for the one facing the
>>Domain Controllers and tried re-registering... no luck. Any other ideas?
>
> Other possible causes:
> 1) DNS resolution problem. Look at the DNS configuration for Win2000 and
> above. If you rule out name resolution, try mapping a drive to a share on
> the target computer, and then try the operation again.
> 2) RPC services not running on target machine
> 3) TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper service not running on target machine
> 4) Firewall blocking RPC ports in between the source and target machine
>
> Troubleshooting "RPC Server is Unavailable" in Windows
> http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?id=224370
>
> See also:
> How to Test Microsoft Remote Procedure Call Performance:
> http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=177446
>
> --
> Todd J Heron, MCSE
> Windows Server 2003/2000/NT; CCA
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights
>

I should have thought of that. :-) Glad you got it sorted.

--
~tjh