Why can't I create a DNS zone name that contains certain reserved words?

John Savill

August 18, 2002

1 Min Read
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A. Non-Active Directory (AD)-integrated zones (i.e., zones that don't store content in AD) use a file to store zone content. Zone names that contain reserved words will violate certain OS rules and result in an error.

Reserved words that you can't use as part of a DNS zone name are

  • AUX

  • COM1

  • COM2

  • COM3

  • COM4

  • CON

  • LPT1

  • LPT2

  • LPT3

  • NUL

  • PRN

Example invalid zone names include nul.savilltech.com and con.windows2000faq.com. To create a valid DNS zone name, you must either select other words or use the Dnscmd utility to create the zone. Dnscmd lets you use a /file switch to specify the physical filename you want to use. For example,

DNSCMD /zoneadd con.windows2000faq.com /primary /file conzone.com.dns

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