Windows 2008 DNS forwarders and root hints

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Hi,

I think I have found a bug in the Windows 2008 DNS management tool.

From within the DNS tool right-click a DNS server and click Properties then
select the Forwarders tab. There is a checkbox on this screen called "Use root hints if no forwarders are available". Toggling this checkbox causes a DWORD called IsSlave at HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlControlSet\Services\DNS\Parameters to change between 0 and 1.

When the checkbox is selected, IsSlave is set to 1. When the checkbox is cleared, IsSlave is set to 0. I have tested this on four different Windows 2008 DNS servers and got the same results on all of them.

I believe that this behavior is the reverse of what it should be. When "Use root hints if no forwarders are available" is selected, IsSlave is set to 1 which causes the DNS server *NOT* to use root hints. If the forwarding fails, the DNS server does not attempt recursion and the query fails.

If "Use root hints if not forwarders are available" is cleared, IsSlave is set to 0 which causes the DNS server to use recursion. If the forwarding fails, the DNS query is still successful as the server uses the root hints and performs recursion.

Surely this is completely the opposite of what should happen? Selecting "Use root hints" causes the server NOT to use root hints, and clearing "Use root hints" causes it to use them.

Can someone else confirm this behavior? Am I missing something?

Cheers,
David

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