Forest Recovery with third-party DNS

Overview

In some environments, DNS services are managed by third-party systems (such as Infoblox, BlueCat, or BIND) instead of Microsoft DNS. Starting with Cayosoft Guardian 6.1, support recovery scenarios where DNS zones are hosted externally. This article describes how Guardian interacts with third-party DNS and what actions are required to ensure a successful recovery.

The following scenarios are supported:

• DNS zones hosted on non-Windows servers (for example, Infoblox or Linux-based BIND).
• Partially delegated DNS environments where some zones are external to Active Directory.
• Hybrid DNS deployments where Cayosoft Guardian restores AD-integrated DNS zones and external servers host others.

Limitations

• Cayosoft Guardian cannot automatically restore DNS records stored outside Active Directory.
• Zone replication or creation must be handled manually in the external DNS system.
• SRV records must be verified after recovery to ensure domain controller discoverability.

Pre-recovery steps

1. Document the current DNS topology and identify which zones are hosted externally.
2. Ensure third-party DNS servers can resolve and forward queries to the cloud or recovery environment.
3. Back up third-party DNS configuration separately before running a forest recovery.

Post-recovery steps

After recovery completes, validate that domain controllers are properly registered in DNS:

1. Confirm the following SRV records exist for each domain controller:
   • _ldap._tcp.dc._msdcs.<domain>
   • _kerberos._tcp.dc._msdcs.<domain>
   • _gc._tcp.<forestroot>
2. Ensure A and PTR records for each DC point to the correct IP addresses.
3. Validate forwarders and conditional forwarders between DNS systems.

Configuration flow example

If your organization uses Infoblox:

1. Recover DCs via Guardian as usual.
2. In Infoblox, create or update zones for the recovered forest’s domains.
3. Manually add the recovered DCs’ host (A) and SRV records.
4. Test name resolution from clients and other DCs.