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

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