KMS Auto Discovery
Your DNS domain can be configured so that your workstations will automatically locate the KMS service. This method is called "auto discovery". Client computers use DNS SRV records to automatically locate the KMS service. The SRV records need to be appended to your DNS domain configuration.
Configuring Your DNS Domain For KMS Auto Discovery
You will need to make a request to Comtech in order to append your DNS domain. Your request should ask that the following information be appended to your DNS domain, replacing <your DNS domain> with the one in which your workstations are registered:
_vlmcs._tcp.<your DNS domain>. 3600 IN SRV 0 100 1688 kms1.oit.ncsu.edu.
_vlmcs._tcp.<your DNS domain>. 3600 IN SRV 0 100 1688 kms.ncsu.edu.
The individual parts of the records mean the following:
- Service name: vlmcs (this is what Microsoft decided to call it)
- Protocol: TCP
- Domain in which service is to be available:
<your DNS domain> - Time-to-live: 3600 seconds (recommended by Microsoft)
- Record type: SRV
- DNS priority: 0
- DNS weight: 100
- Service port number: 1688
- Hostname: kms1.oit.ncsu.edu, kms.ncsu.edu
For example, if your workstations are registered in the mydept.cop.ncsu.edu DNS domain, you will need to request that the following be appended to the mydept.cop.ncsu.edu domain:
_vlmcs._tcp.mydept.cop.ncsu.edu. 3600 IN SRV 0 100 1688 kms1.oit.ncsu.edu.
_vlmcs._tcp.mydept.cop.ncsu.edu. 3600 IN SRV 0 100 1688 kms.ncsu.edu.
You cannot simply configure a parent DNS domain with the KMS information and have computers registered in child domains automatically locate the service. Each DNS domain must be configured individually. If you only had appended the cop.ncsu.edu domain, computers in the mydept.cop.ncsu.edu domain would not be able to automatically locate the KMS service.
Client Requirements
For computers in an Active Directory domain, the DNS domain corresponding to one or both of the following must contain the KMS SRV records in order for auto-discovery to work:
- The primary DNS suffix of the computer
- The Active Directory DNS domain
Note: you cannot simply add a DNS suffix to the computer of a domain containing the KMS records. The domain specified as the primary DNS suffix must be configured.
For computers NOT in an Active Directory domain, the DNS domain corresponding to one or both of the following must contain the KMS SRV records in order for auto-discovery to work:
- The primary DNS suffix of the computer
- The DNS domain name assigned by DHCP
Troubleshooting
See the Troubleshooting KMS Activation page for more information.
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