Getting Host(A) records added to Windows HPC Server 2008 Private network DNS

A common scenario is to have the Windows HPC Server 2008 Private Network DNS on the head node of the cluster. Because the HPC Pack normally manages name resolution for the private network via Hosts files it propagates to all nodes, we do not normally set the private network interfaces to register with the DNS on the head node.

I often find that I want to have other servers such as file servers or non-Windows OS servers located on the private network. These servers need to have all the names on the private network correctly resolved for them.

To get the behavior I desire from the head node private DNS is very simple, but not documented as widely as we’d like. Thus, this post seems like a good start at getting the trick documented.

On the head node go to Start->Microsoft HPC Pack->HPC PowerShell and right click selecting Run As Administrator. At the prompt enter the following:

PS C:\Windows\System32> Set-HpcNetwork -PrivateDnsRegistrationType WithConnectionDnsSuffix

This executes silently. I noticed that not many new Host(A) records appeared in my DNS console. I was told, “Be patient.” Instead, I just rebooted all nodes, including the non-Windows OS node Node-08.

Voila! I got my Host(A) records for everything.