All posts tagged DNS

Always On VPN and the Name Resolution Policy Table (NRPT)

Always On VPN and the Name Resolution Policy Table (NRPT)The Name Resolution Policy Table (NRPT) is a function of the Windows client and server operating systems that allows administrators to enable policy-based name resolution request routing. Instead of sending all name resolution requests to the DNS server configured on the computer’s network adapter, the NRPT can be used to define unique DNS servers for specific namespaces.

DirectAccess administrators will be intimately familiar with the NRPT, as it is explicitly required for DirectAccess operation. Use of the NRPT for Windows 10 Always On VPN is optional, however. It is commonly used for deployments where split DNS is enabled. Here the NRPT can define DNS servers for the internal namespace, and exclusions can be configured for FQDNs that should not be routed over the VPN tunnel.

To enable the NRPT for Windows 10 Always On VPN, edit the ProfileXML to include the DomainNameInformation element.

<DomainNameInformation>
   <DomainName>.example.net</DomainName>
   <DnsServers>10.21.12.100,10.21.12.101</DnsServers>
</DomainNameInformation>

Note: Be sure to include the leading “.” in the domain name to ensure that all hosts and subdomains are included.

To create an NRPT exclusion simply omit the DnsServers element. Define additional entries for each hostname to be excluded, as shown here.

<DomainNameInformation>
   <DomainName>www.example.net</DomainName>
</DomainNameInformation>
<DomainNameInformation>
   <DomainName>mail.example.net</DomainName>
</DomainNameInformation>
<DomainNameInformation>
   <DomainName>autodiscover.example.net</DomainName>
</DomainNameInformation>

Additional Information

Windows 10 VPNv2 Configuration Service Provider (CSP) Reference

Windows 10 Always On VPN Protocol Recommendations for Windows Server Routing and Remote Access Services (RRAS)

Windows 10 Always On VPN Hands-On Training

142 Comments
by Richard M. Hicks on April 23, 2018  •  Permalink
Posted in Always On VPN, AOVPN, DNS, enterprise mobility, name resolution policy table, NRPT, Remote Access, VPN, Windows 10, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016
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Posted by Richard M. Hicks on April 23, 2018

https://directaccess.richardhicks.com/2018/04/23/always-on-vpn-and-the-name-resolution-policy-table-nrpt/

Cloudflare Public DNS Resolver Now Available

Cloudflare Public DNS Resolver Now AvailableCloudflare has become a nearly ubiquitous cloud service provider in recent years, fronting many of the busiest web sites on the Internet. They provide tremendous value both in terms of security and performance for their customers. They have a wide array of solutions designed to provide better security, including optimized SSL/TLS configuration and Web Application Firewall (WAF) capabilities. Their DDoS mitigation service is second to none, and their robust Content Delivery Network (CDN) ensures optimal loading of content for web sites anywhere in the world.

Public DNS Resolver

Recently Cloudflare announced their first consumer service, a public DNS resolver that is free for general use. It offers exceptional performance and supports many of the latest DNS security and privacy enhancements such as DNS-over-TLS. Cloudflare has also pledged not to write DNS queries to disk at all and not to store them for more than 24 hours to further ensure privacy for their customers.

Cloudflare Public DNS Resolver Now Available

DNS Security Controls

What Cloudflare DNS is lacking today is granular security enforcement to provide additional protection for client computers outside the firewall. For example, public DNS resolvers from OpenDNS and Quad9 have built-in security features that use threat intelligence to identify and block DNS name resolution requests for domains that are known to be malicious or unsafe. OpenDNS has the added benefit of providing more granularity for setting policy, allowing administrators to select different filtering levels and optionally to create custom policies to allow or block individually selected categories. With OpenDNS, security administrators can also manage domains individually by manually assigning allow or block to specific, individual domains as necessary.

Recommended Use Cases

Cloudflare DNS clearly offers the best performance of all public DNS resolvers today, which makes it a good candidate for servers that rely heavily on DNS for operation. Mail servers come to mind immediately, but any system that performs many forward and/or reverse DNS lookups would benefit from using Cloudflare DNS. Cloudflare DNS can also be used by client machines where better performance and enhanced privacy are desired.

Quad9 DNS is a good choice for client computers where additional security is required. OpenDNS is the best choice where the highest level of security is required, and where granular control of security and web filtering policies is necessary.

Additional Information

Cloudflare DNS
Quad9 DNS
OpenDNS
Dnsperf.com

2 Comments
by Richard M. Hicks on April 3, 2018  •  Permalink
Posted in cloud, Cloudflare, DNS, Encryption, OpenDNS, public cloud, Quad9, Security, SSL and TLS
Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by Richard M. Hicks on April 3, 2018

https://directaccess.richardhicks.com/2018/04/03/cloudflare-public-dns-resolver-now-available/

DirectAccess NRPT Configuration with Split DNS

DirectAccess NRPT Configuration with Split DNSThe Name Resolution Policy Table (NRPT) in Windows provides policy-based name resolution request routing for DNS queries. DirectAccess uses the NRPT to ensure that only requests for resources in the internal namespace, as defined by the DirectAccess administrator, are sent over the DirectAccess connection. DNS queries for all other namespaces are sent to the DNS servers defined on the client’s network interface.

Note: This behavior changes when force tunneling is enabled. In this case, all DNS queries are sent over the DirectAccess connection with the exception of the NLS and the DirectAccess server’s public hostname(s). If force tunneling is enabled, the configuration guidance described below is not required.

Split DNS

NRPT configuration is straightforward when the internal and external namespaces are unique. However, when split DNS is used, meaning when the internal and external namespaces are the same, DirectAccess configuration is more challenging. Typically, there may be many resources that should not go over the DirectAccess connection, such as public-facing web servers, email and unified communications servers, federation servers, etc. Without additional configuration, requests for all of these services would go over the DirectAccess connection. That may or may not be desirable, depending on the requirements of the implementation.

DirectAccess Server

One crucial public resource is the DirectAccess server itself. When using split DNS, the DirectAccess implementation’s public hostname will, by default, be included in the internal namespace. In this scenario, the DirectAccess client will fail to establish a connection to the DirectAccess server.

Troubleshooting

When troubleshooting failed connectivity, the output of ipconfig will show the IP-HTTPS tunnel interface media state as “Media disconnected”.

DirectAccess NRPT Configuration with Split DNS

The output of Get-NetIPHttpsState will also return an error code 0x2AF9 with an interface status “Failed to connect to the IPHTTPS server; waiting to reconnect”.

DirectAccess NRPT Configuration with Split DNS

To further troubleshoot this issue, examine the output of Get-NetIPHttpsConfiguration. Test name resolution of the FQDN listed in the ServerURL field. If the issue is related to NRPT configuration, the client will fail to resolve this name to an IP address. Testing from a non-DirectAccess client should resolve correctly, however.

DirectAccess NRPT Configuration with Split DNS

NRPT Configuration

If split DNS is employed, it is necessary to include the DirectAccess server’s public hostname in the NRPT as an exemption. This will cause the DNS query for the public hostname to use public DNS servers, allowing the DirectAccess client to establish a connection successfully.

To resolve this issue, open the Remote Access Management console on the DirectAccess server, highlight DirectAccess and VPN under Configuration, and then click Edit on Step 3. Select DNS, and then double-click on an empty row in the table.

DirectAccess NRPT Configuration with Split DNS

Enter the public hostname for the DirectAccess deployment in the DNS suffix field (the public hostname can be found by clicking Edit on Step 2). Do NOT specify a DNS server. Click Apply, click Next twice, and then click Finish.

DirectAccess NRPT Configuration with Split DNS

Note: For multisite deployments, be sure to include the public hostname for each entry point in the enterprise. Also, if multisite is configured to use GSLB, include the GSLB hostname as well.

PowerShell

Alternatively, you can run the following PowerShell commands to automatically configure the NRPT for split DNS. For multisite deployments, be sure to run these commands on at least one DirectAccess server in each site.

$hostname = Get-RemoteAccess | Select-Object -ExpandProperty ConnectToAddress
Add-DAClientDnsConfiguration -DnsSuffix $hostname -PassThru

If multisite is configured to use GSLB, run the following PowerShell commands on one DirectAccess server in the enterprise.

$gslbfqdn = Get-DAMultiSite | Select-Object -ExpandProperty GslbFqdn
Add-DAClientDnsConfiguration -DnsSuffix $gslbfqdn -PassThru

Additional Information

Troubleshooting DirectAccess IP-HTTPS Error 0x2af9

DirectAccess DNS Not Working Properly

DirectAccess DNS Records Explained

Troubleshooting Name Resolution Issue on DirectAccess Clients

16 Comments
by Richard M. Hicks on December 26, 2017  •  Permalink
Posted in DirectAccess, DNS, IP-HTTPS, IPv6, IPv6 Transition, multisite, name resolution policy table, NRPT, PowerShell, Remote Access, transition technology, troubleshooting, Windows 10, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016
Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by Richard M. Hicks on December 26, 2017

https://directaccess.richardhicks.com/2017/12/26/directaccess-nrpt-configuration-with-split-dns/

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