ListenAddresses Registry Key

This registry key determines the list of IP addresses to be used for listening by the dns server. By default, DNS Server attempts to listen on every available address.

Key Name: ListenAddresses
Type: REG_BINARY
Default: NoKey (Uses all IP addresses)
Functionality: List all IP addresses to be bounded to DNS server.
Location: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\dns\Paramaers"
This registry key is desairable in the following situations:
1. If some IP address are needed for other services (servers).
2. If no of IP addresses is huge, then it would be difficult to bind all of them.
3. If addresses are more than 35 in number, then the DNS server will not detect all addresses.
This is due to the fact that underlying winsock api function getAddressByName() has limitation on number of addresses.


If the ListenAddresses key does not exist, then the DNS server attempts to bind to every IP address.

Note: Do change the reg key directly, Instead use dns console manager.
The following illustrates adding list of address to the dns server.
1. Open dns manager using command dnsmgmt.msc
2. In console window, right click on the server node "dnsserver", click on properties (Assume dns server host name is "dnsserver").
3. Go to interfaces tab in properties dialog, And enter the list of addresses to be used


Relevant Posts:
Set Listen Addresses on command line using dnscmd