Installing Micetro DNS Agents on Windows - Micetro - 25.2.0

Micetro Installation Guide
ft:locale
en-US
Product name
Micetro
Version
25.2.0

The Micetro components for Windows are provided as exe files/executables consisting of multiple MSI components. The executeable must be installed as Windows Administrator (right-click on the exe file and select Run as Administrator). This extracts the MSI and starts the MSI installer.

The Micetro Agent installer for Windows contains three agents:

  • DNS Agent (Windows service name: Men and Mice DNS Server Controller)

  • DHCP Agent (Windows service name: Men and Mice DHCP Server Controller)

  • Update Agent (Windows service name: Men and Mice Updater)

You can install all components, i.e., all three agents, or select a custom installation, which allows you to select which agent you want to install.

Note: The Update Agent must be installed. For example, when you install the DNS Agent, install the Update Agent at the same time. Otherwise, Micetro will not be able to automatically update.

You can also run the installer executable as Windows Administrator in silent install mode. To do so, run silent install mode with the following parameters:

  • A full installation, including the DNS Agent, DHCP Agent, and Update Agent:
    Micetro_Controllers_x64_<version>.exe /s /v"/qn /L*V C:\temp\controllerInstall.log REBOOT=ReallySuppress ADDLOCAL=DHCP,DNS,Update"
  • A full installation, including the DNS Agent, DHCP Agent, and Update Agent, with runas.exe administrator in a Windows command:
    Note: The c:\temp directory for the controllerInstall.log file must be created before executing the installation.
    runas.exe /user:administrator "Micetro_Controllers_x64_25.2.0.exe /s /v\"/qn /L*V C:\temp\controllerInstall.log REBOOT=ReallySuppress ADDLOCAL=DHCP,DNS,Update\""

    Enter the password for administrator:

    Attempting to start Micetro_Controllers_x64_25.2.0.exe /s /v"/qn /LV C:\temp\controllerInstall.log REBOOT=ReallySuppress ADDLOCAL=DHCP,DNS,Update" as user "WIN-32QTB227IR8\administrator" ...
  • To install only the DNS and Update Agents:
    Micetro_Controllers_x64_<version>.exe /s /v"/qn /L*V C:\temp\controllerInstall.log REBOOT=ReallySuppress ADDLOCAL=DNS,Update"
  • To install only the DHCP and the Update Agents:
    Micetro_Controllers_x64_<version>.exe /s /v"/qn /L*V C:\temp\controllerInstall.log REBOOT=ReallySuppress ADDLOCAL=DHCP,Update"

Example: The following example is a full installation for Micetro version 25.2.0:

Micetro_Controllers_x64_<25.2.0>.exe /s /v"/qn /L*V C:\temp\controllerInstall.log REBOOT=ReallySuppress ADDLOCAL=DHCP,DNS,Update"

All agents are installed as a Windows Service and all services run by default under the Local System account.

Note: The installers will not touch the Windows firewall. The necessary ports must be allowed. Refer to Networking requirements for a list of services and their respective ports.

If you intend to use the Generic DNS Agent, refer to Generic DNS Agent for more information.

The installer will ask a series of questions. Be prepared to answer them, as described, for each component.

Where to install the Micetro DNS Agent

If Micetro Central is installed on a Windows host, you can install Micetro DNS Agent on the same host. If not, the system needs to be told where to find the DNS Agent when a new DNS server is added to the system. This is presented as connecting via proxy, the agent host.

Note: The Micetro communication protocol used to control a DNS server is more efficient than the Microsoft protocol. This means that if a DNS server is separated from Micetro Central by a slow network link, it is more efficient to install a copy of the Micetro DNS Agent in the same local network (the same site, typically) as the DNS server.

Active Directory-integrated zones and dynamic zones

To open a dynamic zone, Micetro must read it from the DNS service rather than from a file. This is done via zone transfer. On Windows Server 2003 and later, the zone transfer restriction setting in the zone's options window must be set to allow transfers to an explicit list of IP addresses that includes the server's own address. The default setting which allows zone transfers to any server listed in the zone's NS records will not suffice.

In some cases, the Micetro DNS Agent must need to be specifically told which interface to use when requesting zone transfers. If you have trouble opening a dynamic zone after setting the zone's transfer restrictions appropriately, check the Event Log / Application Log for messages from the Micetro DNS Agent. If there is a message indicating that Agent was unable to get a zone transfer, take note of the address it tried to use; you can either add that IP address to the transfer restrictions list or else edit a configuration file for the Micetro DNS Agent.

Note: For Active Directory (AD) integrated zones, other domain controllers running Microsoft DNS do not need to get zone transfers. This is because the zone data is replicated through LDAP, rather than through zone transfers. Thus, for an AD integrated zone, the zone transfer restriction list might only need the server's own address.

Setting up agent-free management for MS services

Normally, the Micetro DNS Agent is installed on only one host in an Active Directory forest, or one copy per site. That installation can then manage all Microsoft DNS servers in the forest, or in the site, using Microsoft's own DNS management API (agent-free). To do so, the service needs to run as a user with DNS management privileges (i.e., the AD service account must be a member of the DNSAdmins group for the domain).

To configure Micetro DNS Agent to access DNS servers on remote computers:

  1. Start the Windows Services program and open the Properties dialog for the Micetro DNS Agent.
  2. Select the Log On tab. The Local System account radio button is most likely selected.
  3. Select the This account radio button and enter the name and password of a Windows user who is a member of the Administrators group.
  4. Close the dialog and restart the Micetro DNS Agent service.

If Micetro DNS Agent is run as a local system service (the default), it will only be able to manage the MS DNS service on the same host.

Enabling the generic DNS Agent functionality

If the Agent should be configured to run a connector script so it can interface with DNS servers other than the natively supported Windows DNS/Unix BIND DNS, you must configure the script interpreter and the connector script in the agents' preferences.cfg file.

The file is a text file in a simple XML-based format. Add the following element, replacing the dummy script interpreter and script:

<GenericDNSScript value="python /scripts/genericDNS.py" />

For information about preferences.cfg files, refer to Configuration files for Windows.

Configuring the DNS Agent for Microsoft Azure DNS

You can configure the DNS Agent to work with Microsoft Azure DNS. For information on configuring Microsoft Azure DNS, refer to Configuring Azure.