KMS Auto Discovery

The WolfTech Active Directory is 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 are already in place for computers joined to the WolfTech active direcotry.  You may need to add these records to your DNS domain configuration for non-domain computers.

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

Configuring Your Own DNS Domain

You will need to make a request to Comtech in order to add the required records to your DNS domain.  Attach your request as a plain text file to your e-mail request, as problems have been reported cutting and pasting SRV data out of the Remedy help ticket system.

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 kms.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: 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 kms.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.

Troubleshooting

See the Troubleshooting KMS Activation page for more information.