Directory Service Console Enables DNS IP Address Updates in AD Connector

Starting today, you can use the Directory Service console and update the Domain Name Service (DNS) Internet Protocol (IP) addresses that are used by your AD Connector.

AD Connector is a gateway you can use to proxy requests from your AWS Enterprise Applications (e.g. WorkDocs) to your Active Directory; your Active Directory can be an on-premises Active Directory or an Active Directory you configure in an EC2 Windows instance.

AD Connector uses your DNS servers to resolve hostnames to IP addresses. During set up you configure AD Connector to use the IP address(es) of your network’s DNS server(s). If you subsequently make any network or system changes that modify your DNS server IP addresses, you can now update AD Connector with the new DNS IP addresses by using this new Directory Service console feature.

AD Connector requires that a DNS service is reachable at the new address before it will commit your changes. As a best practice, you should always add new DNS servers and update AD Connector before removing the old DNS server from your network. Failure to do so will result in loss of hostname resolution by AWS Enterprise Applications, which can block your users from getting their work done.

To update DNS IP addresses used by your AD Connector, go to the Directory Service Console and click on the Directory ID of your AD Connector. Select DNS Settings tab, enter the new DNS IP addresses you want to use, and click Update directory.