Set-DnsClientServerAddress - PowerShell Cmdlet of the Week

Next up in this series is a cmdlet I use quite often:

Set-DnsClientServerAddress

This cmdlet is especially useful when you need to statically assign the DNS servers that a client will use, and, in what order they will attempt to use them. My usual use case for this is in my lab environment where almost all of the servers have statically assigned IP address and DNS servers.

If you'd rather watch me demo this, there's a short video on TechSnips that also describes this cmdlet.
How To Set The DNS Server Search Order On Windows With PowerShell

So, to get started, let's take a quick look at the current list of DNS servers.

Along with Get-DnsClientServerAddress, we'll use the parameter -AddressFamily IPv4 allowing us to specify that we only want to see the IPv4 addresses. To see both IPv4 and IPv6, we would simply omit this parameter.

As we can see here, there are currently two DNS servers listed here. What we're going to do, is change the order of the original two, and add a third DNS server that was just recently brought online. To do this, we'll enter:

Set-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceIndex 10 `
-ServerAddresses 192.168.2.32,192.168.2.31,192.168.2.56

To break down this list of Parameters:
-InterfaceIndex 10
     - We use this to specify the interface. This info comes from the previous command

-ServerAddresses 192.168.2.32,192.168.2.31,192.168.2.56
     - A comma-separated list of our DNS servers, in the desired order.

One important note: Be sure to type in all of the DNS server addresses into this cmdlet, as it does not append to the existing list, it replaces it completely.

To confirm this worked, we'll just use Get-DnsClientServerAddress one more time:

There it is, our DNS server list has been modified as we expected.

That's all there is to it!

How Did I Arrive at TechSnips?

I wrote this article about a year ago for TechSnips. Fast-forward to today, TechSnips is no longer hosting blog posts, so I have slightly updated this article and re-posted it here on The Frozen Geek. While this isn't, strictly speaking, a technical post, this seemed to be the best place for it. Enjoy!

Where I Came From

It’s been about 5 years since I decided that I was no longer content to simply use the Internet as a source of information. I knew at that time that I wanted to give back to the online IT community that had helped my career along for so many years. It seemed that the easiest way to begin was to start a blog. Since I already had one created, one that had been all but abandoned, I thought this was a good place to start.

So, in May 2014 I started blogging. I started off by writing once a week about what I had learned during my MSCE studies, as it gave me a good, constant source of ideas. A few months later, I decided to launch a second blog that would focus primarily on Windows Server and PowerShell tips & tricks, guides, lab setups, and walk-throughs. This is where I ran into a bit of a wall.

I was struggling to find ideas that I thought would be interesting to others. The “Imposter Syndrome” was in full force. I just didn’t think I had anything worth sharing, certainly nothing that hadn’t already been done before. That is where I finally stalled out and all but quit writing.

Over the next few years, my writings continued but were quite sporadic as I was still struggling to come up with ideas. It wasn’t until I read an article by Don Jones titled Become the Master, or Go Away that I realized just how much this imposter syndrome was holding me back.

It didn’t immediately break me out of my shell, but it did help me renew my interest in writing. I even thought about creating videos to go along with the blog posts. I still had the same problem though, no idea about what to write about.

How I Got Here

I have always found it interesting how timing plays such an important role in life, and this is one of those times. I had just finished reading “Be the Master” by Don Jones, and found myself resolved to start doing something right away. A few days later I read a guest post written by Adam Bertram on the blog hosted by Mike F. Robbins. The article, TechSnips is Looking for Content and Recruiting Contributors was a good read, and I felt that it was something I should seriously look at.

By the time I got to this part of the article: “You will learn presentation skills through feedback from myself and your peers…” I had already decided that this was something I was going to do. No doubt about it. A chance to record how-to videos sounded like a great idea. Then I read the words “and you will get paid”. This was the icing on the cake!

So, I clicked on the sign-up link, provided the required information, and submitted an audition video. Waiting to see if I would be accepted as a contributor was the longest 14 hours ever. I finally received the e-mail I had hoped for! I was accepted as a contributor to TechSnips, and I was even provided with feedback on this video so that I could improve the next video I recorded.

My Experience So Far

I didn’t know it at the time, but one of the first things I would learn about TechSnips is that everything moves quickly. It can be quite a refreshing change of pace if you’re frustrated by things moving at a slower cadence. I have found that pace to be very motivating and quite exciting, and I love the fact that changes to TechSnips are made quickly and frequently as the business evolves. Keeping up with the changes was a challenge at first, but I quickly adjusted.

One of those changes that were made during my first few weeks was the introduction of contributor blog posts. The thing I enjoyed most about that change was the fact that Adam went from ‘No, I don’t think we are going to do blog posts’ to ‘yes we are, and here’s how we are going to do it’ inside of a single sentence. So, as you can see, changes are made rapidly.

The second lesson I learned was that there is always feedback being provided, and at every stage of the production process. For me, this advice is invaluable, as I am quite new to producing videos. The great thing about the advice is that it doesn’t just come from Adam but from everyone. If you have a question, whether it be about submitting a video, or setting up a recording environment on a budget, a quick post to the Slack channel will usually elicit a rapid response with helpful and valuable advice.

Having access to this group of professionals has been a wonderful learning experience, as everyone brings their own skills and unique point of view to the team.

TechSnips also successfully addressed the issue I was having with generating ideas. There is always a constant supply of ideas, both from the other contributors, subscribers and sometimes from Adam himself. Once I took a look through those lists of ideas, I realized just how much I had to offer the community. Imposter syndrome….deleted! Well, not entirely, but it isn’t as ever-present as it used to be.

The production quality at TechSnips impressed me right from day one. Every time I submit a video or a blog post, I think to myself “Yeah, that looks pretty good.” Then the editors get a hold of it and give it this incredibly polished look. I will confess to being happily surprised at how good that first video looked after the editing was complete. Now, I find myself anxiously awaiting the final product every time I submit a new video. I just can’t wait to see how good they look.

I am having an absolutely fantastic time with TechSnips! I haven’t had this much fun or felt this excited to work on a new project in a very long time. The sense of teamwork, constant advice, support, and being able to see my content published alongside so many other professionals has been quite rewarding. I cannot think of anywhere better to spread my wings and learn some new skills. I have found everything I need here; Training, guidance, teamwork, ideas, and enough work and excitement to keep me coming back for more.

I would highly recommend to anyone who is thinking about publishing content to give TechSnips a try. There is nothing to lose from the attempt, and so very much to gain.

Photo by daniel baylis on Unsplash