DNS Events 5501, 5000, and 9999 Fill Up the Event Log (198757)

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

SYMPTOMS

If you have the Domain Name System (DNS) service installed on your computer, one or more of the following event error messages may appear in the event log:

Event 5501
Source: DNS
Description: DNS Server encountered bad packet from IP Address. Packet processing leads beyond packet length.
Event 5000
Source: DNS
Description: DNS Server is logging numerous run-time events. This is usually caused by the reception of bad or unexpected packets, or from problems with or excessive replication traffic. See previous event log entries for information about bad packet source. Now suppressing event logging for these events.
Event 9999
Source: DNS
Description: DNS Server has encountered numerous run-time events. These are usually caused by the reception of bad or unexpected packets, or from problems with or excessive replication traffic. The data is the number of suppressed events encountered in the last 15-minute interval.

CAUSE

The occurrence of these event error messages does not necessarily indicate a problem with the DNS service.

Event 5501 indicates that after sending a recursive query on behalf of a client, DNS received a response with a fragmented flat set indicating that the answer did not fit in one packet and that there is more data to follow. In versions of Windows NT 4.0 earlier than Service Pack 4 (SP4), DNS incorrectly discards the packet. Windows 2000 behaves correctly in this case.

Event 5000 indicates that DNS is not going to continue logging the warning events that are filling up the event log.

Event 9999 indicates the number of events DNS blocked from being logged in Event Viewer, and then the logging of those events starts again.

RESOLUTION

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

To resolve this problem in Windows NT 4.0, install SP4 or later.

To adjust the level of DNS logging in Event Viewer, use the registry key listed below.

NOTE: In Windows NT 4.0, SP4 or later is required for this key to work.

Registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\DNS\Parameters

Value: EventLogLevel

Type: REG_DWORD

Data values:

0 - Event logging disabled
1 - Only error events
2 - Warning and error events
4 - Information, warning, and error events

For example, if the data value is set to 1, no warning or information events are logged.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

Windows NT 4.0

This problem was corrected in Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4.

For information on obtaining the service pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):

S E R V P A C K

REFERENCES

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

154984 DNS Server May Not Recursively Resolve Some Names