Windows Server 2008 R2 and 2012 R2

[Webhead]

Is it just me or do the IP addresses in these systems not show up in order? In other words, go to Administrative Tools and launch DNS. Then look at your IP addresses in the forward lookup zone. Now try to sort them in numerical order. Can you do it? Because I sure can't. What am I doing wrong? I googled and this seems to be a bug. Evidently Microsoft was too busy building the metro interface to give us things like a numerical listing of IP addresses. I'm trying to find either a fix or work-around because this is super annoying.

This works fine in 2003 by the way.

[NooNoo]

I can assure you Webby the team that works on Win next is not the Server team.... but that's all I can tell you

[Webhead]

I can assure you Webby the team that works on Win next is not the Server team.... but that's all I can tell you

Do you have a workaround for this problem? Seems so odd that it won't sort numerically. It's little annoying things like this that are killing MS.

[NooNoo]

http://blogs.technet.com/b/networking/archive/2008/05/21/export-dns-records-to-excel-to-read-time-stamps-and-static-records.aspx
try that.

[74AD]

Do you have a workaround for this problem? Seems so odd that it won't sort numerically. It's little annoying things like this that are killing MS.

can't disagree.

[slgrieb]

Do you have a workaround for this problem? Seems so odd that it won't sort numerically. It's little annoying things like this that are killing MS.
Color me confused, but I'm not sure why this is a big issue. Most of my commercial accounts are small credit unions and banks. A lot of the reports they generate require assigned IP addresses to print, so I use assigned IP addresses throughout the businesses. It takes a bit more time to set it up initially, but once it is done, you only need to look at a simple spreadsheet or printout to identify every machine in the system.

Honestly, if dealing with MS operating system makes you nuts, you clearly aren't spending enough time working with Macs.

[Webhead]

Color me confused, but I'm not sure why this is a big issue. Most of my commercial accounts are small credit unions and banks. A lot of the reports they generate require assigned IP addresses to print, so I use assigned IP addresses throughout the businesses. It takes a bit more time to set it up initially, but once it is done, you only need to look at a simple spreadsheet or printout to identify every machine in the system.

Honestly, if dealing with MS operating system makes you nuts, you clearly aren't spending enough time working with Macs.

That's not an answer. If you went to McDonalds and they served you a cold hamburger, you wouldn't bring it back to the counter and expect them to say, "What's wrong with a cold hamburger? We eat cold hamburgers all the time and are fine with it." Sorry, that doesn't fly. I want to be able to list IP addresses numerically. I used to be able to in WK2K3 and earlier and this is recognized as a bug. It should be fixed. This has nothing to do with Mac computers. I'm talking specifically about Windows Server 2008 R2 and 2012 R2.

[CeeBee]

I want to be able to list IP addresses numerically. I used to be able to in WK2K3 and earlier and this is recognized as a bug. It should be fixed.
It's a bug, but it's a minor one. The trend is to move away from GUI tools - especially in large deployments. A powershell script can give you the sorted results and even do a search for a certain parameter.

[Webhead]

It's a bug, but it's a minor one. The trend is to move away from GUI tools - especially in large deployments. A powershell script can give you the sorted results and even do a search for a certain parameter.

That's interesting that you say that. I had a feeling something like that was happening when I took my "Windows Server Essentials" class. For years I've gotten accustomed to the traditional Windows Server 2003 GUI. But in the class, they seemed to emphasize PowerShell and more of a stripped down CLI interface. A lot more importance was placed on learning commands. At the time I thought that was kinda strange. But looking back it makes sense now. I assume that must be to complete with Linux and reduce overhead in large enterprise environments. So they probably don't put much effort into the GUI because real sys admins in those environments probably never even look at the GUI.

That's pretty cool. Thanks for the insight. I hadn't thought of it that way before.

[slgrieb]

That's not an answer. If you went to McDonalds and they served you a cold hamburger, you wouldn't bring it back to the counter and expect them to say, "What's wrong with a cold hamburger? We eat cold hamburgers all the time and are fine with it." Sorry, that doesn't fly. I want to be able to list IP addresses numerically. I used to be able to in WK2K3 and earlier and this is recognized as a bug. It should be fixed. This has nothing to do with Mac computers. I'm talking specifically about Windows Server 2008 R2 and 2012 R2.

Actually, that was an answer, and I'm sorry that it didn't fit into your overly anal retentive and OCD view of reality. It hurts me to agree with CeeBee and say this is a pretty minor bug, but if you were to take your head out of your butt and deal with some other operating systems, I promise you that you would encounter plenty of frustrations. It isn't just MS software that can make you crazy.

[Webhead]

Actually, that was an answer, and I'm sorry that it didn't fit into your overly anal retentive and OCD view of reality. It hurts me to agree with CeeBee and say this is a pretty minor bug, but if you were to take your head out of your butt and deal with some other operating systems, I promise you that you would encounter plenty of frustrations. It isn't just MS software that can make you crazy.

Ok, everyone just quit judging me and calling me names and calm down for a minute. Everything is going to be fine. Don't take my reply personally. I wanted an answer to something and you told me that you were confused why I wanted that answer. You can't question people that way. Put it this way, if you wanted to know something and did a Google search and Google responded by saying, "Why would you even want to know this?" Would you find that helpful? Or would you be annoyed? Personally, I would be annoyed and keep searching or take my search somewhere else. That is just not the way to respond to someone.

Also, keep in mind that just because you use static IP addresses for your business doesn't mean the rest of the world does it the way you do it. I can't assign a static IP address to a tablet or a phone -- or even a laptop for that matter. I mean, I'm sure there are plenty of ways to do just about anything but I don't want that. I just want my normal DHCP server to assign addresses like any normal network would. And I don't have time to sit there formatting and printing spreadsheets. I thank you for offering the suggestion but it just doesn't solve the problem.

When I go on the server search for the address I want I will always find my address and go about my business, but while I am doing that, I find myself often wondering why the list isn't just in numerical order to way it's always been so that I don't have to look line by line. It's a bug and it's an annoyance but yet it's there. And I know it's a bug and I know there is no fix. But I still have to ask because that is just how I am. I won't rest until a way is found.

That said, running Windows as a core system isn't the answer I wanted either necessarily but it is an answer nonetheless and puts the case to rest (at least in my mind it does). In fact, it's something I need to start thinking about going forward.

[slgrieb]

Ok, everyone just quit judging me and calling me names and calm down for a minute. Everything is going to be fine. Don't take my reply personally. I wanted an answer to something and you told me that you were confused why I wanted that answer. You can't question people that way. Put it this way, if you wanted to know something and did a Google search and Google responded by saying, "Why would you even want to know this?" Would you find that helpful? Or would you be annoyed? Personally, I would be annoyed and keep searching or take my search somewhere else. That is just not the way to respond to someone.

Also, keep in mind that just because you use static IP addresses for your business doesn't mean the rest of the world does it the way you do it. I can't assign a static IP address to a tablet or a phone -- or even a laptop for that matter. I mean, I'm sure there are plenty of ways to do just about anything but I don't want that. I just want my normal DHCP server to assign addresses like any normal network would. And I don't have time to sit there formatting and printing spreadsheets. I thank you for offering the suggestion but it just doesn't solve the problem.

When I go on the server search for the address I want I will always find my address and go about my business, but while I am doing that, I find myself often wondering why the list isn't just in numerical order to way it's always been so that I don't have to look line by line. It's a bug and it's an annoyance but yet it's there. And I know it's a bug and I know there is no fix. But I still have to ask because that is just how I am. I won't rest until a way is found.

That said, running Windows as a core system isn't the answer I wanted either necessarily but it is an answer nonetheless and puts the case to rest (at least in my mind it does). In fact, it's something I need to start thinking about going forward.

I still maintain that you got an answer, even if you didn't like it. CeeBee gave you one as well, and I'm pretty sure you didn't like his response either. Look, I don't want this discussion to be a pissing contest, and I'm well aware that I tend to have an "assholier than thou" attitude, which I actually work very hard to reign in. So, please accept this as a semi-apology.

All the same, a lot of weird computer glitches either don't have a resolution, or have a fix that's so illogical you have to wonder who ever found the fix. Many times, the fix simply isn't worth the effort.

Let me give you a recent example from my own experience. I'm in the middle of replacing the last XP machines at one of my credit unions. Every time the customer tried to connect to one of their data centers using an app that's essentially a customized front end for IE 9 (and no, newer versions aren't supported) we would get a pop up asking to insert the MS Office CD, and then after the CD was inserted, whatever component was trying to install itself would fail because the user profile didn't have administrative rights.

I wasted a couple of hours of non-billable time trying to figure this out, and frankly couldn't. It was an annoyance, but you could just click through the error message and then log into the data center. But I really wanted to figure this out. So finally I called the data centers tech support. They said, "Yeah, we see this a lot. Just open Word on the computer, and you'll never see the error again." Well that seemed pretty counter-intuitive, and I'm pretty sure I made a smart ass remark like, "What, I can't open Excel and fix it?" I was told "No, it has to be Word." So I opened Word, and sure enough, there was never another problem connecting to the data center again. And I've had to do this on every one of the new machines.

So why did this work? I have no clue, and I didn't even ask for an explanation, since it would have likely been exceedingly long, complex, and would have probably left me even crazier than I already am.

[Webhead]

Yeah, that would be annoying...

Here's a more visual way of seeing my problem... And keep in mind, this is the very latest version of Windows Server 2012 R2. Brand new all shiny and updated and working great as a domain controller. See, I should be able to just click the button to put them in order. That is the purpose of the button. But the operating system doesn't seem to understand the difference between "15" and "015".

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1140125/numerical-dns-listing.JPG

[CeeBee]

It doesn't seem to be wrong, it's sorted correctly as strings.

[Webhead]

It doesn't seem to be wrong, it's sorted correctly as strings.

It didn't used to sort that way in 2003. It used to just sort them all in numerical order. And besides, what good does it do me to sort it as a "string" (whatever that is). I want it sorted numerically. For example, if I look at those records and want to see if one has been issued multiple times with varying host names, then I want to sort it numerically so they will all appear at once and I can delete them. But if they are all scattered around as "strings" then what useful purpose would that serve? I would have to sift through all of them to find the number I'm looking for. Or export it as a text file and do it that way. Either way, it's just dumb that it's like this now.

[slgrieb]

Yes, I share your pain, but if computers weren't immensely complicated and frequently immensely screwed up we wouldn't have jobs, right?:)

[CeeBee]

If one has been assigned multiple times then you will see the records next to each other regardless of them being sorted as strings or as byte groups.
Maybe the powers decided that string sorting should work for most and it causes less headache with IPv6 or a mix of IPv4 and IPv6? Especially given the fact that IPv6 format can be imploded for adjacent 0 numbers....

[Webhead]

Yes, I share your pain, but if computers weren't immensely complicated and frequently immensely screwed up we wouldn't have jobs, right?:)

Well that is a damn good point. I better keep that in mind. :D

[Webhead]

If one has been assigned multiple times then you will see the records next to each other regardless of them being sorted as strings or as byte groups.
Maybe the powers decided that string sorting should work for most and it causes less headache with IPv6 or a mix of IPv4 and IPv6? Especially given the fact that IPv6 format can be imploded for adjacent 0 numbers....

I dunno. Maybe. All I know is that I want to sort it numerically.

[CeeBee]

I dunno. Maybe. All I know is that I want to sort it numerically.
If you want to sort them numerically then the correct way is to dump in a spreadsheet and convert them to numbers 192.168.0.1 -> 3232235521

[Webhead]

If you want to sort them numerically then the correct way is to dump in a spreadsheet and convert them to numbers 192.168.0.1 -> 3232235521

LOL. That's what slgrieb said to do. That is not an answer. Ok, nevermind....

[slgrieb]

LOL. That's what slgrieb said to do. That is not an answer. Ok, nevermind....

Yeah, there's a lot of stuff that doesn't work the way we wish it did. Pissing and moaning won't change that. Are you a Microsoft Channel Partner? I am. If you aren't in the program, you should join. Then you could submit your concerns directly to MS, where they will be mostly ignored unless you have something more significant to say.

[Webhead]

Lots of people have been complaining about this problem for a long time. Microsoft knows about it and won't fix it.

link: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/f1b686ad-824f-4c16-a66c-f9470a2dfa6d/2008-dns-ip-address-sorting-issue?forum=winserverManagement

[CeeBee]

Again, if this a real bug then how would you sort a mix of IPv4 and IPv6?

[Webhead]

Again, if this a real bug then how would you sort a mix of IPv4 and IPv6?

I don't know anything about programming but I would think something like this would work...

If IPv4
then put address in IPv4 numerical order
else put address in IPv6 alphanumeric string order

[74AD]

I don't know anything about programming but I would think something like this would work...

If IPv4 then
put address in IPv4 numerical order
else
put address in IPv6 alphanumeric string order
end if

:D

[Webhead]

end if

:D

Right. Thanks. :p

[CeeBee]

I don't know anything about programming but I would think something like this would work...

If IPv4
then put address in IPv4 numerical order
else put address in IPv6 alphanumeric string order
I said a mix - not IPv4 or IPv6
COMP1 - 192.168.0.5
COMP2 - fdf8:f53b:82e4::53
COMP3 - 192.168.1.10

I don't understand your gripe about it. WGAF in which order they are as long as they are unique? You can still find out the IP of a computer and what computer has a certain IP easily.

[Webhead]

I said a mix - not IPv4 or IPv6
COMP1 - 192.168.0.5
COMP2 - fdf8:f53b:82e4::53
COMP3 - 192.168.1.10

I don't understand your gripe about it. WGAF in which order they are as long as they are unique? You can still find out the IP of a computer and what computer has a certain IP easily.

I give a f*ck. And evidently a lot of people do according to what I linked earlier.

[CeeBee]

So again, what would sorting in numerical order of the IP parts do for you that sorting as string doesn't? Do you also complain that it doesn't sort first by hour and then by day?

[Webhead]

So again, what would sorting in numerical order of the IP parts do for you that sorting as string doesn't? Do you also complain that it doesn't sort first by hour and then by day?

Really? I have to answer this question again? I've pretty much stated my reasons throughout this thread about a dozen times (hence why this thread is even posted in the first place). You'll just have to go back and reread.

[CeeBee]

Really? I have to answer this question again? I've pretty much stated my reasons throughout this thread about a dozen times (hence why this thread is even posted in the first place). You'll just have to go back and reread.
You can see duplicates (if any) if you sort as strings. Your reason is "I want to", nothing else. It's a "nice to have" not a "must have" feature.

[Gazzak]

God bless CeeBee's users for they must need the patience of a saint.

[Webhead]

God bless CeeBee's users for they must need the patience of a saint.

LOL. No doubt huh. :D

[Cmdr Klarg]

So again, what would sorting in numerical order of the IP parts do for you that sorting as string doesn't? Do you also complain that it doesn't sort first by hour and then by day?

It doesn't sort by numerical order, duh. I'd love to see DNS list in proper numerical order too, but that's not in the cards apparently. Good ol' Microsoft, "improving" things...

[archer]

In Apple terms this would be called a feature :D
http://www.networksteve.com/forum/topic.php/DNS_Management_Console_/_IP_Address_sort_problem/?TopicId=15854&Posts=2

Hi Thanks for posting here. In widows server 2008 and 2008 R2 DNS management console , it sorts data alphabetically instead of numerically , and this is a by design behavior. Here also an old thread which discuss same situation for you refer: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/winserverManagement/thread/f1b686ad-824f-4c16-a66c-f9470a2dfa6d




The RTM version of 2008 is also sorting it in decending order, the only catch here is that it is giving preference the ASCII values.

192.168.1.23 ASCII Values (2 - 50, 3 - 51)

192.168.1.220 ASCII Values (2 - 50, 2 - 50, 0 - 48)

192.168.1.20 ASCII Values (2 - 50, 0 - 48)

192.168.1.123 ASCII Values (1 - 49, 2 - 50, 3 - 51)

192.168.1.10 ASCII Values (1 - 49, 0 - 48)

[Webhead]

In Apple terms this would be called a feature :D
http://www.networksteve.com/forum/topic.php/DNS_Management_Console_/_IP_Address_sort_problem/?TopicId=15854&Posts=2

I guess it must require a complete OS overhaul to fix it because they don't seem to interested in doing anything about it.