windows server 2003 - DHCP failing to update DNS, no Active Directory

I have a DHCP and DNS server, running Windows 2003 SP1. I configure everything according to this Microsoft Technet article "Using DNS servers with DHCP", but it does not work. Note that the client is a Linux client, but that should not matter; it did not work when it sent option 81 or when it only sent a hostname.

Also note the following documents/tutorials that we read:

In the logs I get the following messages:

30,07/10/09,16:31:04,DNS Update Request,151.28.30.10,hostname.testdomain.local,,MACHINE-317A15D\Administrator
31,07/10/09,16:31:51,DNS Update Failed,10.30.28.151,hostname.testdomain.local,2,
30,07/10/09,16:31:51,DNS Update Request,151.28.30.10,hostname.testdomain.local,,

10,07/10/09,16:31:51,Assign,10.30.28.151,hostname.testdomain.local,001D09117758,
31,07/10/09,16:46:08,DNS Update Failed,10.30.28.151,hostname.testdomain.local,-1,

One other clue I have is the following event log entry:

with the following text:

The DNS server machine currently has
no DNS domain name. Its DNS name is a
single label hostname with no domain
(example: "host" rather than
"host.microsoft.com").

You might have forgotten to configure a primary DNS domain for the
server computer. For more information,
see either "DNS server log reference"
or "To configure the primary DNS

suffix for a client computer" in the
online Help.

While the DNS server has only a single label name, all zones created
will have default records (SOA and NS)
created using only this single label
name for the server's hostname. This
can lead to incorrect and failed
referrals when clients and other DNS
servers use these records to locate

this server by name.

To correct this problem:
1) open Control Panel
2) open System applet
3) select Computer Name tab
4) click the "Change" button and join the computer to a domain or workgroup; this name will be used as your DNS domain name
5) reboot to initialize with new domain name

After reboot, the DNS server will attempt to fix up default
records, substituting new DNS name of
this server, for old single label
name. However, you should review to
make sure zone's SOA and NS records
now properly use correct domain name

of this server

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

This question is almost identical to this earlier ServerFault question, except that in this case the DHCP/DNS server are not joined to an ActiveDirectory domain. Also it is different from this other ServerFault question, because in my case the logs do indicate a failure, not success.

Answer

This is not possible. As the Event log states, you must join a domain for this to work. The Active Directory domain name is used as the DNS domain name for the system.

As soon as we recreated the configuration with the DHCP/DNS server joined to Active Directory, it all worked.