**Background:** I have a relatively small Active Directory domain (Windows 2003 Functional level) with two domain controllers, both running DNS servers. They are the primary and secondary DNS servers for the LAN. No other local DNS. I do not have any subdomains or recursion going on.

**My Question:** In the DNS Manager, under server Properties, Forwarders tab. Should I have my ISP's DNS servers listed here (or the Google ones)? Or should I leave the Forwarders tab blank and rely on the Root Hints servers?

![My Forwarders Tab](https://i.stack.imgur.com/PVN5v.png)

I Googled before posting. About half the advice I read said the use the ISP DNS as forwarders, and half said to just use the Root Hints. So, I have no idea which is "best" for my setup (which I imagine is pretty typical for a small shop).