Should I Rename My Domain

  • Thread starter Thread starter A. Blundon
  • Start date Start date
A

A. Blundon

I manage the network at our office (~15 clients using a Windows 2000
server). We have a Instant Internet Router which shares the internet
connection (DSL) to the clients and server. On the router I've listed
the DNS servers of our ISP. DHCP is handled by the server (Range
10.0.0.x):

10.0.0.2 - DHCP and File Server (Windows 2000 Server)
10.0.0.4 - Instant Internet Router
10.0.0.5 > 10.0.0.99 Address Pool for Clients with a couple of
exceptions

When I type ipconfig /all on a client I get:
Default Gateway: 10.0.0.4
DHCP Sever: 10.0.0.2
DNS Servers: 10.0.0.2
Which I set up in the DHCP (I think)

We have our email and web page hosted through a third party company
(not our isp). Our address is in the form of xxx.ca.

When we first got our server and software, I really did not know much
about networks. After fiddling with it I finally got it to work (i.e.
clients can log on, see a bunch of shared directories and printers,
connect to the internet etc).

When I set it up I gave the server the name "xxxserver" and the called
the domaing "xxxdomain". Note I do not have any dots in the domain
name. After doing some recent reading, I have found that I should have
named the server "xxx.local".

My Problem. Every couple of days we loose access to our webpage and
email (the rest of the internet works fine). I contacted our hosting
company and they said everything was OK on their end. In fact he got a
number of people around the world the check and everyone could access
it. That lead me to believe the problem was local (either internal or
with our ISP).

It happened again last week while I was away and one of the guys in the
office rebooted the server. That seemed to bring it back up. That
lead me to believe that the problem was with our internal network.
Perhaps the DNS is not working correctly? Can you see why, with my
current setup, this may be occuring? Would renaming my domain to
xxx.local be a good start? It would not be that big of a deal as there
are only about 10 users. I'm not sure if I have DNS set up correctly
on the server.

Any help and guidance would be appreciated.
 
In
A. Blundon said:
I manage the network at our office (~15 clients using a Windows 2000
server). We have a Instant Internet Router which shares the internet
connection (DSL) to the clients and server. On the router I've listed
the DNS servers of our ISP. DHCP is handled by the server (Range
10.0.0.x):

10.0.0.2 - DHCP and File Server (Windows 2000 Server)
10.0.0.4 - Instant Internet Router
10.0.0.5 > 10.0.0.99 Address Pool for Clients with a couple of
exceptions

When I type ipconfig /all on a client I get:
Default Gateway: 10.0.0.4
DHCP Sever: 10.0.0.2
DNS Servers: 10.0.0.2
Which I set up in the DHCP (I think)

We have our email and web page hosted through a third party company
(not our isp). Our address is in the form of xxx.ca.

When we first got our server and software, I really did not know much
about networks. After fiddling with it I finally got it to work (i.e.
clients can log on, see a bunch of shared directories and printers,
connect to the internet etc).

When I set it up I gave the server the name "xxxserver" and the called
the domaing "xxxdomain". Note I do not have any dots in the domain
name. After doing some recent reading, I have found that I should
have named the server "xxx.local".

My Problem. Every couple of days we loose access to our webpage and
email (the rest of the internet works fine). I contacted our hosting
company and they said everything was OK on their end. In fact he got
a number of people around the world the check and everyone could
access it. That lead me to believe the problem was local (either
internal or with our ISP).

It happened again last week while I was away and one of the guys in
the office rebooted the server. That seemed to bring it back up.
That lead me to believe that the problem was with our internal
network. Perhaps the DNS is not working correctly? Can you see why,
with my current setup, this may be occuring? Would renaming my
domain to xxx.local be a good start? It would not be that big of a
deal as there are only about 10 users. I'm not sure if I have DNS
set up correctly on the server.

Any help and guidance would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

I believe these are two separate issues. DNS will resolve outside for your
clients by the use of the Root Hints. A client will query your DNS for
www.yahoo.com. Your DNS doesn't have the answer, then it recurses the Root
Hints to find the nameserver that handles the 'com' namespace. Then the
request for "yahoo.com" is sent to that server. Then it gets the nameserver
that is handling "yahoo.com" and a query for the 'www' record is sent to
that server, which will resolve it. That's the whole process. If something
is blocking it, such as a firewall or such, then can affect functionality.

It is actually recommended to use a forwarder, which will send all outside
queries to your ISP's
300202 - HOW TO: Configure DNS for Internet Access in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=300202

That said, I hope you are not using your "Instant Internet" router as a DNS
address in your DC. The ipconfig of the client shows this is not true, but
how about your DC/DNS server? You should actually keep the router out of the
equation. All it should do for your network is offer Internet access. Let
resolution happen with your DNS server.

Another main question, what Event Log errors are there if any? Post the
Event ID # please if you have any.

As for the single label domain name, it is recommended to rename it, but
with Win2000 that can onl be done by a reinstall and rejoining your clients.
One problem, the users will lose their profiles. You may need to manually
mess with that to get them back or you won't hear the end of it from them.


--
Regards,
Ace

Please direct all replies ONLY to the Microsoft public newsgroups
so all can benefit.

This posting is provided "AS-IS" with no warranties or guarantees
and confers no rights.

Ace Fekay, MCSE 2003 & 2000, MCSA 2003 & 2000, MCSE+I, MCT, MVP
Microsoft Windows MVP - Windows Server - Directory Services
Infinite Diversities in Infinite Combinations.
=================================
 
Thanks for the reply,

I've now forwarded my DNS server to the IP's of my ISPs DNS servers.

I don't believe I am using the II as a router. When I do an IP config
on the server it gives me:
IP Address: 10.0.0.2
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 10.0.0.4
DNS Servers: 10.0.0.2
Primary WINS Server: 10.0.0.2

The last topic in the KB article you mentioned dealt with DNS through
firewalls. I'm now wondering (because I do have some ports blocked) if
that may be the problem. I'll have to look into it.

I am going to migrate to a different virus system within the next month
so that may be a good time to rename the domain. We only have around
10 users and I do not use roaming profiles. So the only info I should
lose is the sharing info for each user (which is easy to replicate).

AB
 
In
A. Blundon said:
Thanks for the reply,

I've now forwarded my DNS server to the IP's of my ISPs DNS servers.

I don't believe I am using the II as a router. When I do an IP config
on the server it gives me:
IP Address: 10.0.0.2
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 10.0.0.4
DNS Servers: 10.0.0.2
Primary WINS Server: 10.0.0.2

The last topic in the KB article you mentioned dealt with DNS through
firewalls. I'm now wondering (because I do have some ports blocked)
if that may be the problem. I'll have to look into it.

I am going to migrate to a different virus system within the next
month so that may be a good time to rename the domain. We only have
around 10 users and I do not use roaming profiles. So the only info
I should lose is the sharing info for each user (which is easy to
replicate).

AB
Click to expand...

Good idea to check into that firewall. About profiles, it;s not only roaming
profiles, I'm also more or less talking about your users' current profiles
on their desktops. They've been logged on to the domain with their user
accounts using their desktops and have come to being accustomed to them,
their personal settings, etc, and it's all based on their domain user
account. Once you disjoin and rejoin the machine, those profiles will be
lost and will cause a period of readjustment to a brand new default profile.
In some cases, you may even need to reinstall some apps.

Good luck with everything!

Ace
 
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