-----Original Message-----
number of Windows
2000 clients registered as members of the domain set up using Active
Directory on the W2k Server. None of the w2k clients have the IP address of
the local network server in the DNS server list in the TCP/set up. They
have the IP addresses of the Internet DNS's provided by my ISP as the
primary and secondary DNS. There are no LMHOSTS files on any of the W2k
client computers. Windows XP Professional
to join the domain, I found that it was necessary to put the IP address of
the local server into the list of DNS's on the TCP IP setup. Without doing
this, the XP computer could not see the other members of the domain, nor
could the others see it. some other setting
that makes it unnecessary?
Basically, your win2k setup is broken, it just seems to work.
Win2k was more tollerant of this particular misconfiguration,
because it would try NetBIOS resolution alongside DNS.
The following advice applies to win2k as well as XP.
XP differs from previous versions of windows in that it uses
DNS as it's primary name resolution method for finding domain
controllers:
How Domain Controllers Are Located in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en- us;314861
If DNS is misconfigured, XP will spend a lot of time waiting for it to
timeout before it tries using legacy NT4 sytle NetBIOS.
( Which may or may not work. )
1) Ensure that the XP clients are all configured to point to the local
DNS server which hosts the AD domain. That will probably be the
win2k server itself.
They should NOT be pointing an an ISP's DNS server.
An 'ipconfig /all' on the XP box should reveal ONLY the domain's
DNS server.
( you should use the DHCP server to push out the local DNS server
address. )
2) Ensure DNS server on win2k is configured to permit dynamic updates.
3) Ensure the win2k server points to itself as a DNS server.
4) For external ( internet ) name resolution, specify your ISP's DNS server
not on the clients, but in the 'forwarders' tab of the local win2k DNS
server.
On the DNS server, if you cannot access the 'Forwarders' and 'Root Hints'
tabs because they are greyed out, that is because there is a root zone (".")
present on the DNS server. You MUST delete this root zone to permit the
server to forward unresolved queries to yout ISP or the root servers.
Accept any nags etc, and let it delete any corresponding reverse lookuop
zones if it asks.
The following articles may assist you in setting up DNS correctly:
Setting Up the Domain Name System for Active Directory
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en- us;237675
HOW TO: Configure DNS for Internet Access in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en- us;300202
--
Best Regards,
Ron Lowe
MS-MVP Windows Networking
.
