win2k mixed mode ... 3 questions

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trow

I have a small network with and NT PDC and a new Windows
2000 SBS. The Win2k SBS is a domain running active
directory services and dns. When the server was
configured it was set up in mixed mode versus native.
The server name is dell-2000-svr. the domain is, say
companydomain.com. the other name for the mixed mode
domain is dell200. 1st question (I believe this has to
do with DNS name versus Active Directory) ... when a user
joins the domain, they are given the name
(e-mail address removed), instead of user@dell2000. Why?
2nd question ... when they log onto the domain, they can
only select dell2000 (there is not option to select
companydomain.com) ... why ... is it dell2000 instead of
companydomain.com? In network places, the active domain
shows as dell2000. I say active because, each of the of
the pc's that have joined the domain show under the
dell200 domain object. 3rd question ... in Network
places, I do see a domain object for companydomain.com,
but it has no members and when I click it, it says "the
companydomain.com is not accessible ... The network path
was not found" This is as it should be, I think, because
the only one that should be showing is dell2000. Can
someone offer an explanation of what might be going on
here? Why is companydomain.com showing in Network
Places? Think it could have anything to do with DNS?

Thanks
 
Network Places has nothing to do with DNS. The NetBIOS name is what Network
Places uses. It comes through the master browser which is built from
broadcast announcements.

The DNS namespace hosts your FQDN for AD. That is where the User Principle
Name is pulled from. That's why the difference.

It looks like you configured a different NetBIOS name for your domain than
the suggested name. I've never done it this way so I can't comment on any
problems that could be associated with this.
 
Did you reinstall the NT when the SBS was taken in production? Did you
really name the AD-domainname company.com in stead of the preferred
company.local?
Did you use all the wizards from the SBS-console when setting up users and
connecting to the internet?
Are the workstations loggin into the SBS-domain fine? What OS on those
workstations?
 
Yes, workstations can join the domain dell2000 and when
they log in, they log into dell2000, even though their
computer name is "user.companydomaain.com"

I did follow the wizards when installing SBS. And I did
use the Company's registered domain name such as
companydomain.com, instead of companydomain.local. I
thought this was optional.

The NT server has always been there and stil is. The
dell server was purchased, but was immediately infected
by a virus, so was reformatted and re-installed ... and
then hooked back into the network.
Users were set up via active directory users and
computers.
The appropriate IP settings were used in order to connect
to the internet.

Should there be a problem with using the company's
registered name for the domain and dell2000 for the mixed
mode name?

I am wondering what change I might make at this time.
Maybe I should change it to native from mixed?? I'm not
sure why companydomaain.com is showing (yet unaccessible)
together with the mixed mode name of dell2000 in network
places.
 
If that NT server hasn't been reinstalled, you will have problems if you
don't have them already.
Can you explain more in detail what the dell2000 is (is that just the
SBS-servername?) Workstations should log into the domain, in your case I
suspect the company.com. You'll have a little problem if you want to get to
your company-site on the internet, but that can be solved quite easy by
adding an A-record in your DNS-server.

You have 2 options to get this working the way it should:
1. Reinstall the NT-server and add it to the SBS-domain as a memberserver.
2. Reinstall the SBS-server by first installing it as a plain NT4-server and
making it a BDC to your NT--domain. After that disconnect it from the
network, promote it to PDC and install first W2000 from the SBS-CD's, then
the SBS-setup. This is a very very short description, because you'll have
some pitfalls, but it will work.

Don't change your network to native, as that won't recognize the NT-server
anymore.
 
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