2003 Server Installation

[BryanSDavis]

Geez... I followed the instructions in the THG document, "Your Own Server Part 2: Windows Server 2003 Installation". I made it to part 11, DNS Server Installation Continued. I'm supposed to be able to run NSLookup and have it tell me the default server name and address. I receive:

*** Can't find server name for address 192.168.1.1: No information
Default Server: UnKnown
Address: 192.168.1.1

The address it shows (192.168.1.1) is actually my LinkSys router address as opposed to the server address of 192.168.1.151.

This is driving me crazy. Any assistance you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Jim]

Did you set up a DNS server properly in the server configurator or manually?

Example: Start --> Programs --> Administrative Tools --> DNS

If this does not exist you will need to make sure you install it from the Server Disk.

If you have done this, make sure you add the server under the administrative tools. You also need to make sure you have a static IP address on the server. Also, make sure you give it it's own IP address as the DNS server under the IP configuration properties for your NIC.

Change the gateway to your Linksys router. You probably will also have to add the public DNS servers IP addresses provided you by your ISP in DNS.

Just some thoughts

 

[BryanSDavis]

Hi Stranger,

I am grateful for your attempt to help me. The problem is that I followed the instructions exactly. I was even thinking I might have missed something so I formatted the hard drive and started from scratch last night before I made the post. I ran into the exact same problem.

I did run the wizard to install active directory which prompted that DNS be installed so it installed it as well, and I do have start --> programs --> administrative tools --> DNS.

--------> I'm afraid I don't know what you mean by "add the server under the administrative tools". <---------

Per the THG guide, I configured TCP/IP with a static IP address.

I had not given it its own IP address as the DNS server under the IP configuration properties. (The TGH guide, step 6 didn't say to do this, only to put the IP address of the router as the preferred DNS server). I JUST MADE THIS CHANGE PER YOUR RECOMMENDATION AND NSLOOKUP NOW REPORTS THE DEFAULT SERVER AND ADDRESS CORRECTLY.

The gateway is my Linksys router. I understand that I don't have to add the public DNS servers IP addresses provided by my ISP to my DNS because I can just forward to my router which will forward to my ISP. That's a moo point for now because my IPS is down.

Thank you for helping me get one step closer and understanding why. The thing is, though my NSLOOKUP looks better, I still can't ping my domain name. It tells me:

*** Can't find address for server letsgocrazy.com: Non-authoritative answer

This leads me to believe the server which is acting as a DNS server doesn't believe itself when it tells itself the address for the domain?? Also there is no server letsgocrazy.com -that's just an active directory domain name so I don't understand why it's looking for a "server".

My goal is still to join an XP machine to this letsgocrazy.com domain, but it won't work because the XP machine doesn't recognize the domain -which makes sense because I can't ping the domain.

What am I missing?

Gratefully,

Bryan

 

[Jim]

Hey, I'm glad I'm able to help a little.

WHat I mean by adding the server is go to your DNS management console under your administrative tools and right-click on DNS in the window that comes up. Then select "Connect to DNS Server" a window should pop up. Just accept the default "This computer" and click ok.

You may have already done this, but if not, it will now give you a lot of tools to work on DNS with.

After it is added, you should see your server listed below DNS. Click on the plus sign next to it nad see if you can read the Event Viewer beneath it. Yo uwill have to expand it out to get the "DNS events" log to come up. If you can get to this, let me know what errors it is geving you under the events, if not, let me know, and we'll see if we can get it to come up another way.

Hope this helps.

 

[Jim]

OH, BTW, the reason it is looking for a "server" is because any time you ping a domain (e.g. letsgocrazy.com" the server which is authoritative for that zone (the authoritative DNS server) will be the one to respond.

And if you are going to be running an internal domain you will most likely need to enter the public IP addresses given you by your ISP in your DNS server properties to help with the root domain lookups.

 

[folken]

I read through this sorta quickly so please forgive me if this was already suggested but have you made sure that the workstations have the correct dns? They MUST point to the domain controller for dns to join the domain. If you are using DHCP on either the linksys router or your server make sure that the computers are being assigned the correct primary dns (the domain controller's dns).
The domain name will only be used when adding the computer to the domain, I don't think it will be pingable. The server will only respond when pinged by it's ip or name.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[BryanSDavis]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. And thank you to Folken for you input also. I'm sorry I thought I posted this last night. I learned on another board that you have to restart the Logon service after making such changes to the DNS. To think after all that the problem was that the server didn't know it was serving its own DNS. I can add a computer to the domain, I can ping the domain name, I can access the internet because I changed the router which is handing DHCP to use the Win2003 DNS server as primary and itself as secondary -and it forwards requests to my ISP's DNS.

It had already added itself as a server to the DNS management console, but thanks for the information.

It slices, it dices... Something that my be interesting to you is the hardware this thing is running on. It's a 1999 ProLiant 1600 server with dual P2, 300Mhz processors and 512MB of RAM, and a 12GB 4 disk SCSI array... It was given to me by a company who found it to be useless. It's pretty fast, too. The reason I thought that might be interesting is that I had originally installed Win2003 Small Business Server and it took about 9 hours to load and was too slow to be considered realistic. I know I'm mixing apples and oranges here, but when I had the SB 2003 server it only had 256MB of RAM. A friend gave me her copy of Enterprise 2003 server she received as a NFR promo from a Microsoft training class and it loaded in less than an hour and is fast with many concurrent roles assigned (Applications server (IIS, ASP.NET), DNS, Domain Controller (Active Directory), Streaming Media Server, VPN server, Terminal Server).

Another friend is mailing me her copy of the promo NFR Server 2003 Enterprise so I can fiddle around with load balancing and cross domain trusts, replication, etc. on a second server. I got the Action Pack subscription so I've got Exchange Server, Live communications server, etc. If I could just get my hands on MOM workgroup and SMS...

I most likely will be asking additional questions later ) -and seeking employment later than that...

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

 

[Jim]

Hey,

No problem, I 'm glad it all worked out for you.

I would study the system and all of it's ins and out before attempting NLB and clustering. If you are going to have two servers, it would behoove you to practice with setting the RID/PDC OP master, which one you decide to make the Global Catalog Server, etc. You need to balance(not related to NLB) your servers that you make in the domain and which ones you make the DC's in your domain. it is also good practice to have at least two DNS servers in domain.

It sounds like your off to a good start, but make sure you learn the basics before starting up with a MOM or SMS server, although both are good systems.

Good Luck,,
Jim