Can't open www.microsoft.com from SBS2003 or it's workstations

[fs483]

Hello,

I have a weird problem with SBS2003 that won't load microsoft.com webpages. One of the SBS2003 server was installed by me and the other one was installed by someone else. I've entered the ISP's dns servers in the forwarders and the SBS's server IP is sent through DHCP to the workstations but it seems like as soon as I try to hit microsoft.com, the page won't load. There's no viruses on these workstations/servers. If however I put the ISP's DNS server IP into the network card setting the page resolves properly. The DNS service is running and all the other web addresses resolve fine. Both customers use Internet feeds from different providers. Both SBS2003 are fully legal, activated, fully patched (was able to do windows update though) and all servers/workstations are protected by AV software. I've setup other SBS2003 servers before and haven't had this problem. Any ideas ?

Thanks
akwong

 

[58sniper]

We're assuming, of course, that the SBS boxes are in different forests.

Try an nslookup on the box that's not working and see if you get resolution.

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA MVP
Want to know how email works? Read for yourself -

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2821.txt

 

[fs483]

Yes the SBS are in different forests. There is NO link between the boxes. They belong to different clients. Ok, will try the nslookup and get back to you.

 

[ShackDaddy]

There's a known problem related to the size of DNS query responses (the more servers that can answer to an FQDN, the bigger the response, and Microsoft has a lot of servers ready to respond to '

http://www.microsoft.com')

that might be afflicting you. One of these will probably help:

832223 Some DNS Name Queries Are Unsuccessful After You Upgrade Your DNS Server

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=832223

828731 An External DNS Query May Cause an Error Message in Windows Server 2003

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=828731

828263 DNS query responses do not travel through a firewall in Windows Server

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=828263

ShackDaddy

 

[ShackDaddy]

akwong, did you try disabling DNS Probes, like the second article suggested?

 

[fs483]

Hi ShackDaddy,

Sorry didn't get back sooner. Having a VERY crazy week. I just tried disabling the DNS Probes with the following command : dnscmd /Config /EnableEDnsProbes 0 and it worked like a charm.

Thanks for your help
akwong