Help me setup this dns properly

[bkhunter]

I have installed and created one 2003 server.

It is the domain controller. Active directory.

This is a small network (11 work stations). I installed active directory and configured dns and dhcp. This network has a small Dlink router DI604. DHCP is disabled on the router. High speed broadband internet is being used.

IP of the router is 192.168.0.1
The ISP has 3 different IP address' for dns servers ( I got these using the DI 604, although I have noticed that they change there dns server address' every once in a while.

I configured the dns server under the small network option. Then I set it up to maintain the dns on the server and then forward any requests that it doesn't know to the ISP dns server.

DHCP looks like this.
assigns the client a IP like 192.168.0.19
255.255.255.0
default gateway 192.168.0.1
dns 192.168.0.2 (this is the addy of my server.

Well this worked for two days. Then clients lost the internet after 2 days, but the server was seeing the internet. I could not connect to the server via the network browser. I did a quick fix by adding the router as a dns router. So now the dhcp sets up the clients with dns servers that are the server that I deployed and the router (the dlink). Is this incorrect??? Should I configure the server to forward all unknown requests to the router instead of the ISP servers??

A second thought is that I did not see anything odd in the event viewer. I cannot explain why the clients lost the internet.

Thanks for the help

 

[bkhunter]

One other thing I failed to mention. I am in the testing phaze. So the clients are not in the domain. They are in a workgroup. I just simply set the clients to use dhcp for their settings. It worked properly for say 2 days, then they lost internet. The server still was seeing the internet. I could not access the server via the network browser. Could this active directory issues, because the clients were not part of the domain???

When I added the router as a dns server, the clients saw the internet.

 

[mjpearson]

I'm new to this whole subject matter so take my obseravations with caution.

Interesting that the ISP should move the DNS servers around so often. It's further interesting to note that the computers should lose connection after 2 days. Could it be the refresh time in the DHCP? Is it possible that the IP lease time is too long?....The computers are keeping the old setting for too long and they don't renew frequent enough to detect the DNS relocations?

 

[bkhunter]

Well, the first thing is, I don't understand why they lost the internet. I think they lost there connection to the hc in all reality. One of the biggest problems I see, is if the ISP moves the dns my server will not know, the router will know but not the server. Unless there is a way to set this up. I probably need to call the ISP and talk with them about their dns address.

You would think that if all clients could not see the internet, than this is a server issue. I would think there would be some error in the event viewer

Not sure about the IP lease time being to long, I didn't think that was possible.

 

[GlenJohnson]

What does ipconfig /all show on the clients and the server? Do you have anything showing up as far as error messages? What are the os's? Good luck.

Glen A. Johnson
If you're from the Illinois or Florida area, check out Tek-Tips in Chicago IL
To get the best answers to your questions, check out faq950-5848

 

[bkhunter]

Well ipconfig /all shows the the server I created as the dns server and the router as the default gateway.

I went a head and romoved the router as a dns server. I looked in the forward and seen that only one of the 3 dns servers were added, so I added the other 2. That could've been the issue, if it couldn't contact that one dns server, then they would've lost the internet.

I am not seeing any errors in the event viewer

 

[devastator]

you could try other forwarders / DNS Servers such as 4.2.2.1 -5 and see if it is your ISP's DNS Servers that are screwing up. Or you could just resolve with the Root Hint Servers and not use forwarders to test.

I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve. ~ Baggins