What Am I Doing Wrong With My Network? (Server 2003/SP1)

Topic

New Reply

HUGE screenshot shrunk by HansV

OK,

EDITED to provide more detail!

So I have a home network … in essence a server (2003) and some clients (XP Pro) which are configured as an AD domain. On that network I also have several devices specifically an HP Jet Direct print server with a Laser Printer on it and a broadband router.

IP’s are as follows:

Router: xxx.01
Server: xxx.02
Jet Direct: xxx.33
DHCP Clients: xxx.65 to xxx.254

The Server:
The server (2003) handles DNS and DHCP, DNS was installed when I created the domain controller (DCPROMO) and configured afterwards to forward to the OpenDNS servers on the internet (it’s a small network so I haven’t configured any reverse lookups), the server’s own DNS is configured to point to itself. DHCP supplies IP, gateway & DNS settings to all clients and the server acts as file and print as well as the one and only DC. To my knowledge the server cannot resolve or ping any client on the network

The Clients:
Mostly XP Pro (some Linux) get DHCP supplied IP addresses (client IP’s range from xxx.254) as well as gateway (router, xxx.01) & DNS (server, xxx.02). All clients have home folder connected automatically but I manually configure other shares and printers (I’m sure it could be done via domain policy). All clients can resolve and ping the server, access shares and printers, they can ping the router and have full access to the internet (browse, MSN, mail etc.). I haven’t tested them all but to my knowledge no client can resolve or ping any other client on the network

It came to a head today when I put a new 2008 core server with a static IP (xxx.03) on the network … it is not part of the domain at present. This server can ping the domain server and the router but it cannot resolve or ping to any other device (it’s 2008 core so I haven’t tested printing or internet access).

Does anyone have any idea why clients cannot see each other and the server cannot see it’s clients? My suspicion is that hardware-wise my configuration is fine but that in some fashion I have not configured my DNS (possibly DHCP) properly.

Some suggestions from colleagues so far:
* Check DNS to see if it is registering the various clients
* Delete DOT root (not sure how or what that does).

Kyu

p.s. sorry about the size of the picture (it’s not a screen dump but a JPG from MS Publisher), I had reduced it already but obviously not enough.

Reply | Quote

Replies

What firewall (if any) are you using, and what ports are blocked? Try turning off windows firewall, to see if it lets you ping.

Reply | Quote

Hi Jeremy,

I’m not using any firewall except the one in the router itself and that is only the gateway, no internal network requests travel via the router (well except the media PC and I don’t care about that).

Kyu

Reply | Quote

Can clients on the same switch ping each other? What are the results of tracert when trying to ping? You’re sure the option on the advanced tab of win firewall says ‘Allow incoming echo request’? I’m not trying to doubt you, just trying to eliminate as much as possible. Are you trying to ping computer name, or IP? Also, what kind of switches are you using?

Edit to add more questions:

1) Have all of the computers been joined to the domain?
2) Is there a group policy for the administrators group so you have a domain admin account that you can log on to EVERY computer with?
3) Are you logging on to the clients locally, or with a domain user account (preferrably domain admin)?

Reply | Quote

Kyu,

I have moved this thread from the Windows Servers forum to the Home Networking forum, as that is the best place to discuss home networking problems.

Could you please try the steps in post 589883 and let us know what results you get.

StuartR

Reply | Quote

Will do … thanks Stuart

Kyu

Reply | Quote

Kyu,

Note that some of the steps won’t be applicable, since you’re trying to administer a domain, and not a workgroup.

Reply | Quote