Setup: Modem>Server08R2>Router>PC's I have set up domain services and joined my PC's to the domain, added DHCP with a valid scope, but DNS won't work. I have the official academic course material on Server08R2 and watched this detailed video. DNS seems to install properly but when I try to connect my PC's to the internet I get a DNS not active or something along those lines. This is my first time setting up a network through Windows Server so be nice. Server08R2 normal PC which meets well more then min requirements. 2 NICs. Do the connections have to be bridged? I didn't think so but real application is a lot different then VM labs to learn Server08!!! Modem (from ISP with built in router) = WAN automatic. wireless/off, DHCP/off. Straight DSL in and an ethernet to NIC1 in. NIC2 out to cisco wrt320n (not configured, still at defaults). I've given NIC1 a static IP with a gateway to the modem and a loop-back for a DNS. NIC2 has also been given a static IP. This is where I'm stuck. I can get PC's to join the domain but I cant get the domain controller's DNS to work so the PC's can connect to the internet. This is my home network so quick replies are appreciated. Please ask me for whatever info you need to help me solve this. Thanks!

To which DNS Server clinet points to? If to AD DNS (installed on your server) have you configured forwarders on it to resolve external (public) domain names? Can you ping from pc public ip address, i.e. 8.8.8.8 (google public dns)?With kind regards Krystian Zieja http://www.projectnenvision.com Follow me on twitter My Blog

Hello, your network should look like this: Modem/Router > Switch > all domain machines in the LAN Then use only the private ip ranges in the LAN(10.x.x.x, 172.x.x.x or 192.168.x.x) and configure a Forwrder to the ISPs DNS server in the DNS server properties insed the DNS management console on the server. Do NOT use any external DNS ip address on the computers or your router as DNS server on the NIC. Please post an unedited ipconfig /all from the server and a client as they are configured now.Best regards Meinolf Weber Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.

Hey everyone! Thanks for all the help. I've had the wrt320n sitting around forever but haven't used it before. I've always just used my ISP modem with built in router for local file sharing. What I was trying to accomplish with all this was to properly setup Windows ADDS in a perimeter network with modem>server>router>clients but my networking skills are far to amateur so I did as everyone said and changed the hardware to modem>router>server/clients. I ran into a number of issues though. The default IPs for my Modem and Router had different host addresses; ie 192.168.2.1 and 192.168.1.1. I thought I had to change those so they could communicate with static IPs. After the change the only way I could edit any settings was to directly connect an ethernet cable from either device to my laptop and enter their new static IPs (with the same host addresses ie; 192.168.5.1 and 192.168.5.2) but still had problems. I couldn't figure out how to get my static Router to connect to my static Modem. I even found an option on my Router to use PPPoE (which was already used on my modem)... That led to some phone calls to my ISP when I couldn't get any internet even after hard resetting my modem. Overall at that time I could get a domain setup and have my home clients join the domain but couldn't get anything to connect to the internet. I thought it was issues with server 08 DNS but it was because of my errors trying to setup static IP connections between the Modem and the Router. It then dawned on me to allow DHCP between my Modem and my Router so my Router would use any given IP to get internet and then I could disable my Routers network DHCP. That would give me (working) internet on my server so dcpromo could properly create a domain and automatically setup DNS; afterwards I would then setup DHCP, create a user and - boom- mission accomplished. I didn't get that far. A friend of mine is travelling and relying on my machine for some file shares so because of all the issues I decided to abandon the project until my friend is back in the area. I allowed DHCP on my modem and router and edited all my machines connections. Now everything is back to normal with an added (now working) router and all server 08 R2 roles uninstalled. I will try again in a few weeks to set it all up again but for now: One last issue. With all my dcpromos windows server has switched my default administrator account to a new one and I'm not sure how to get it back? In pic one you can see under users theres an Administrator and an Administrator.COKECOLA. The first one is the original and the second is the new "switched to default". In the second pic in advance systems settings/users the original Administrator has been renamed "account unknown" but you can clearly see by the space used it is the original account I've been using on the machine normally but I can't find anyway to revert back to the original Admin account. [IMG]http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/9779/adminusers.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/459/advsyssett.jpg[/IMG] In control panel under users theres only one Admin account and under advance sys settings/users it won't allow my to correctly switch back. Thanks for all the help with the DNS issue, I'll have another go in a few weeks but as for now any ideas on the admin account? My original had my virtual machines which wont operate properly under the new admin account... Thanks! :-)

Hello, "With all my dcpromos windows server has switched my default administrator account to a new one and I'm not sure how to get it back?" This is normal, during demotion the DC to member server a new local administrator will be created with the password you set during demotion. That's the reason you see "..\Administrator" and "..\Administrator.name000" or similar, the profile for administrator exist and a new one will be created with the addition of .name000. More details in: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324734 Best regards Meinolf Weber Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.