Hello, I am a newbie to networking, and decided to learn the basics of this field recently. To practice I decided to change my home network (2 desktop machine) from a peer2peer network to a client-server network. On a 3rd machine I installed win server 2k3. I did the following: I plugged my ISP modem to 1 of the 2 NIC that my server has. I plugged the uplink port of a hub to the 2nd NIC of the server The 2 machines used are plugged to the hub I installed a Domain Controler service (Active Directory, domain was named "mydomain.local"), a DNS service, a DHCP service, a file service on the server On the server, NIC no1 IP was set to 192.168.1.2, gateway and DNS 192.168.1.1(IP of my ISP modem) On the server, NIC no2 IP was set to 10.0.0.1, gateway and DNS 192.168.1.2 (so IP of the NIC linked to ISP modem) On the user's machines, i set the domain name "mydomain.local" and left the DHCP server handle the IP assignment Is that a proper start? I do have couple of issues, but since all machines can access Internet, I guess this is the proper way if I understood correctly. Thank you in advance :)

Hello, you said that your server have 2 NICs. The use of multihomed DCs is not recommanded. It may cause DNS problems and then AD problems. Have a look to Ace Fekay article: http://msmvps.com/blogs/acefekay/archive/2009/08/17/multihomed-dcs-with-dns-rras-and-or-pppoe-adapters.aspx My recommendation is to perform the following: Use one NIC card (disable the second one) and use one IP address for the server Use a hub / switch to connect your PCs / server Make sure that your DC points to its private IP address as primary DNS server and reboot it Configure your ISP public DNS server as a forwarder on the DC Make sure that your client computers are using your internal DNS server as primary one If you want that you install the DHCP service on your server then you can use the 50 / 50 rule (means half of the IP addresses to deliver should be configured on the server scoop and the other half should be configured on the modem to be delivered. Like that you will not have DHCP conflits and you will ensure the high-availability of the DHCP service) Remark: It is recommanded to have at least two DC/DNS/GC servers. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights. Microsoft Student Partner Microsoft Certified Professional Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator: Security Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer: Security Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuration

It's never recomended to multi-home a DC. Should be something similar to below. Regards, Dave Patrick .... Microsoft Certified Professional Microsoft MVP [Windows]

Hello, Thank you both of you for the speedy replies and explanations. I will read a bit more about the subject and set up this configuration.

You're welcome. Post back with any questions. Regards, Dave Patrick .... Microsoft Certified Professional Microsoft MVP [Windows]