TheSlayer3k

Hello,

I need a little bit of help, I'm doing some work for a company tomorrow and I'm stumped at their problem.
Basically they have about 6 PC's networked into a patch panel, then to a router. These PC's are on Windows XP and are on the same workgroup. They have recently just got a server using Windows Server 2003 and I believe it is plugged straight into the router. My problem is that the Server cannot see any of the other PC's and the PC's cannot see the server, yet they can all access the net (and all workgroup PC's can see each other).
Sorry for lack of detail I've only been able to have a 10 minute look at whats wrong.

Can anyone recommend what to look for first and what the problem might be.

The router is a Cisco one so I won't be able to access an interface and i'm NOT a fan of telnet.

Thanks.

Ben.

Markware17

Make sure NetBIOS is enabled on the server and that it is indeed on the same workgroup as the other computers. I'm not the biggest fan of NetBIOS, personally I think it's a crappy protocol and causes more trouble than good.

I suggest you setup the DNS service on the server and make a forward and reverse lookup zone and join the XP machines as part of the domain. That way they can rely on DNS to resolve each others host name. However, Network Neighborhood relies on NetBIOS, so DNS will not solve that problem. If you want to, as long as you're running at least W2K3 Standard Edition...you can setup Active Directory. You would however have to get into the hassles of AD, but it's really not that hard to master if you take the time and read up on it. AD depends on DNS even though for some unknown reason to probably every IT out there, all domain trusts are created using the ugly NetBIOS protocol. So it goes without saying that you shouldn't disable NetBIOS on your domain servers or any 2000 or XP computer since many older and even some newer apps still use NetBIOS as the transport protocol.

__________________
CRC failed...the end is near.

TheSlayer3k

Thanks I'll try these out tomorrow and keep you updated.

Ben.

TheSlayer3k

How do I set up ther lookup zones?

Markware17

Here is what you do to install DNS on the server:

1. Open up the Control Panel and click on Add or Remove Programs.
2. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.
3. Click on Networking Services and click the Details button.
4. Check off DNS and click OK.
5. Click Next and make sure you have the W2K3 installation disc in the CD/DVD drive.

/*This will install DNS*/

Here is how you configure the Forward Lookup Zone on the server:

1. Open up Start and browse your Administrative Tools.
2. Click on the DNS MMC snap-in.
3. Expand the server by clicking on the "+".
4. On Forward Lookup Zones container, right click it and click New Zone...
5. Click Next while then choosing the Primary Zone radio button.
6. Click Next again and enter a zone name like work.local
7. Click Next and then choose the "Allow both nonsecure and secure dynamic updates" radio button. This will allow the hosts to update their own A record.
8. Then click Finish.

You can choose any FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) you want as long as you don't make it a root domain such as "." which is the...root domain. If you do, you will not be able to forward or use root hints to resolve Internet FQDNs since the server will think it's a root domain server or as I like to call it "The Head Cheese".

Here is how you configure the Reverse Lookup Zone on the server:

1. Right click the Reverse Lookup Zones container and click New Zone...
2. Click Next and choose the Primary Zone radio button and then click Next.
3. Enter the Network ID portion of your IP scope. If you had an IP 10.1.1.1 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, then the network ID would be 10.1.1
4. Click Next, Next again and then choose the "Allow both nonsecure and secure dynamic updates" radio button. This will allow the hosts to update their own PTR record.
5. Click Next and then click Finish.

/*This configures the Forward and Reverse Lookup zones on the sever*/

Point the servers DNS settings to itself and then point the hosts to the DNS server. You will also need to change the DNS suffix for each host including the server. This is done by:

1. Right clicking My Computer.
2. Clicking the Computer Name tab.
3. Clicking the Change... button.
4. Clicking the More... button.
5. Changing the Primary DNS suffix to work.local or whatever you made it.

Reboot the server and then the clients and bam, your done.

__________________
CRC failed...the end is near.