Win Server 03 .. Set IP address as 1° DNS

FuzMic · 14th November 2008

Hi forum mates

Following ReggieB's suggestion in the Sticky: "If you are running a Windows network managed by a Windows 2003 .. you always need to set the IP address of the server as your primary DNS...The easiest way .. is via a DHCP scope option (option 6)..",

I am seeking Advice on the following which is truly sticky in my network.

Situation
1 An Active Directory (AD) has numerous Registered Users to the Domain (DM) using Server 03 SP2.
2 Numerous wsPC running XPWin SP2 had joined the Domain and appears as PCs in the AD User / Computer dialog at the Server.
3 The Server have static address eg 192.168.1.11 while all other wsPCs have similar static address ie 192.168.1.xxx
4 Pinging with the TCP/IP address among all the PCs and server in both in/out has no problem at all.

Issue
1 Very often, Administrator to the DM can't access 1 or 2 particular wsPCs that appear in the network within the Server.
The error message is:
\\1-Pc is not accessible. U might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact Admin of this server if u have access rights. There are currently no logon servers availiable to serve this logon request.

2 At the same time any other user in the Domain can access \\1-PC.

Questions
1 Do you think that this phenomenon is due to what ReggieB stated in his Sticky .. primary DNS.
2 If so, can some experienced network peers outline the steps to set server as primary DNS. I have difficulty understanding the Sticky including the use of rather complication Security Configuration Wizard, a prerequisite before adding DHCP server role. I am worried that when i tinker with the Server, i can't roll back if something disastrous occurs.

Note:
I have placed the “preferred” TCP/IP DNS server address of the broadband provider in the TCP/IP properties for the server network connection. What is the significance between this and the 1° DNS suggested by ReggieB?

Thanks in Advance.

**ReggieB** · 18th November 2008

Firstly, if AD is running on the server, then DNS should be running on the server too (there will be a tool to manage DNS in the Administrative Tools area on the server).

If you are using static IP addresses, all you have to do is set the DNS server as 192.168.1.11 on all the client PCs. That is, on each PC:

Right click on the active connection in "Network Connections" and select properties.
Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click on the Properties button
In the box "Preferred DNS server" enter 192.168.1.11

You can do it on just one to test what will happen.

One thing that might happen is you get full access to the local network, but lose connection to the internet. If this happens you need to set up forwarders.

However, I wonder if your problem is that the problem computer is confusing the local "Administrator" account with the domain "Administrator" account. These are two different accounts. You can force the system to use one or the other by prefix either domain_name\ or computer_name\ to the user name.

So if you have a computer call George on a domain called Domain:

domain\administrator will be the domain administrator account.
george\administrator will be the local administrator account.

Even better, create a new user account on the domain called something like DomAdmin. Then add that account to the Domain Admins group. Then that user name will be unique to the domain. Use that account to do your general administration tasks.

FuzMic · 19th November 2008

Thanks ReggieB, I was hoping you will response and sure u you did.

As to your wondering "..confusing the local "Administrator" account with the domain "Administrator" account. ";
i was in fact login on the server as SrvAdmin (an Administrator of the DM), hence i doubt it is this issue.

I will tinker with your suggestion & come back here to report

Cheers!