Sharepoint Services (http://companyweb) configuration

I have had 4 PCs connect to a SBS 2003 server for a few months and i am plagued but a confusing problem with Sharepoint Services accessed at Sharepoint Services (http://companyweb).

On the server I can always access the http://companyweb
For 2 PCs they can access the http://companyweb site 7/10 times
The other 2 PCs can only access the http://companyweb site about 2/10 times

Restarting the PC sometimes works but not always. IIS on server works as a test web site at http://[servername]/testsite. This test site works 10/10 time on all PCs. I have a router on the netwrok and ports are enable for Web server (Port 80), secure Web server (Port 443) and Remote Workplace (port 4125).

Any idea would be a great help as im not making any progress on this.

Paul

 

My guess is that you have a name resolution problem. Are you running WINS? If not the PC will have to broadcast for the NetBIOS server name and the results can be irratic. I think the best option is to avoid using NetBIOS names for web services, and instead use DNS names.

That is, if you have a server call "bob ", and a domain called "company ", both of those are NetBIOS names. Internet addresses are DNS addresses. On a local network, they would typically have the form server_name.domain_name.local. So in the DNS name space, bob may be bob.company.local. You may well find that the bob.company.local form of the server address gives more consistent behaviour.

 

thanks for your reply. WINS is running on my server. Could you give me some advice on how to change the setting to what you suggested.

I would even be happy if I could (somehow) move the companyweb into the Default Web Site folder within IIS, this would allow me to access it via http://[servername]/company web. As i know what any web sites running within the Default Web Site folder work fine.


I was thinking this could be a DNS issue as the same user who canntec access the companyweb sometimes gets the following message when trying to access shared folder on the server
"The system detected a possible attempt to compromise security. Please ensure that you can contact the server that authenticated you. "
Restarting usually fixes this and allows compnayweb to work (for a while)

I was thinking that they could be connected. My Broadband DNS on my router is set to be Obtain DNS information automatically. So not sure if there is a confict between DNS on server and router.

 

You need to set up the Server as your primary DNS on your network. You can then set up the server's DNS to forward requests it cannot resolve, to your router or you're ISP's DNS servers. Here is a MS guide to setting up DNS.

If you have DNS set up you can assign multiple names to a single host by adding A records. Have a look at this MS article, and in particular "How to Create a Host Record ". You can create more than one A record to a single IP address. So www.company.com, server.company.com, and bob.company.com could all point to 10.1.1.1 if there are three A records, www, server and bob all pointing at that address. (returning to your original post - I thought you didn't have a DNS server).

However, if on reflection you'd prefer to go the \\servername\user route and use IIS to achieve it, then what you want is virtual directories. Have a look at this MS article.

 

I have been closely monitoring the IP address details of each client, they are set for DHCP and my server is providing the details. However, I have noticed that the DNS Server entry seems to randomly change between x.x.x.1 (router) and x.x.x.2 (server). When i cannot access http://companyweb DNS is usually x.x.x.1, and reparing the connection sets the DNS to x.x.x.2 and then http://companyweb works. I would like to keep DNS address to be assigned by DHCP server but to point to the Server (2) and then the Router (1) as a backup, do you think this is the best way to proceed?

 

Personally I'd set up only one DNS server address to be handed out by DHCP and have that as the server's. In my experiences workstations are not very good at failing over to the secondary DNS if the primary failes and therefore, I prefer not to rely on a secondary.

If you have a catastrophic failure, it is fairly easy to either:

• If the DNS service fails on the server, change the setting in DHCP to point to the router
• Or if the server as a whole fails, enable DHCP on the router with that pointing at the router for DNS

Either way, an IPCONFIG /RELEASE and then IPCONFIG /RENEW on each of the workstations will get them back using the internet quickly until you can fix the problem.

 

Within the DHCP options on the server, under 'Scope Options' the following are some of what is listed:

003 Router - value: x.x.x.1
006 DNS Servers - value: x.x.x.2

But when I go into 006 DNS Servers under 'General' tab and column 'Available Options', the following are ticked:

003 Router (with IP address x.x.x.1)
006 DNS Servers (with IP x.x.x.2)

Will unticking 003 Router, stop the Router becoming the DNS server (x.x.x.1)?
As I would like the DHCP server (the server x.x.x.2) to always be the DNS server?

Thanks

 

In the client DNS settings, instead of having it automatically assigned, set it to your DNS server's IP address. Then, as ReggieB suggested, set up your DNS server to forward all non-local requests to the router.

This way, provided your DNS server knows where companyweb is, it should always be able to find it using http://companyweb. All requests for external addresses (i.e. anything not on your network) will be forwarded to your router for resolution.

 

I came in this morning and was about to do what was suggested yesterday, then things went weird.

All 4 PCs were still set on DHCP. 2 had a DNS server address of x.x.x.1 and were fine, the other 2 had a DNS server address of x.x.x.2 and had no Internet access. The server with its manually configured static IP had a DNS server address of x.x.x.2 and this also had no Internet access.

after 10 mins the server regained internet access with no changes.
one PC i repaired the connection and internet access returned.
the other PC I had to manually configure the IP and set the DNS server address to x.x.x.1.

I was about to change all PCs IPs to the DNS server address of x.x.x.2 (so that they can all access http://companyweb), but now i am concerned by this erratic behaviour of the DNS server addressed x.x.x.2

Any ideas guys?

Thanks
Griffmaster

 

I think you possibly have an issue with two NAT servers on the network or your DNS is misconfigured.

If your router provides NAT you really don't need to use DHCP on your server, in fact it will cause more problems than it will solve regarding name resolution. Also, make sure that the client DNS settings for your server only point to itself. On the client machines you need to make sure that DNS is pointing to your server, so that any lookups are sent to your server. If you set them to obtain DNS settings automatically they will most likely only look to the router for name resolution, so anything you are accessing internally probably won't work.

If you open up a command prompt on one of the client machines and type ipconfig -all you should see something like this:

Hope that helps.

 

I only have NAT on the router, I was hoping to have the DHCP provided by the server as i can disable the DHCP on the router (at the moment they both running but the server is handing out the IP addresses (so the router is a backup DHCP))

this is what I get on the client (wont work internally but works on the internet)

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Client
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : domain.local
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : domain.local
gateway.2wire (router)

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : gateway.2wire
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel PRO/100
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : [MAC Address]
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : x.x.x.11
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : x.x.x.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : x.x.x.1 (router)
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : x.x.x.2
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : x.x.x.1 (router)
Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : x.x.x.2
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 24 October 2006 09:19:10
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 01 November 2006 09:19:10

 

It looks like your server and router are providing NAT - DHCP server is where you're getting your IP address from, x.x.x.2 looks like your server so that is providing NAT as well as the router. Check that the DHCP server isn't running (or disable the router's NAT).

[edit]Just realised you were intentionally running both - you should only really run one. I recommend using the router as it is less likely to mess up than the server.[/edit]

Also DNS is not configured correctly on this client computer - it should be pointing at your DNS server and not the router. Only your DNS server can map local addresses to local names.

 

Your clients need to be pointed to your server for DNS.
This can be configured in your DHCP scope.

DNS on your server needs to have a Forward Lookup Zone created with your ISP's DNS servers.

Client looks to local server for DNS info. If the request isn't local then LOCAL DNS forwards the request to the ISP DNS.

 

Within the DHCP Scope Options, under DNS Servers there are 2 available, the Router x.x.x.1 and the DNS Server (My Server) x.x.x.2.

I set the manually configured the DNS server options, on the Client's TCP/IP Properties. I set the Preferred DNS to x.x.x.2 (Server) and the Alternate to x.x.x.1 (Router), everything was working fine until I logged on this morning. The 'ipconfig /all' command revealed that the DNS Suffix was back to: gateway.2wire

and it should be: domain.local

I reconfigured the Client's TCP/IP Properties and removed the router as the Alternate DNS. For now it seems to be working as DNS Suffix is now back to domain.local.

I am unsure why it changed itself?