LAN and DUN interaction

I'm running Win2000 on my workstation on a network. I'm also running Outlook 2000 for my email client on the network.

I'm trying to connect to the internet via Dial up Networking, and when I do; everything is fine except for my Outlook. It seems as though Outlook is checking my DUN connection rather than my Exchange server.

I also tried to ping my Exchange server when connected via DUN and it times out, but when I'm disconnected it pings fine and I can receive mail no problem.

I know it can be done, and I had it working at one time...

Thanks for your help.

 

Can you see any of your network when the DUN connection is active?

If not, can you get a response if you ping 127.0.0.1 while DUN is active?

And please do ipconfig /all both with and without a DUN connection and post the results here. Don't mask any of the values (mask as in 172.xxx.xxx.xxx or similar). Also the IP and subnet mask of your Exchange server if you can find the values. If not, simply the IP address will help.

You can probably save yourself some typing by sending the ipconfig results to a text file and then posting the contents rather than copying everything by hand. Something like

ipconfig /all > c:\withdun.txt and
ipconfig /all > c:\withoutdun.txt

 

Thanks for the reply. I CAN see the entire network and use all of its resources... However, when I try to pink my Exchange server when dun is connected, it can't find it...

Anyway, here is my IP info WITH dun:
=======================================

Windows 2000 IP Configuration



Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : IR0055
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No


Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:



Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 3Com 3C920 Integrated Fast Ethernet Controller (3C905C-TX Compatible)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-06-5B-98-41-CF

DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 161.161.217.149

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.128

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 161.161.217.129

DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 161.161.217.132

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 163.39.251.182
169.188.27.18
163.39.251.182
169.188.27.18
161.161.72.68
Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 161.161.217.132

Secondary WINS Server . . . . . . : 161.161.72.29

Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, January 08, 2003 9:14:37 AM

Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, January 11, 2003 9:14:37 AM


PPP adapter EROLS:



Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-53-45-00-00-00

DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 208.58.192.199

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 208.58.192.199

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 207.172.3.10
207.172.3.11
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled


Here are the settings WITHOUT dun:
=======================================


Windows 2000 IP Configuration



Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : IR0055
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No


Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:



Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 3Com 3C920 Integrated Fast Ethernet Controller (3C905C-TX Compatible)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-06-5B-98-41-CF

DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 161.161.217.149

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.128

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 161.161.217.129

DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 161.161.217.132

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 163.39.251.182
169.188.27.18
163.39.251.182
169.188.27.18
161.161.72.68
Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 161.161.217.132

Secondary WINS Server . . . . . . : 161.161.72.29

Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, January 08, 2003 9:14:37 AM

Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, January 11, 2003 9:14:37 AM

 

Interesting setup. Lots of stuff to post though wasn't it?

I was hoping that some problem with the settings while you had your PPP connection running would jump out and scream "here I am" but nothing. So, have to speculate a little.

With the subnet mask of 255.255.255.128 your network segment (and all you can see without a working router that likes the internal gateway address of 161.161.217.129) consists of 126 machines if you exclude 255 and zero as IP address endings.

Also, when you said you couldn't ping it, was that by name or by address. Hopefully it was a failure when you pinged it by name.

And still again, if your network is using DNS or WINS as the primary means of name-address resolution. If NT4 domains, it would be WINS.

Anyway - I suspect a bad record in either a WINS or DNS server and that your system is getting confused about where to look but haven't figured out exactly why at this point.

Try this which should bypass (not fix) any WINS/DNS issues and if not, is harmless.

Edit your hosts file
%systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
and add an entry for your exchange server. All you will need is the IP address at the left margin, a space or two or three, and the server name exactly as it appears in your Outlook account. Same case for the letters especially. And make sure you save the file as hosts with no extension. Something like

161.188.27.121 My-exchange-server

If this works, it will be a kludge but one you can live with forever. Your PC will check the hosts file for an entry before using any other means of locating the Exchange server so if you are able to get outside your main network (161.161.217.xxx) at all while DUN is running, you should find your Exchange server with Outlook.

If not, post back with any error message you are getting and if you can see machines with IP addresses outside the range of 161.161.217.254 - 161.161.217.128. Also with the IP of your Exchange server. You will want to check your event logs for error messages even if something shows up on screen.

 

Thanks a ton Newt for your help, really appreciate your feedback.

Actually, that was the first thing I tried. I put that entry in my hosts file, but I still have the same result.

The only error message I get is that my "Exchange server is unavailable ". In my DUN icon, I can see Outlook querying it, but even when I ping my Exchange server (161.161.72.68) it times out (by IP or by WINS name).

To answer your other question; I CAN ping outside the scope....

There really wasn't anything exciting in the event logs either. I did notice that DHCP couldn't renew my lease around 5:00 yesterday...

 

Did you try unchecking the option to use the default gateway on remote network in the DUN properties?

 

I did try that. Funny thing is, is this... Once connected via DUN (after unchecking) that Outlook opens and runs fine... however I cannot use a browser to hit the internet. Very very odd...

 

You could leave it checked and add a route to your LAN subnet instead.

 

"route to my LAN "? I don't get what you mean by that. How would I do that?

What I really want is to force Outlook to use my network for its connection and Opera to use my dial-up...

 

By default (box checked), DUN will use the default gateway assigned by your ISP so you cannot reach remote subnets on your own LAN when using the dialup.

A route command can be used to reach machines on another network if you supply the gateway address, for example:

Code:

route add 161.161.72.0 MASK 255.255.255.128 161.161.217.129

To view the routing table use:

Code:

route print

To delete the entry:

Code:

route delete 161.161.72.0

 

Ok, I think I got it to work... are these settings static and will stick after a reboot?

Thanks again for your help.

 

Yes, the 161.161.72.0 MASK 255.255.255.128 is just a way of saying all machines in the range 161.161.72.1 - 127.

Your gateway is your LAN gateway (161.161.217.129) which you are already using to reach the Exchange server when not connected to the dialup.

 

I edited my last post after I thought about it for a bit... which did make perfect sense (thanks for the clarification).

Are there any side-effects of this I should know about? Will this effect any other network issues? Or just that range of IPs; which is my Exchange server?

 

Unless you use the -p switch with route add, changes will be lost when you reboot. Shouldn't be any problems unless your network changes.

If you didn't want to make the route persistent, you could write a batch file that adds it after running rasdial to connect to your ISP.

 

Great idea... REALLY appreciate the help, yer a lifesaver!