Windows Networking Issues

Hi,
I am setting up a network and have a few issues. First I will explain how my network is set up (or how I want it set up!):
I have one server acting as a Domain Controller and DNS server. This server will also act as a DHCP server for the local network. I have two interfaces - an External and Internal. The External, as the name suggests, is the interface to the internet, and the Internal faces the local network.

I cannot connect to the internet except when I disable the Internal connection so I am guessing that I will need to set up NAT. I have set up DNS as an AD-integrated zone, and have configured DHCP with the 'DNS Server' option pointing to the server's IP address. I have tried setting up NAT myself - no luck.

The reason I want to do all this is so that I can ultimately set up the server as a proxy server. If anyone knows any good guides or KB articles that would be great.

Thanks,
Michael
(sorry if this is a bit of an essay!)

 

I'd start by saying that you are making life hard for yourself by setting up the server in this way. I'd recommend that you use the Microsoft server to manage the internal network and get a hardware firewall to manage the internet connection. That is, all PC and the server connect to the internet via a direct connection to the firewall.

If you are on a tight budget, there are some very good routers with reasonably decent stateful pack inspection firewalls built in. For example, Netgear's VPN Firewall range and Draytek routers. However, you'll get better performance, flexibility and support with a product from a dedicated Firewall supplier like WatchGuard or SonicWall

However, if you want to use your server as your network gateway, the standard solution is to use Micrsoft's ISA server or a version of SBS that includes ISA. However there are alternatives such as WinGate

Without ISA there are a couple of issues to over-come.

First problems with DHCP server - you need to unbind the DHCP service from the external interface or you will get unexpected behaviour. See this reference for where to find the DHCP binding settings.

Second, you need to enable routing. Have a look at this reference.

 

Thanks Reggie, that really helped.