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Problems with IP and DNS in win2k

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by shanghai sam

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I have a cliente that has 5 workstations with win2k pro and a win2k server. To access the internet they have a router (model Micronet IP router SP866) I have configure the router well. On each workstation I have done the following configurion of theTCP/IP protocol: Gateway, I put the router IP address; Dns, I put the primary and the secondary IP address of the internet service provider. The problem is that each time the computers is switched on or accessing other computers in the network, it activates the router, making a connection to the internet, which I don't want. I want the router to make the connection to the internet only when I use Microsoft Internet Explorer or Microsoft Outlook.
Is there some configuration that I missed doing?
Please do help me. It is most urgent. Thank you.

2 replies

by homer simpson instructor at large

Windows 2000 uses DNS for name resolution so if you are using your ISPs address for DNS on the workstations...they will be trying to use that to do name resolution on your internal network. I am guessing you have an internal DNS server on a win2k server somewhere. Easiest way is to configure the internal DNS server is to have it do the forwarding of DNS requests to the ISP for your client machines. You can configure DNS forwarding by right clicking the DNS server icon and choosing propertiesin your DNS snap in. Second thing you want to do is to make your configuration of client workstations easier. Configure things like DNS server, Gateway, etc through DCHP options that the client will receive when they get a TCP/IP address from a DHCP server. If you don't use DHCP assigned addresses - you want to keep your current gateway but you want to use your internal DNS IP address for name resolution....if it doesn't know the answer, then it will forward to the ISP's DNS. So configure the client workstations a little differently and everything should work good.

by falloutboy

Your clients are going to the ISP's DNS server, just like you told them to. Point them to the Win2k server for DNS resolution and config DNS there. As mentioned previously, you're better off running DHCP and setting all the options like GW address, DNS address, up in the DHCP server. However, if you point your server to the ISP's DNS as suggested before, it will just make the connections on behalf of the clients and this IS NOT what you want either. Plus, you only need to resolve local addresses anyway, maybe a hosts file on the server ? or WINS ? (not my forte) could do that. The problem then becomes that when you want to browse or email, the clients won't find the ISP's DNS and that is not the desired result either - they won't get anywhere.

Fire up a shareware/cheap proxy server product (I use Winproxy for approx. 40 people and it is a breeze to setup, cheap to buy, runs great) and install it on your server. Then set your browsers and mail clients to use the proxy server address (your server address) and the proxy will only fire off thru the router when people browse or mail, which is the desired result.

You're using a dial-on-demand router, right?

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