Hi, I am temporary taking over an IT task because our IT guy “left” his post. I had to reset the Sonicwall TZ-180 router because the IT guy would not give us the password that he had set (I will deal with this issue later!). Here is my network hardware setup:
1. Sonicwall TZ-180 router:
– WAN side: static IP with cable router.
– LAN side: Right now it is showing DHCP with reservation from 192.168.1.2-299. No static IPs showing on LAN side
2. Dell server running Windows SBS 2003. Using the ipconfig command at the server console, i’m seeing the followings:
– DHCP Enabled: No
– IP address: 192.168.1.10
– Gateway: 192.168.1.1 which is the router
– DNS: 192.168.1.10 which is the server
– Primary WINS: 192.168.99.204
– NetBIOS over TCP/IP: Disabled
2. All client workstations running WinXP Pro are configured with logon script to domain Mycompany.local using the server (192.168.1.10) as DHCP, DNS and WINS.
Here are my issues:
1. All five client workstations were working fine, and one morning three out of five workstations lost connection with the server. Using the ipconfig command, I’m not seeing any settings, as a matter of fact the ipconfig command does not seem to work on these three computers. Going through Control Panel/Network Connection reveals that the network settings are from the Sonicwall router DHCP. Why would this only happened to 3 out of 5 workstations who used the same logon script? Note: The employee told me that she had tried the Remote Desktop Connection that I left on the desktop during my testing. Do you think this would cause the server to treat the remote-logged workstations differently? I restarted, shutdown and restarted the workstations and continue to have the same problem. I temporary fix the problem so my employees can continue their work by assigning IP, Gateway, DNS, and WINS addresses in the client’s NIC cards. I would like to go back to DHCP enabled on these 3 workstations.
2. Clearly, my IT person setup the Dell server to be used as a DHCP. Must I configure the Sonicwall router to give the server a static IP address? Since I had to reset the Sonicwall router, I am not so sure if he had set up the server with a static address. I would think it is correct to assign the server with a static IP, and let the server handle the DHCP tasks to all clients.
3. I had remote access to my office workstation from home using RealVNC. Since I reset the Sonicwall router, how can I set it up again for remote access? or should I use Remote Desktop Connection? Right now I have my accounting application installed on my workstation only, so I think RealVNC is ok, but I do want to have access to the server from home so I would think the Remote Desktop Connection via VPN to the server would be better. Your comments?
Any inputs, comments and recommendations are greatly appreciated.
Benny