Member Avatar for kaman

Hi,

We were running originally on workgroup sharing our DSL link using ICS in XP. This works nicely until we decide to add our XP workstations to a domain on 2000 SVR. Now other workstations are not able to browse the web. Fact is the PC with DSL modem is still connected to the web but others fail to see it. after we have shared it. What have we failed to do with DNS? Please help.

Thank you

Kaman

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Quick expert summary and practical steps related to 's setup (and building on 's points).

The root issue in setups that mix Windows ICS and an Active Directory domain is almost always a clash between NAT/DHCP/DNS responsibilities. ICS provides simple NAT plus a tiny DHCP/DNS-proxy for the LAN; that behavior can overwrite or divert client DNS and gateway settings and will conflict with a domain controller that must be the primary DNS for AD name resolution. Bridging the modem adapter into the LAN while also using ICS is a common misconfiguration that makes things worse.

Checklist to diagnose and fix the immediate problem:

  • Run ipconfig /all on the domain server and a non-working workstation to confirm the Default Gateway and DNS server entries being received.
  • Use nslookup on a workstation to see which DNS server answers external name queries (the server reported by nslookup should be the domain DNS server if AD name resolution must work).
  • If clients are getting the ICS host as DNS, set the domain DNS server as primary on clients (or via DHCP) and make sure the domain DNS has forwarders configured to the ISP/public DNS so it can resolve Internet names.
  • Do not leave the modem and LAN adapters bridged on the XP gateway when using ICS; ICS expects a dedicated internal interface and will fail if adapters are bridged.

Better long-term options:

  • Put a small NAT router/ADSL router between the modem and the LAN and let the Windows 2000 server remain the DHCP/DNS/AD host. This is the simplest, most reliable fix.
  • If hardware is not possible, move NAT to the server using RRAS (Windows 2000) so the domain controller remains authoritative for DNS while NAT/DHCP is centrally managed.

Quick commands to run for troubleshooting:

ipconfig /all
nslookup example.com
ping 8.8.8.8
route print

Interpretation: clients should have the NAT device as their default gateway and the domain controller as their DNS server; the domain DNS should forward to the ISP/public DNS.

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Member Avatar for MartyMcFly

Shouldn't be a DNS problem if the XP machine's IP is the default gateway. Make sure you haven't linked this PC throught to DHCP and has a static address, and the Default Gateway on all the other machines is this address. Check that the permissions for this share, is set to allow all the domain users access, not local / workgroup access.

Do you have an IP Range available?

I would of thought from a performance point of view, that a new router / adsl modem router would be a worthwhile expenditure.

Let me know if this provides assistance.

Member Avatar for kaman

Hello MartyMcFly,

Thank you for your response we really appreciate your coming to our help. The gateway machine has a fixed IP address, let me explain the scenario further:

The Server (2000 SVR domain) is able to connect to the internet through the gateway on the XP machine defined as a workgroup using the preferred and alternate addresses of the latter.

On the gateway machine we have connected our DSL modem via a USB port with its settings from the ISP thus no fixed addresses are assigned within our LAN for it. It however takes on its settings from the ISP which includes IP address, gateway, DHCP and DNS addresses (which the 2000 SVR points to). We can only tell this from the ipconfig /all command.

We are linked physically to the network (LAN) via an Ethernet network adapter. A network bridge exists with a address and this is what we intend to share on the network within the domain and still maintain ICS for all domain users. The subnet mask is the same in the case of the server and workgroup computers (including the ISP subnet). The USB adapter obtains its address automatically however the network bridge as mentioned earlier has a fixed IP address.

We have not defined an IP range as yet, i.e. no DHCP setup defined on the LAN.


Once again many thanks for your help.

brgds

kaman

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