connection dorps over night

[Coxylaad]

Sorry to be a bit vague but I am having some issues with our windows 2000 pro machine.

It is running broadband and ICS, but for the last 4 days in a row when we get in on a morning no one can get onto the shared drives.
Any machines that remain connected to it overnight are fine and can still access it but for the others to be able to connect I have to reboot the 2000 machine.

any ideas?

TIA

Ian

 

[ReddLefty]

Make sure all power saving modes on the Network Cards and/or system itself are removed. It is possible that the NICs turn themselves off after a certain amount of inactivity time.

Also, you can make your server NOT disconnect the network drives by running the following command on the server:

C:> net config server /autodisconnect:-1

Placing a number instead of the -1 will be the amount of minutes before it disconnects the drives. A zero will mean under 1 minute.



"In space, nobody can hear you click..."

 

[bcastner]

It sounds as if the DHCP service portion of ICS has stopped responding.

You should examine the Event logs on the Win2k "server" machine to see if a specific error is thrown. It may be that a service is stopping for a reason that can be fixed.

In the alternative, a broadband router would simplify your life.

As a last alternative, continue using ICS but assign the clients static IPs, avoiding DHCP assignments completely. There are some subtleties to doing so under ICS: the following article was written in an XP context, but applies fully for Win2k:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q309642

 

[Coxylaad]

thanks for your help.

Its not only the internet connection sharing that drops, other computers cant browse the mapped network drives either.

 

[bcastner]

In order for the network workstations to see each other, they need to be assigned IPs in the same subnet.

If the ICS host machine stops issuing IPs to new clients, the new clients will receive APIA IPs in the 169.x.x.x subnet, and be "invisible" to the machines left on overnight which would have 192.168.0.x subnet IPs.

My suggestions remain: to either find the ICS host error and solve it; use a broadband router to handle DHCP and internet access chores; or assign static IPs.

 

[Jump1ng]

I would recommend getting a router as bcastner suggested. It makes life so much easier and a broadband router today with 5 ethernet ports.

Or if you already have a switch or hub just get a router without additional network ports.

A router should cost more than £40-100 depending on make and features.

The router will stop the need to have one pc running all the time sharing the internet connection. Once its setup you will hardly ever need to do anything more than surf the net without any problems.

 

[etdit]

I have a similar, but strange situation.
Here's the layout.

Windows 2000 Server with Windows 2000 Professional Clients
Server is a domain controller
Server has two NICS (internet and internal)
Internet NIC is connected directly to cable modem/router
Internal NIC is connected to switch
All clients are connected to same 24 port switch
ICS is enabled on Interet NIC
Internet NIC is configured w/statip IP/DNS information

There is a second server (DC) connected directly to the modem/router and it is configured w/Static IP/DNS info..no ICS on this machine...this server is used for remote offices to access their work databases on the server.

This was working like a champ until this morning..when the cable modem went out. I've been having a headache with this setup all day since Charter replaced the modem. Here is what is happening.

If I power both servers down, then bring them up one at a time, things are good...everyone gets an IP address and can access the internet.

HOWEVER, after about 15 to 60 minutes, I get a message on the server that is using ICS that there is an IP conflict and the internal NIC has been disabled. Then no one can surf, yet I can release/renew the IP addresses and get a 192.168.0.x address on each workstation.

I then have to go back and redo the whole thing....I'm in a continous loop of frustration.

When I boot the ICS server up, it takes a very long time to 'prepare network connections'....

I know there is probably a very simple fix to this....oh and when the workstations lose their browsing capabilities, they can still see other computers on the network as well as the 2nd domain.

Help, please?