Shared internet access on Windows 2000 Server

[greg1349]

I have a network setup at with addresses of 10.1.1.X, the server being 10.1.1.1.
I installed DSL and a DSL router. The DSL modem is plugged into the DSL Router and the router is connected to a second NIC card on the server.
The problem I have is that the workstations can not get onto the internet without setting up the workstation's DNS to point to the DSL Providers DNS.
The problem with this is that Active Directory does not work right if the server is not the primary DNS. I would like to have all the Workstation's DNS point to the server and have the server forward the info to the DSL providers DNS Server. But I not sure how to set this up. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[neutec]

First you will need to configure your DNS on your server. Make sure you server is able to resolve names from the net. Place your servers IP address as the first dns and your ISP's dns as the second. Another way is to add your ISP's dns address as a forwarder on your server. Once you have the DNS set you can set all your clients to use your server as a DNS server. If your server is set correctly, you really should need to add your ISP's dns server to your server.

 

[bradmg1]

Why two NICs? If you have a router there is no reason for a second NIC in the server. All machines would be connected through the switch in the router.

Assuming your running DHCP on your network, your ISPs DNS server should not be listed as a DNS server for your network. That server would have no knowledge of your domain controller and hence log-ins would fail. List only your internal DNS servers.

On your internal DNS server go to the DNS MMC snap in and right-click the server and choose properties. Click the forwarders tab and here is where you will list the DNS servers of your ISP.

This will allow your AD to function by querying your internal DNS servers for things such as group policy, log-ins, etc. In addition, any look-ups not resolved by your internal DNS servers will be sent out to your ISPs servers and beyond to resolve external addresses.

 

[greg1349]

Wouldn't be safer to have the DSL line plugged into the second NIC on the server. That way any traffic going in and out of the network has to go through the server and whatever firewall system I set will block anyone from getting in. The Router I am using is a Linksys DSL Router so it doesn't have a whole lot of firewall settings.

 

[bradmg1]

The router would be one line of defense. By plugging your modem into the second nic you have removed the router from the equation all together.

At home I use a linksys router with my cable modem and it is fairly robust for what I need.