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Using Win-2K server as a router with a dynamic IP address

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IS-IT--Management
Feb 22, 2002
12
US
Comcast cable (as part of the Excite@home debacle) is changing from fixed IP addresses to dynamic IP addresses. I have had some success setting up the win 2k server box as a router among other things to a small network of 6 machines for internet access with the fixed IP. Can anyone help guide me with how to accomodate the dynamic IP address in the setting up of the router. There does not appear to be any provision for this. Maybe I am missing something. PS I do have two NIC cards and will be setting up a DHCP server for the clients on the network.
 
Are you accessing the network remotely? If not you will have no problems, just configure you WAN NIC to obtain an IP automagically. Your WAN NIC will get its dynamic info from the isp, and your LAN NIC will hand out its own DHCP info. If you already have RRAS running successfully it will be gravy for you! Matt Wray
CCNA, MCP
mwray77518@yahoo.com
 
No, I am not accessing the network remotely not do I have RRAS installed. This is a small home network with 7 computers (combo of 98, me, win2K and XP-pro machines). I currently am using the server as a file server and havbe it configured as a non-domain controller server. A Linksys router is connected to the cable modem and acts as the DHCP server. The server is on the network with the NIC configured to get its IP automatically from the router.

What I want to do is to replace the Linksys router with the server's router serverices and to configure the server as a domain controller with all clients setup and with the more robust security and permissions with the active directory. I will also retain it as a file server of course

I have two NIC's in the server and before my ISP changed from fixed IP to dynamic IP I had done some experimenting with the router and had successfully set up the server router services for the network. While I can setup the NIC connected to the cable modem to obtain its IP address automatically, the configuration settings in the router setup section appears to want entries related to a fixed IP. Any guidance here?

If I am unable to do this, I have an alternative to keep my Linksys router, to disable its DHCP server and to use fixed IP addresses for the clients. (this is practical since there are only 7 clients). Then I can use the win-2K server as a file server, and domain controller along with the active directory functionality. While this system is useful in my home network I am using it also as a learning tool to better understand win-2K server. Thanks in advance for any further help and guidance you could impart.
 
An additional question arose. I have the option of leaving the router in between the WAN NIC and the cable modem. Is there a benefit of doing this versus having the WAN NIC go directly to the cable modem and setting up the server's router service?

I can diasble the DHCP service in the stand-alone Linksys router and use DHCP as part of the AD's integrated DNS and DHCP services. I have read some posts about setting up the server as a DNS forwarder yet will have to pursue how to set this up. any ideas?



 
You can leave the router in place if you want. That setup is similar to the one we have at work. You can still leave the DHCP running on it as well. Your WAN NIC will dynamically pull its IPs from the Router. Then your LAN NIC will hand out addresses to the LAN. RRAS will allow the clients to access the internet. Just make sure the LAN NIC is static and in your DHCP scope the gateway and DNS point to the LAN NIC. For a somewhat step-by-step, you can check a thread I posted when I did my first one.
thread96-201340 Matt Wray
CCNA, MCP
mwray77518@yahoo.com
 
I am able to get the internet services with or without the router using the RRAS. I WILL LEAVE THE ROUTER IN SINCE IT SHOULD OFFLOAD THE SERVER FROM TASKS.

I have been unable to get the clients on this attempt to connect. Basic summary of my setup:
o 2 NIC cards one with dynamic IP connected to Linksys router and cable modem. Since the internet comes up on the servert this should be complete.
o The second NIC uses private IP address 192.168.0.1, sbmask 255.255.255.0. The DHCP scope is 192.168.0.100 to 192.168.0.200. The gateway for the clients is the server.

I initially setup RRAS to use the ICS yet for training purposes I want to use the full blown router. I understand with ICS on RRAS that it has a mini-DHCP service and therefore you should not use the DHCP server since it will conflict. Can you conform this?

To use the non-ICS router function I suppose you need to configure the DHCP. Is this correct?

In the client setup, since they will be getting their IP from the server, I assume they will be getting their DNS info through some means, Do you have to setup the server as a DNS forwarder since the two DNS servers are with the ISP?

Since this is a puzzle, I will attempt to understand hpw all the peices fit together better before I attempt it again. I reverted back to a setup whereby the server is a file sharing server only on a peer to peer network with the Linksys router acting as the internet gateway and DHCP server. It works well yet I want to take the next step for training and to eventually use the power of AD to manage the clients on the network and hopefully use VPN for remote connectivity to the network.
 
To answer your questions about ICS, yes and yes. I have read several other people here using the DNS forwarding route, but that is not the way I set mine up simply because I couldn't get it to work. I have DNS and DHCP running with RRAS/NAT all on the server. All clients point to the server LAN NIC for DNS and IPs, while the server gets its DNS and IPs from the ISP. Whenever you try and go all the way, post back and we'll help, I just went thru this setup myself not even a month ago...
 
Did you setup and configure the separate DHCP service or use the one within the RRAS? Also, did you use the separate DNS setup? If I understand what you might be saying is that just about everything I want could be available to me within the RRAS setup. Is that correct?
 
There is not a seperate DNS and DHCP. When you set them up, they are running. I had mine up before I set up RRAS, so I am unsure whether or not you can set them up during your RRAS setup ie with a wizard. It is a little confusing the first time to set everything up, but it is doable.
 
Question was: did you use the DNS and DHCP snap-ins to configure the DNS and DHCP services? In the DNS, since I am using an ISP with its two DNS servers, how to setup clients?

The router gets its info from the ISP automatically ie, it is a dynamic IP received from the ISP. I can read all of the info via ipconfig. I plamn on having my WAN NIC setup to automatically obtain its IP ie in this case from the router ( I could change this to fixed if necessary)

I have a variety of clients and in the win 95/98/Me clients, should I select the use DHCP for WINS resolution?
 
I used the configure your server for my DNS and DHCP. Have your DHCP scope point to your LAN NIC for gateway and DNS. If your WAN NIC gets its IPs and DNS from the ISP, RRAS/NAT will take care of the rest. Matt Wray
CCNA, MCP
mwray77518@yahoo.com
 
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