I'm going mad, Server 2003

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I thought this would be simple....

I'm trying to connect a Win XP client to Windows server 2003. I have set up a domain, DNS server (not connected to the internet) and I have a DHCP server installed. The IP address is 169.254.105.188 (which might be part of the problem) on the server. All I want to do is add the win XP client to the domain. I've tried to ping the Server but to no avail and I've tried to add the Win XP computer to the domain but its coming up with an error message.

I'm not really sure where to start. I am a complete novice on server 2003 and this is the first time I've used it so forgive me if what I've just typed is a little vague.

Any ideas or pointers where I should start?

 

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I'd say give your server an address rather than the one that it has which is a self assigned one

Something like:

20.1.1.1 255.255.255.0

If you have DHCP installed, create a scope in the same range as the server subnet

20.1.1.10 to 20.1.1.50

DNS address: 20.1.1.1 (That of the server)

You may need to authorize the server with AD, the windows chaps here would know better.

Joe

 

169.254.*.* is an APIPA address, it can only be used for very limited peer to peer networking.

If your don't have a router or a bridge the two machines must be on the same network.

Therefore APIPA is of little use when you want to have a server and DNS and DHCP etc.

You need to assign a static IP to servers that are going to be DHCP servers. The DHCP sever then dynamically assigns IP addresses and other details to clients.

 

Joe is correct that 169.254.x.x address is an APIPA address, so DHCP isn't configured properly.

Servers should have static IP addresses.

You need to define a scope with the correct scope options in the DHCP console and then right click the DHCP server icon and select *authorise*

.

 

You mean Dmarsh is correct

 

Couple of things:

If the server has a 169 address, it (not the client) is trying to obtain an address via DHCP and failing. As Bluerinse pointed out: you need to give it a static ip.

The client does need an address to communicate with the server although this can also be static if you wish and one less thing to setup although one less thing to learn so you can add it later.

You do need to have DNS working correctly for a domain - active directory depends on it. Did dcpromp run OK? The reason I ask is i would have expected it to fail if the network card wasn't setup correctly.

If i were you, I would give the server say, 192.168.1.100, mask 255.255.255.0 and the client 192.168.1.200
(same mask) and see if you can ping. If you can ping and still receive an error when attempting to join, post back with the error.

 

No, i meant you are correct. dmarsh's post was not there when i wrote that

 

Also in a home setup your router is often acting as a DHCP server, so setting up all static addresses is normally easiest. You can only have one DHCP server on a network / broadcast domain.

 

Not if they aren't set to synch and hand out the same addresses you can't, or are they set to hand out seperate scopes ?

Surely only one would be physically active at any point ? Otherwise how would you stop them handing out the same IP address twice ? How would you stop a machine from getting two lease offers ?

A SOHO router will typically end up conflicting with your test lab Windows DHCP server if your not careful was my point.

 

I was sure that the APIPA address was a problem, I'm used to assigning everything automatically so when a 169.xxx.xxx.x address comes up, its usually an issue with DHCP (I knew those certs would come in handy at some point!)

As its a home network, it doesn't matter too much what I assign as static addresses does it? As long as there within an acceptable range?

I've set up the Domain, AD, well installed them so I'll add the addresses into it and see what that does. I'd imagine I'll be back on here tommorrow!

Thanks a lot guys. I know you hear it a lot on here, but this forum is a real help to me. Some of the stuff I get stuck, I really would struggle to get my head around things without your help!

 

A bit off on a tangent, if anyone ever uses multiple ip helper-addresses commands (or any variant on non-cisco kit) on a routed interface the DHCP broadcast from clients is forwarded as multiple unicasts, one to each DHCP server specified in the "ip helper-address"

The client will generally take the first address offered, or I have seen that the client will request the previous address it had.

Joe

 

^^ This ^^

Two DHCP servers on the same subnet for redundancy is a common configuration - though I've usually seen it running on something like a 80/20 basis (configure one server running a scope for the full subnet minus servers (eg .20-.254) then configure exclusions for .210-.254 and configure a scope to assign those addresses on the other DHCP server (.210-.254) so if server A goes tits up you still have a server handing out valid addresses)

Of course, DMarsh's original point is valid here - if the router is handing out addresses via DHCP and Ropenfold hasn't yet got far enough into his studies that he's figured out that he needs to confiugre a static IP for his server, then he's obviously going to have issues, and turning off the DHCP assignment from his router would certainly be the first thing to do!

 

Bit of a noob question, but why 80/20 rather than 50/50? If the DHCP server with 80% of the addresses available goes down, will 20% be enough to serve the network while the other gets fixed? Just wondering for my own curiosity.

Maria

 

It's a good question.

The idea behind the 80/20 rule works best in an environment where you have say two subnets. You place one DHCP server on each subnet and configure it so that it hands out 80% of leases to it's own subnet and 20% of leases to the neighbouring subnet. Clearly the router needs to be able to pass BOOTP traffic or a relay agent has to be used.

You configure the DHCP server on the neighbouring subnet the same, ie 80% of the address are for it's own subnet.

Because the default lease period is 8 days, if one of the DHCP servers goes down, the other could provide IP address leases for a period of time and give you a chance to get failed one back up.

However, if you only have 'one subnet', then it is perfectly legitimate to have two DHCP servers configured with a 50/50 rule

 

Another way to do it is to use 2 nics on the server, assuming you have a spare switch handy.

1) Set DHCP on the router to supply the WAN server nic an IP
2) Set a static ip on the other LAN nic.
3) Set a dhcp scope on the server (different subnet if you like) to supply the client pc an ip
3) Connect the router to the WAN nic and the LAN nic to the switch
4) Connect clients pcs to the switch.

and dns.

 

Point to dg/dns on the LAN nic to the router and setup your dns accordingly.