Changing from peer-to-peer to server based environment

8 Nov 2006 5:58 PM

JRC

I am trying to help someone who has a small office with DSL.

He originally had his Verizon DSL with a Westell 6100 modem connected
to the uplink port on a Linksys WRT54GS wireless router. The four
workstations in the office would connect to the router either via
cabled or wireless connections. The router acted as the DHCP server.
All workstations had connections to the internet through the DSL line,
but there was periodic trouble with machines seeing each other.

He decided he wanted to add a server running MS Small Business 2003
server to the network. He wants the server to act as the DHCP server
and have all the workstations be able to access shared data and
programs from the server.

The server now has 2 network cards. I began by attaching the DSL modem

directly to one of the NICs in the server. I tried several IPs,
including the one that had previously been assigned to the wireless
router, but was not able to get a LAN connection. After speaking with
Verizon, they said the MAC address of the Linksys router was set in the

modem and the modem had to be connected through the router. Sure
enough if I did not change any IPs and connected the modem to the
uplink port in the router and connected the server to another router
port, I had connectivity. I went through all the configuration screens

to find where the MAC address was set or could be changed, but I could
not locate it. I reconnected the modem directly to the server and
continued to modify IPs until I got a connection, then attempted to
connect the server to the uplink port on the router, but even though I
had turned off the DHCP on the router that caused me to loose
connectivity.

In frustration, I reattached the DSL modem to the uplink port in the
router, disabled one of the NICs in the server, reset the router to
handle DHCP, and connected the server to the network as a peer device.
The workstations are able to log into the domain, but are having
trouble accessing network devices - such as the office printer.

Is there a way to connect the DSL line to one of the NICs in the
server, connect the 2nd NIC in the server to wireless router and allow
the server to act as the DHCP server. The router should simply act as
a hub that allows wireless connectivity to the workstations.

What configuration settings do I need to check on the modem? router?
server? The router seems to be causing some type of conflict that I
have not been able to narrow down.

9 Nov 2006 2:49 PM

Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]

In news:1163008715.397318.48190@e3g2000cwe.googlegroups.com,

JRC <abach***@itwizardry.com> typed:
Show quoteHide quote

> I am trying to help someone who has a small office with DSL.
>
> He originally had his Verizon DSL with a Westell 6100 modem connected
> to the uplink port on a Linksys WRT54GS wireless router. The four
> workstations in the office would connect to the router either via
> cabled or wireless connections. The router acted as the DHCP server.
> All workstations had connections to the internet through the DSL line,
> but there was periodic trouble with machines seeing each other.
>
>
> He decided he wanted to add a server running MS Small Business 2003
> server to the network. He wants the server to act as the DHCP server
> and have all the workstations be able to access shared data and
> programs from the server.

Data = yes. Programs = depends what he means.

This post really belongs in microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs - that's
the best group for SBS2003 questions (especially since this isn't really a
wireless networking issue).

Note that SBS does things its own way, and you *must* set it up properly
according to all its various wizards & to-do list, or you will end up with a
mess.

>
>
> The server now has 2 network cards.

Are you using SBS Standard, or Premium? If you have Premium you can use ISA
(and you need two NICs for that). If you're not using Premium, I suggest you
get a good hardware firewall appliance & place it between the DSL modem and
your network....and I personally don't like using two NICs on a DC, although
some SBS people do.

> I began by attaching the DSL
> modem
>
> directly to one of the NICs in the server.

ADSL with PPPoE? Ick. See above.

> I tried several IPs,
> including the one that had previously been assigned to the wireless
> router, but was not able to get a LAN connection. After speaking with
> Verizon, they said the MAC address of the Linksys router was set in
> the
>
> modem and the modem had to be connected through the router.

Generally, one can reboot the DSL modem and that goes away. But you should
be using either this router or another appliance there anyway.

Show quoteHide quote

> Sure
> enough if I did not change any IPs and connected the modem to the
> uplink port in the router and connected the server to another router
> port, I had connectivity. I went through all the configuration
> screens
>
> to find where the MAC address was set or could be changed, but I could
> not locate it. I reconnected the modem directly to the server and
> continued to modify IPs until I got a connection, then attempted to
> connect the server to the uplink port on the router, but even though I
> had turned off the DHCP on the router that caused me to loose
> connectivity.
>
>
> In frustration, I reattached the DSL modem to the uplink port in the
> router, disabled one of the NICs in the server, reset the router to
> handle DHCP, and connected the server to the network as a peer device.
> The workstations are able to log into the domain, but are having
> trouble accessing network devices - such as the office printer.

You probably have a DNS miscongfiguration....everything you did there was
fine - but you should disable DHCP in the router. Have SBS handle it. Make
sure that the clients & servers point *only* at the SBS server's LAN IP for
DNS....and that they show up in there on the server. ipconfig /registerdns
will help if they don't.

>
>
> Is there a way to connect the DSL line to one of the NICs in the
> server, connect the 2nd NIC in the server to wireless router and allowl
> the server to act as the DHCP server. The router should simply act as
> a hub that allows wireless connectivity to the workstations.

You can use a wireless-integrated router/gateway, sure - but I doubt the one
you've got is terribly secure by firewall standards.

Your SBS server can certainly dish out DHCP addresses to the
wireless-connected devices so they can login to the domain and act like
wired workstations - but I hope you're at least using WPA+PSK for it.... you
should also look into enabling the "Always Wait for Network" group policy
setting.

>
>
> What configuration settings do I need to check on the modem? router?
> server? The router seems to be causing some type of conflict that I
> have not been able to narrow down.

Hope the above has helped. I'm adding the SBS newsgroup to the list here so
it will be included & you may get some more help.