Administering TCPIP Services

 < Day Day Up > 



Administering TCP/IP Services

Windows Small Business Server 2003 manages DHCP, DNS, and WINS with no user intervention required. However, if clients experience trouble connecting to the server or other computers on the network, check DHCP, DNS, and WINS to verify that the clients are properly registered with each service.

More Info 

See Chapter 20, “Monitoring and Fine-Tuning Performance,” for additional network troubleshooting help. For an in-depth discussion about DHCP, DNS, and WINS, see Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Administrator’s Companion (Microsoft Press).

Managing DHCP

DHCP automatically provides computers on the local network segment with valid IP addresses, and the addresses of the DNS server, WINS server, and default gateway. Windows Small Business Server manages most DHCP settings automatically, but you nonetheless might want to view the addresses currently leased to clients or change the range of excluded IP addresses to accommodate devices and computers with static IP addresses.

To view the addresses currently leased to clients, complete the following steps:

  1. Open Server Management, and expand Advanced Management, Computer Management, Services And Applications, and finally DHCP.

  2. Expand the Scope container, and then select Address Leases (Figure 15-1) to view a list of currently assigned IP addresses and their corresponding host names.

click to expand
Figure 15-1: Viewing assigned IP addresses.

More Info 

To set up a client computer to use DHCP, see Chapter 12, “Managing Computers on the Network.”

The pool of addresses a DHCP server can lease to clients is called a scope. If any devices on the network have static IP addresses in the scope, create an exclusion for the address or address range so that the DCHP server doesn’t lease out these addresses. To do so, complete the following steps:

  1. Right-click Address Pool in the Server Management console and choose New Exclusion Range from the shortcut menu.

  2. In the Add Exclusion dialog box (Figure 15-2), use the Start IP Address and End IP Address boxes to specify the range of IP addresses you want to exclude. To exclude a single IP address, type it in the Start IP Address box.

  3. Click Add to create the exclusion. Create any additional exclusions, and then click Close when you’re finished.

click to expand
Figure 15-2: The Add Exclusion dialog box.

Viewing DNS Records

DNS is a TCP/IP service that maps IP addresses (192.168.16.2) to names (sbssrv.example.local). As such, it’s an essential service for the Internet (the Web in particular) and Windows Small Business Server–based networks (which rely on TCP/IP).

start sidebar
Under the Hood

Default DNS Settings

Windows Small Business Server 2003 uses the DNS server service for local name resolution only. If the name doesn’t belong to the local domain, the DNS server forwards the query to your ISP’s DNS server, which resolves the name on the Internet.

Windows Small Business Server 2003 automatically creates a couple types of zones for local name resolution. It creates a forward lookup zone for the domain (example.local), which allows you to use a DNS name to resolve an IP address. It also creates a reverse lookup zone, which enables you to resolve the DNS name associated with a particular IP address (a useful trick for troubleshooting). Both zones use secure dynamic updates so that Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 clients can automatically and securely update their own DNS records.

end sidebar

Windows Small Business Server 2003 manages DNS automatically and there is little need to manually administer it. If you have trouble reaching hosts on the network by name (but can reach them by IP address), check their DNS resource records using the following steps:

  1. Open Server Management, and expand Advanced Management, Computer Management, Services And Applications, and finally DNS.

  2. Expand the SBSSRV container (where SBSSRV is the name of the Windows Small Business Server computer), expand Forward Lookup Zones, and then select example.local (assuming the name of the domain is example.local). This displays all resource records in the forward lookup zone (Figure 15-3). A Host (A) record for each computer in the domain, listing its current IP address and DNS name, should be visible.

  3. To view records in the reverse lookup zone, expand the Reverse Lookup Zone container, and then 192.168.16.x Subnet. All Pointer (PTR) records in the reverse lookup zone are displayed.

click to expand
Figure 15-3: DNS records in the DNS console.

Viewing WINS Registrations

If clients have trouble Browsing the network or contacting a server by NetBIOS name, check to make sure that the clients are properly registered in Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS). To do so, complete the following steps:

  1. Open Server Management, and expand Advanced Management, Computer Management, Services And Applications, and finally WINS.

  2. Select the Active Registrations container.

  3. Right-click Active Registrations and choose Display Records from the shortcut menu.

  4. Click Find Now to display a list of all records in the WINS database (Figure 15-4), along with their status (Active or Released).

click to expand
Figure 15-4: WINS records in the WINS console.

start sidebar
WINS and NetBIOS Name Resolution

NetBIOS is an interface originally developed to allow applications to access network resources in the MS-DOS operating system. As such, it was the primary networking API and naming method for Microsoft networks until the release of Windows 2000, and it is still required by older operating systems and network applications.

NetBIOS host names are up to 15 characters long and part of a flat namespace, so all names on a given network must be unique. Normally, host names are resolved by broadcast—not the most efficient means in terms of either time or network bandwidth. Routers also usually do not forward NetBIOS broadcasts, eliminating the ability to resolve host names on a different subnet.

WINS was created to provide a solution to this problem by maintaining a dynamic database of IP addresses and their associated NetBIOS names. Although many of us might be eager to do away with WINS, it is still used in Windows Small Business Server 2003 to provide NetBIOS name resolution services to clients that don’t function properly in a NetBIOS-free network, for example, Microsoft Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0. (Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000 don’t require NetBIOS support.)

end sidebar



 < Day Day Up > 



Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Administrator's Companion
Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Administrators Companion (Pro-Administrators Companion)
ISBN: 0735620202
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 224

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net