Active directory & domain controllers

Hi everyone, possible stupid question alert :-)

I have a small network running at home with 2 servers and 2 PC's - each of
the PC's running XP Pro
I'm a complete novice when it comes to installing and configuring AD and
DCs - it's my first attempt...

My question is this:
I currently have Win 2k3 std running on my servers which amongst other
things runs my web site - the DNS records on my ISP's nameserver are all
configured and working - have been now for a few months - so am able to
browse my web site, use FTP and SMTP with no probs. I thought I would like
to have a play with AD/DC's as I want to learn a bit about them, I tend to
learn a lot more this way than by reading books so I installed it on my
"messing around" server which is basically a mirror of my main server and
can be used in place of the main server with a quick cable swap.

Upon installing AD it asks me for a domain name to which I answered
manwivavan.co.uk as this is the domain I have registered to me. My servers
computername has now taken the form of <computername>.manwivavan.co.uk
At this point I swapped my network cables so the secondary server would act
as the main server (remember the 2 servers are identically configured except
this one now has AD/DC installed) and when attempting to access my web site
using my URL, the site is no longer accessible, however it can be accessed
if I enter the IP in the browser or add <computername> in the URL - so what
gives?

Am I along the right lines in thinking that because this server has now
become a local DNS server that any queries for my domain (i.e.: my URL)
would be handled by the local server and not forwarded onto my ISPs
nameserver although anyone outside my LAN would be sent to my home page as
before....

I can join, and log-on to my XP machines using the domain name, the DNS
server seems to be handling the queries, forwarding and cache-ing (sp?) with
no problem


Thanks guys & gals

--
Regards,

Rod.... www.manwivavan.co.uk

You've basically got it.

Since you called your internal domain the same as your external domain, your
server assumes that it's the authorative nameserver for that domain. What
you need to do is open up your DNS panel, and add in forwarders for
www.manwivavan.co.uk and whatever else you need.

I'd personally use manwivavan.local as your internal domain. Stops things
like this from happening.

-Matt

"Rod" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:41e1cde3$0$74293$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi everyone, possible stupid question alert :-)
>
> I have a small network running at home with 2 servers and 2 PC's - each of
> the PC's running XP Pro
> I'm a complete novice when it comes to installing and configuring AD and
> DCs - it's my first attempt...
>
> My question is this:
> I currently have Win 2k3 std running on my servers which amongst other
> things runs my web site - the DNS records on my ISP's nameserver are all
> configured and working - have been now for a few months - so am able to
> browse my web site, use FTP and SMTP with no probs. I thought I would like
> to have a play with AD/DC's as I want to learn a bit about them, I tend to
> learn a lot more this way than by reading books so I installed it on my
> "messing around" server which is basically a mirror of my main server and
> can be used in place of the main server with a quick cable swap.
>
> Upon installing AD it asks me for a domain name to which I answered
> manwivavan.co.uk as this is the domain I have registered to me. My
> servers computername has now taken the form of
> <computername>.manwivavan.co.uk
> At this point I swapped my network cables so the secondary server would
> act as the main server (remember the 2 servers are identically configured
> except this one now has AD/DC installed) and when attempting to access my
> web site using my URL, the site is no longer accessible, however it can be
> accessed if I enter the IP in the browser or add <computername> in the
> URL - so what gives?
>
> Am I along the right lines in thinking that because this server has now
> become a local DNS server that any queries for my domain (i.e.: my URL)
> would be handled by the local server and not forwarded onto my ISPs
> nameserver although anyone outside my LAN would be sent to my home page as
> before....
>
> I can join, and log-on to my XP machines using the domain name, the DNS
> server seems to be handling the queries, forwarding and cache-ing (sp?)
> with no problem
>
>
> Thanks guys & gals
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Rod.... www.manwivavan.co.uk
>

Hi Matt,

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll give it a go and see what happens from
there...

--
Regards,

Rod.... www.manwivavan.co.uk


"Matt Gibson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> You've basically got it.
>
> Since you called your internal domain the same as your external domain,
> your server assumes that it's the authorative nameserver for that domain.
> What you need to do is open up your DNS panel, and add in forwarders for
> www.manwivavan.co.uk and whatever else you need.
>
> I'd personally use manwivavan.local as your internal domain. Stops things
> like this from happening.
>
> -Matt
>
> "Rod" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:41e1cde3$0$74293$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Hi everyone, possible stupid question alert :-)
>>
>> I have a small network running at home with 2 servers and 2 PC's - each
>> of the PC's running XP Pro
>> I'm a complete novice when it comes to installing and configuring AD and
>> DCs - it's my first attempt...
>>
>> My question is this:
>> I currently have Win 2k3 std running on my servers which amongst other
>> things runs my web site - the DNS records on my ISP's nameserver are all
>> configured and working - have been now for a few months - so am able to
>> browse my web site, use FTP and SMTP with no probs. I thought I would
>> like to have a play with AD/DC's as I want to learn a bit about them, I
>> tend to learn a lot more this way than by reading books so I installed it
>> on my "messing around" server which is basically a mirror of my main
>> server and can be used in place of the main server with a quick cable
>> swap.
>>
>> Upon installing AD it asks me for a domain name to which I answered
>> manwivavan.co.uk as this is the domain I have registered to me. My
>> servers computername has now taken the form of
>> <computername>.manwivavan.co.uk
>> At this point I swapped my network cables so the secondary server would
>> act as the main server (remember the 2 servers are identically configured
>> except this one now has AD/DC installed) and when attempting to access my
>> web site using my URL, the site is no longer accessible, however it can
>> be accessed if I enter the IP in the browser or add <computername> in the
>> URL - so what gives?
>>
>> Am I along the right lines in thinking that because this server has now
>> become a local DNS server that any queries for my domain (i.e.: my URL)
>> would be handled by the local server and not forwarded onto my ISPs
>> nameserver although anyone outside my LAN would be sent to my home page
>> as before....
>>
>> I can join, and log-on to my XP machines using the domain name, the DNS
>> server seems to be handling the queries, forwarding and cache-ing (sp?)
>> with no problem
>>
>>
>> Thanks guys & gals
>>
>> --
>> Regards,
>>
>> Rod.... www.manwivavan.co.uk
>>
>
>