Why does whole network crash when server goes down?

Hello!

I have a Windows 2003 server domain controller and two Windows XP Pro
workstations. The server includes DHCP and DNS services.

Recently the server crashed due to hardware failure and all peer-to-peer
came to a stop! I had an RDP session going from one XP station to the other,
and several drive shares going. It all came to a screeching halt until the
server rebooted! Even tracert and ping would not work. ipconfig/all shows
everything is OK on both workstations.

I ran tracert after the server booted, and it shows the two workstations are
communicating directly.

arp -a confirms this. This is intolerable in an emergency. Any ideas what
could be wrong?

Thanks!
--
"The only good SPAMMER is a DEAD SPAMMER."

Well if DNS and DHCP are running on the server and the clients cannot get
addresses then this could cause this scenario. The server going down could
also cause the Network browsing to not function. BUT it should not cause the
clients to not to be able to ping each other for instance. What were their
IP's before/during the server outtage? Also since the DNS server went down
they probably wouldn't be able to connect to the Internet anymore. it also
depends what you are pinging. If your pinging by the IP address that would
not be interupted by the server going down but if pinging by name that would
make sense as they cannot contact the DNS server to find the appropriate IP
of the machine. I would do some testing. Like turn the server off and see if
you can ping the other computer by its IP address, this should work. Name
mappings and DNS will fail which in a Win2k/2k3 domain is pretty devastating
to the network.

--
Scott Harding
MCSE, MCSA, A+, Network+
Microsoft MVP - Windows NT Server

"rg" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hello!
>
> I have a Windows 2003 server domain controller and two Windows XP Pro
> workstations. The server includes DHCP and DNS services.
>
> Recently the server crashed due to hardware failure and all peer-to-peer
> came to a stop! I had an RDP session going from one XP station to the
other,
> and several drive shares going. It all came to a screeching halt until the
> server rebooted! Even tracert and ping would not work. ipconfig/all shows
> everything is OK on both workstations.
>
> I ran tracert after the server booted, and it shows the two workstations
are
> communicating directly.
>
> arp -a confirms this. This is intolerable in an emergency. Any ideas what
> could be wrong?
>
> Thanks!
> --
> "The only good SPAMMER is a DEAD SPAMMER."
>
>

I pinged and tracert'd by IP address. The DHCP settings had not expired, so
ipconfig/all shows the same settings before and after the server is shut
down.

The workstations have the same username/passwords and P2P worked just fine
before I installed the server. Neither is part of the domain, though the
domain and workgroup have the same name.

It is almost as if having the server shut down jams the whole network!

The server has a Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC. The network
uses a cheap NET 1008 switching hub.

The hub should isolate the server and prevent electrical problems from
affecting other stations. I can only guess that TCP/IP is using the Domain
Controller to authenticate any connections, but I've never seen this before.
The LAN Properties has an Authentication tab which has 802.1x enabled and
Authenticate as computer enabled, but these have always been the install
time defaults, even before I installed the server, and I never touch them.

Any ideas?

Thanks!


"Scott Harding - MS MVP" <scrockel@**NO_SPAM**hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Well if DNS and DHCP are running on the server and the clients cannot get
> addresses then this could cause this scenario. The server going down could
> also cause the Network browsing to not function. BUT it should not cause
the
> clients to not to be able to ping each other for instance. What were their
> IP's before/during the server outtage? Also since the DNS server went down
> they probably wouldn't be able to connect to the Internet anymore. it also
> depends what you are pinging. If your pinging by the IP address that would
> not be interupted by the server going down but if pinging by name that
would
> make sense as they cannot contact the DNS server to find the appropriate
IP
> of the machine. I would do some testing. Like turn the server off and see
if
> you can ping the other computer by its IP address, this should work. Name
> mappings and DNS will fail which in a Win2k/2k3 domain is pretty
devastating
> to the network.
>
> --
> Scott Harding
> MCSE, MCSA, A+, Network+
> Microsoft MVP - Windows NT Server
>
> "rg" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Hello!
> >
> > I have a Windows 2003 server domain controller and two Windows XP Pro
> > workstations. The server includes DHCP and DNS services.
> >
> > Recently the server crashed due to hardware failure and all peer-to-peer
> > came to a stop! I had an RDP session going from one XP station to the
> other,
> > and several drive shares going. It all came to a screeching halt until
the
> > server rebooted! Even tracert and ping would not work. ipconfig/all
shows
> > everything is OK on both workstations.
> >
> > I ran tracert after the server booted, and it shows the two workstations
> are
> > communicating directly.
> >
> > arp -a confirms this. This is intolerable in an emergency. Any ideas
what
> > could be wrong?
> >
> > Thanks!
> > --
> > "The only good SPAMMER is a DEAD SPAMMER."
> >
> >
>
>

My guess is that the server is the main router for the building. Do you
have a secondary router or what is your Gateway? Because if your set
gateway is the 2003 server when its down your network will go down. For
example

10.164.138.13 is my machines IP
10.164.138.254 is the DNS server
10.164.138.253 is our router/set gateway

If 254 goes down problem because it is our gw to the internet and dns
server. But I should still be able to print, ping etc.. just not be able to
say ping microsoft.com but I should be able to ping 10.164.138.12

if 253 goes down network is a complete halt because tcp/ip packets have no
clue where to go because 253 is directing where the packets go to all the
other equipment. I have 254 setup to be a backup router in a emergency as
the second gateway.

--


Jeremy Kettelhohn

"rg" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>I pinged and tracert'd by IP address. The DHCP settings had not expired, so
> ipconfig/all shows the same settings before and after the server is shut
> down.
>
> The workstations have the same username/passwords and P2P worked just fine
> before I installed the server. Neither is part of the domain, though the
> domain and workgroup have the same name.
>
> It is almost as if having the server shut down jams the whole network!
>
> The server has a Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC. The
> network
> uses a cheap NET 1008 switching hub.
>
> The hub should isolate the server and prevent electrical problems from
> affecting other stations. I can only guess that TCP/IP is using the Domain
> Controller to authenticate any connections, but I've never seen this
> before.
> The LAN Properties has an Authentication tab which has 802.1x enabled and
> Authenticate as computer enabled, but these have always been the install
> time defaults, even before I installed the server, and I never touch them.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Thanks!
>
>
> "Scott Harding - MS MVP" <scrockel@**NO_SPAM**hotmail.com> wrote in
> message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Well if DNS and DHCP are running on the server and the clients cannot get
>> addresses then this could cause this scenario. The server going down
>> could
>> also cause the Network browsing to not function. BUT it should not cause
> the
>> clients to not to be able to ping each other for instance. What were
>> their
>> IP's before/during the server outtage? Also since the DNS server went
>> down
>> they probably wouldn't be able to connect to the Internet anymore. it
>> also
>> depends what you are pinging. If your pinging by the IP address that
>> would
>> not be interupted by the server going down but if pinging by name that
> would
>> make sense as they cannot contact the DNS server to find the appropriate
> IP
>> of the machine. I would do some testing. Like turn the server off and see
> if
>> you can ping the other computer by its IP address, this should work. Name
>> mappings and DNS will fail which in a Win2k/2k3 domain is pretty
> devastating
>> to the network.
>>
>> --
>> Scott Harding
>> MCSE, MCSA, A+, Network+
>> Microsoft MVP - Windows NT Server
>>
>> "rg" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> > Hello!
>> >
>> > I have a Windows 2003 server domain controller and two Windows XP Pro
>> > workstations. The server includes DHCP and DNS services.
>> >
>> > Recently the server crashed due to hardware failure and all
>> > peer-to-peer
>> > came to a stop! I had an RDP session going from one XP station to the
>> other,
>> > and several drive shares going. It all came to a screeching halt until
> the
>> > server rebooted! Even tracert and ping would not work. ipconfig/all
> shows
>> > everything is OK on both workstations.
>> >
>> > I ran tracert after the server booted, and it shows the two
>> > workstations
>> are
>> > communicating directly.
>> >
>> > arp -a confirms this. This is intolerable in an emergency. Any ideas
> what
>> > could be wrong?
>> >
>> > Thanks!
>> > --
>> > "The only good SPAMMER is a DEAD SPAMMER."
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>
>

When the domain controller goes down, there will be a master browser
election; and this may well cause a temporary loss of network connectivity
and name resolution. If 'tracert and ping would not work' means you could
not ping by name, that would be an expected temporary condition. It can
take several minutes for the browse list to rebuild itself and broadcasts
may fail during this process. If the condition does not resolve itself
after several minutes, try putting the workstations in a different
workgroup.

Doug Sherman
MCSE Win2k/NT4.0, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP


"rg" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hello!
>
> I have a Windows 2003 server domain controller and two Windows XP Pro
> workstations. The server includes DHCP and DNS services.
>
> Recently the server crashed due to hardware failure and all peer-to-peer
> came to a stop! I had an RDP session going from one XP station to the
other,
> and several drive shares going. It all came to a screeching halt until the
> server rebooted! Even tracert and ping would not work. ipconfig/all shows
> everything is OK on both workstations.
>
> I ran tracert after the server booted, and it shows the two workstations
are
> communicating directly.
>
> arp -a confirms this. This is intolerable in an emergency. Any ideas what
> could be wrong?
>
> Thanks!
> --
> "The only good SPAMMER is a DEAD SPAMMER."
>
>

In news:(E-Mail Removed),
rg <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote their comments
Then Kevin replied below:
> Hello!
>
> I have a Windows 2003 server domain controller and two
> Windows XP Pro workstations. The server includes DHCP and
> DNS services.
>
> Recently the server crashed due to hardware failure and
> all peer-to-peer came to a stop! I had an RDP session
> going from one XP station to the other, and several drive
> shares going. It all came to a screeching halt until the
> server rebooted! Even tracert and ping would not work.
> ipconfig/all shows everything is OK on both workstations.
>
> I ran tracert after the server booted, and it shows the
> two workstations are communicating directly.
>
> arp -a confirms this. This is intolerable in an
> emergency. Any ideas what could be wrong?

This is why one should not create a single DC domain.



--
Best regards,
Kevin D4 Dad Goodknecht Sr. [MVP]
Hope This Helps
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