Can I reinstall DNS on a windows 2003 SBS server

Hello gerpaqit,

It seems the clients are not registering with DNS.  I would run an IPConfig on the clients to see what DNS server they are pointing to.  The neccessary changes can be made on the DHCP scope options or server options.  Since the site is small and you will probably not need more than one scope, you can make the changes on the server options, it's up to you.

You may not need to reinstall DNS at this point.  I would check all the logs on the server and one or two of the clients for errors.  Please post to us your findings.

Here are the directions to adding a forwarder.

http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-6268-5112303-1.html

Thanks,
cfairley

I can confirm that DHCP is gving out the right addresses..ipconfig /all on a client reports the dns and wins as being 192.168.1.2. the gateway is also 192.168.1.2.  There are no dns errors on the server.  The pc's however are filled with the following message "Windows cannot determine the user or computer name. Return value (1722). "  is this the problem??


regards


ger

This is probably it.  Try joining the computer to a workgroup and then rejoining it to the domain.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B329708

do you have a populated _msdc zone in your domain dns zone or as an own zone?

what Item are missing ?

If it is server stuff    dcdiag /fix netdaig /fix should clear that up

If it station names  This need to be set up at Dhcp server.

The DHCP server uses the dns match the ip address to the names it give out.






 

Hi

I wont be back art the server until tuesday... the last thing i tried was joining a wotkgroup and then trying to rejoin the domain....it would not let me join back up... the process was running as normal... it asked me to provide a user name and password to allow me join the domain but then told me it could not find the specified path.

in repsone to the query "do you have a populated _msdc zone in your domain dns zone or as an own zone?" there is no _msdc zone.  i will try the command suggested by gjohnson99 "dcdiag /fix netdaig /fix" when i return.  thanks again

ger sheehan

While Chris's recommendations are appropriate for a Windows Server 2003, they wouldn't necessarily be the recommend way to resolve these kind of problems on an SBS.  The best way to start would be to rerun the Internet and Email Connection Wizard (IECW) from the Server Management Console.  But, before doing that there are a number of things you should fix.

First, it sounds like your router (192.168.1.1) is providing DHCP?  If so, turn that OFF, and if it has UPNP, turn that ON.  Next change the configuration on your NIC(s).  If you have one NIC, give the SBS a fixed IP address (192.168.1.2), specify the router (192.168.1.1) as the gateway, and change the DNS servers to those of your ISP (these will be changed back to 192.168.1.2 by the EICW).  If you have two NICs, change the one exposed to the WAN's DNS servers to those of your ISP.  The LAN NIC should use 192.168.1.2 for DNS, and there should be NO gateway listed).

Then run the IECW, ensuring that you are using the network configuration which matches yours...  follow the IECW with the Remote Access Configuration Wizard, just for good measure.  These should set everything right for you, but if not you may still have to remove the computers from the domain and reattach them.  If they weren't originally added to the domain using http://servername/connectcomputer, then it would be best to rename each computer, delete the computers from Active Directory (use the Client Computers section of the Server Management Console and then use Setup Client Computers to create the new AD entries).  

The above is making a lot of assumptions about your network configuration and the state of the client computers.  Please let me know if anything doesn't make sense in your situation... most of all though, try to remember that SBS is NOT Server 2003.  Because of the combined nature of it's roles (AD, DC, Exchange, IIS, DNS, DHCP) it's always best to use the wizards.  If you want to see all the things that a particular wizard does, start one and go all the way through to the last screen, then click the "here" link and you'll be given a savable text file that enumarates all of the tasks the wizard is about to do... I think you'll be quite amazed.

Good luck!

Jeff @ TechSoEasy

Hi all

i'm on site again...just to clarify a few things..the ip address of my SBS server is 192.168.1.2.   This server is running DHCP and is assining ip addresses.  It assigns 192.168.1.2 as the default gateway and as the primary dns.  I do have a router on the network (192.168.1.250).  I have a dns forwarder pointing to this address setup on the SBS server for web and email access.  This part all works fine.

I tried jeffs suggestions of  running the IECW wizard and then using http://servername/connectcoputer to rejoin the domain.  The wizard runs ok up to asking me to supply my user a/c details.  the i do this i gett the following message "The list of users and computers could not be found"   On looking us this message on the MS website, it suggests that the client pc is using a  dns server which is not the SBS server.  This brings me back to my orginal problem.  i believe the DNS server is not setup properly and does not some of the normal entries such as " _msdc zone" etc.   i also ran dcdiag /fix which basically reported that while the server name was resolving to the coorect ip address, it suggested checking that the server ip address was registered correctly with the DNS server.  How do do this???!!

thanks in advance


ger sheehan

One of the reasons I've standardized my SBS installs (22 of them so far this year), is because routing gives me a headache.  The IECW should have recreated those zones... however, you haven't really given enough information for me to know why.  (I do believe that the DNS server is not set up properly, but merely reinstalling it won't fix a problem if you have a bad network plan to begin with).  The missing zone files are certainly a cause of your problem, but they are most likely the end result of a separate problem which we need to find.  Having a DNS forwarder pointing to the router's IP sounds like trouble too...  the only forwarders you should have are to your ISP's DNS servers... but you don't enter those manually, they are created from the IECW.

I would point out that it sounds like you didn't follow my recommendation exactly... (using the ISP DNS servers on the NIC and using the router IP as the gateway --again assuming ONE NIC, do you have one or two???).  These things are pretty important when running the wizard.

If you can post the  IPCONFIG /ALL from both the server and a client, that would be a big help.  Also, how many NIC's do you have in the server?  What kind of router is it (make/model)?  Do you have a switch or two somewhere else in the schema?


Jeff @
TechSoEasy

P.S. Read this:  http://msmvps.com/bradley/archive/2004/06/24/8898.aspx

I do have two nic's in the server but it is merely a backup and has been disabled. I have included an ipconfig /all for the server and for the client

The router is a multitech routefinder 560

server


Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : spring

   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . : scs

   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown

   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes

   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes

   DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : scs



Ethernet adapter LAN:



   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :

   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT Network Connection

   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-C0-9F-39-87-CA

   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

   IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2

   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.250

   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2

   Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clients Ipconfig /all

Windows 2000 IP Configuration



      Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : reception01
      Primary DNS Suffix  . . . . . . . : scs
      Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid

      IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

      WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

      DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : scs

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:



      Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : scs
      Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 3Com EtherLink XL 10/100 PCI For Complete PC Management NIC (3C905C-TX)
      Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-50-DA-34-BE-0B

      DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

      Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

      IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.12

      Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

      Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2

      DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2

      DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2
      Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2

      Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 30 November 2004 08:34:59

      Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 08 December 2004 08:34:59

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
regards

Ger Sheehan

Thanks for that Jeff....i think!!!  its what i was thinking my self but was hoping to avoid it.  i may have another quick look before i decide.  should i go down that route, is there anyway i can run something like dcpromo abd remove the AD part of the OS and reinstall setting up all the users and mappings again but keeping the data that is on it...the reason being, there are some applications on the server which were installed by a third part which i would prefet to leave on it... as you may have guessed by now, my sbs knowledge is not so good...the last version i worked with was 4.5 which i hated!!

regards


ger

Lots of people hated 4.5, and rightfully so... they've come a long way since then.  What you may want to try, before doing a full reinstall, is to reinstall all of the SBS items.  First, you can migrate your AD to another computer that will act as a temporary PDC.  Then, you can remove AD via dcpromo and then reinstall it.  Then go to Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs and then down to Windows Small Business Server (make sure that you unplug the Ethernet cable prior to doing this, btw).  That will bring up the component installation window.  You will then be able to reinstall all of the components as well as the SBS monitoring and management pieces.  Then, you can downgrade the temp DC and promote the SBS back to PDC.  Theres some fairly good info about this at http://sbsmigration.com and you may also want to check out http://sbslinks.com for any other issues.

While this method will still leave you with a fairly nasty registry, it's worth a shot... but I'd still ghost the hard drive first, just in case!  (As well as backing up all of the user mailboxes and files).  To date, I've performed 5 migrations, and they have gone fairly well by using the "swing" method described at sbsmigration.com.  With smaller user bases, though, I still prefer to build it from scratch and then restore data.  But that's just a preference.

Good luck!

Jeff @
TechSoEasy

Thanks for all the help so far...   i thing i have no choice but to do a reinstall at this point.....   i will just post one more bit of info from the event viewer in case anyone can help.... i am pretty sure that if there was a way of resetting all of the DNS server entries to default my problem would be solved...

==========================================================================

Event Type:      Warning
Event Source:      NETLOGON
Event Category:      None
Event ID:      5781
Date:            01/12/2004
Time:            10:51:00
User:            N/A
Computer:      SPRING
Description:
Dynamic registration or deletion of one or more DNS records associated with DNS domain 'scs.' failed.  These records are used by other computers to locate this server as a domain controller (if the specified domain is an Active Directory domain) or as an LDAP server (if the specified domain is an application partition).  

Possible causes of failure include:  
- TCP/IP properties of the network connections of this computer contain wrong IP address(es) of the preferred and alternate DNS servers
- Specified preferred and alternate DNS servers are not running
- DNS server(s) primary for the records to be registered is not running
- Preferred or alternate DNS servers are configured with wrong root hints
- Parent DNS zone contains incorrect delegation to the child zone authoritative for the DNS records that failed registration  

USER ACTION  
Fix possible misconfiguration(s) specified above and initiate registration or deletion of the DNS records by running 'nltest.exe /dsregdns' from the command prompt or by restarting Net Logon service. Nltest.exe is available in the Microsoft Windows Server Resource Kit CD.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 0000232a

==========================================================

this event message looks like you have aproblem with your single-label forward lookup zone.
look here: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;826743
Maybe it helps :)

This confirms my earlier comments regarding single named zone.   I would definitely reinstall vs. patching up what's there.

Jeff

sorry for not posting posting an update sooner.....i took the plunge and and wiped it....and lived to tell the tale....thanks to everyone for their help

congrats!

Glad to be of help.

Jeff @
TechSoEasy