SBS 2008 Login / Logoff Issue

Remove the DHCP service from the Sonic firewall Windows should be gving out the IP addresses because of DDNS. Also, make sure the clients are only pointing to the SBS server for DNS there should be no external DNS servers in the clients or SBS TCP\IP settings. Run ipconfig /flushdns, ipconfig /registerdns, and dcdiag /fix on server

Potentially yes, having two DHCP services on the network that could potentially be conflicting is never good, if you have the concern about this, I would definatley agree with you that this is the first place to check.

I will try suggestions and post back, only problem is the person in charge of the project wants to keep the sonicwall for DHCP, I'm not too familiar with sonicwall firewalls thus don't know exactly why he would wanna do this.. If he insists in keeping the sonicwall for DHCP, is there a way to turn off the service on SBS or should I just set 1 to 254 as reserved in Address Pool?

Currently DNS is pointing to ISP directly

I also could not get the mapdrive GPO going even after installing client side extensions, I wonder if this is caused by same since at my own office I'm running on SBS 2008, was able to setup mapdrive GPO within minutes..

Thanks for your time :)

I would really urge you to keep DHCP on the server, that way the DNS gets populated too, I think the issues you describe are DNS issues.  The server is not able to add the clients to the DNS because it is not keeping tabs on there ip.

I don't really have an idea as to why your sonicwall chap would want control of IP \ DHCP, seems a bit odd.

>>"the person in charge of the project wants to keep the sonicwall for DHCP"
It is really not an option and he must not be familiar with the requirements of an SBS server.
Because SBS is not handling DHCP, clients are not being assigned all the correct options (IP, Gateway, DNS server, DNS suffix) and therefore you have DNS issues, which in turn causes slow networks.

I would recommend enabling DHCP,
Run the "fix my network Wizard", and then download and run the SBS best practices analyzer:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=86a1aa32-9814-484e-bd43-3e42aec7f731&displaylang=en

Just in case others need to disable DHCP on SBS 2008, I found a great post;

http://sbs.seandaniel.com/2008/10/do-i-absolutely-have-to-run-dhcp-on-sbs.html

Apparently, reserving the scope (1 to 254) is also possible

If you want to follow Sean's article then as he stated DHCP must be set up correctly. Many Routers do not have the capability to do all. The router must.
Assign IP, Subnet Mask, and Gateway
Assign ONLY the SBS as a DNS server (the number one error is the router assigns the ISP as the or a DNS server)
Assign the domain name suffix to the DHCP client
You must confirm there are no IP conflicts
You must make sure DHCP assigned addresses are registered in DNS

SBS also can be configured to "scavenge" old records, assign reservations, and mange all IP addressing from one place. Why not use it.

When you say;

1) "Assign ONLY the SBS as a DNS server" do you mean on each client?
2) "You must make sure DHCP assigned addresses are registered in DNS" <-- Sorry, I'm not sure how I would do this

Thx

>>"1) "Assign ONLY the SBS as a DNS server" do you mean on each client?"
Yes each client, and the server itself can only point to your internal DNS server/s (probably only the SBS) as their DNS server in their network adapter's TCP/IP configuration. Make sure they do not point to an ISP or router even as a secondary/alternate. This of course on the workstations is done using DHCP whether by the router or SBS.

>>"2) "You must make sure DHCP assigned addresses are registered in DNS""
With Windows 2000 clients and newer it should happen automatically. There is nothing you can do on the router to force it (you can on the server if it is the DHCP server), but you can verify if they are registered by going in the DNS management console on the server and looking under forward look up zones for your domain.

All of this is automatic if SBS is the DHCP server and you use the wizards.

Hi! I just came back from my customer's place and noticed the following;

1) DHCP was disabled already, all stations are set with static IPs
2) Only 2 clients out of 12 had a Host (A) entry under DNS manager / my domain
3) Currently outside DNS is entered for primary and secondary DNS on client side, changing to SBS IP prevents internet from working, I entered domain in sufix as per the following image, unless I missed something, it still didn't work (no internet)
4) I'm unclear of one thing, should I set SBS's IP as DNS within the router as well?

Thanks for all your replies and sorry for my many questions
Sufix.jpg

Sorry I did not see your attachment before. If you need to use static IP's:
The DNS suffix should be in the "DNS Suffix for this connection" box, assuming that is your domain name.
The client must point ONLY to the SBS and then follow the instructions above to configure the SBS so that clients have Internet access.
The gateway of course remains as the router.

If you need to use static IP's, from a management point of view you are better to use DHCP reservations in the SBS DHCP management console.

Also, DNS Forwarders should be setup as well.

Or root hints, but with SBS do this with the wizards.

Thanks again for your replies and your time, i will be at my customer's Friday, will report back asap.

Rob I will have to use static ip's for clients and am time restricted at this point as the installation took more time then expected :(

Do I still put the domain in Append these DNS suffixes or just in the box where it says DNS suffix for this connection?

Thx!

Just in the box where it says DNS suffix for this connection.
Make sure you fix up the SBS and run the wizards as well, and change the DNS server on the workstation to point to the SBS.

>>"the installation took more time then expected "
I don't know how familiar you are with SBS but if you don't get the basics right you will find other services will not work properly. It worth the time to fix it in the beginning, sometimes a year later after updates have been applied the only fix is a rebuild. A common problem with SBS is it is installed by very qualified Server 2003/2008 folk but they don't appreciate the importance of the SBS wizards, where they have been manually configuring servers for years. SBS has so many integrated services on one box, it is not possible to manually configure all services.

As for DNS, in any windows domain; if DNS is not properly configured, Active Directory doesn't work properly, if Active Directory doesn't work properly you are in big trouble.  :-)

If you still have problems after the changes please post the results of     ipconfig  /all   from both the server and a problematic workstation.

Good luck with the changes.

There are known issues with Windows 2008 Root Hints.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968372

I have read that. There is no problem using forwarders if you prefer.

Forwarders were the preferred/default method with SBS 2003 and server 2003, but the default with SBS 2008 is root hints, I am not sure why. I have always used forwarders in the past but I have installed several SBS 2008's using the root hints so far and had no problems whatsoever. From past experiences, with SBS, always use the defaults and the wizards whenever possible. You will find others on Experts Exchange that will provide reasons to use root hints instead of forwarders because of known issues. Which is better is debatable.

In this case where nothing works, my recommendation would be to use the defaults, once working if you want to make changes, do so at that time.

I just finalized the installation today, there were a few errors when I ran Fix Network Isses, afther that I set pointed DNS to server on clients and added the suffix. Afterwards I added DNS forwarders as last step. Everything was back up and my extremely slow logins were a thing of the past, now clients can log in instantaneously ;)

I don't know how to thank you guys, specially Rob :) You folks are great on Expert's Exchange which is now the best site in my opinion. Points have now been awarded.

Thank You!

Glad to hear. Thanks ataenter.
Cheers!
--Rob