2000 Server Domain with Cable Router/Gateway DNS

I posted this on another forum but will try to see if anyone here can help.

I have setup a home network and want to have a local DNS for resolving my workstations. I am running on a Cable internet connection and are using the Netgear RP614 Cable Router/Gateway. I have been experiencing problems on the server with the internet connection which I assume is problematic with the server wanting to be the DNS server and my cable company wanting to do the same as well.

I just built a fresh windows 2000 server as my new DC running DNS and active directory. My setup as far as ip addresses are as follows: the router is using 192.168.0.1, server is 192.168.0.2, and all the machines are .3.4,.5., etc... On all the machines I made the gateway the ip of the router and I also added the dns entries of my ISP to each machine. The router pulls the WAN IP. What I want to do is setup this Windows 2000 server so that it runs a DNS server along with Active Directory, but I also want to be able to surf the web with it so I would still need to use my ISPs DNS entries. How can it up as a DNS server but still use the DNS entries of my ISP for that 2000 server?

Hi, I had the same problem with my FR114P router a few months back and am undergoing the same problems now with a WGT624 and a new server.

From a quick search on google I got the following microsoft KB article (260362) -

URL

Scroll down to the DNS Forwarders entry, although you may want to read the full article anyway.

Essentially you need to set up your network as a mini domain separate from the internet, to do this you have to:-

1) enable forwarders on the server box (right click server properties in DNS utility, select Forwarders tab, check Enable Forwarders and enter ISP DNS server address(es))

2) Set all your machines to use your server for DNS resolution (rather than the ISP DNS addresses). This will enable local network domain resolutions to be performed by your server and not the ISPs, whilst the server will forward any names it can't resolve onto the ISP.

I'm still testing this set up with my new client and new server at the moment and all seems to be ok, although I haven't opened the event viewer yet! If I remember rightly I need to set up the Network Time Protocol on the server and disable dynamic registration of everything on my network (which should speed up the log-in process).

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Jon

Just write this at the command prompt:

dnscmd /ZoneDelete . /DsDel

This will delete the forward lookup zone "period" (.). That instructs your server not to look for other DNS servers (like your ISP´s DNS servers).

No need to enter your ISP´s DNS servers on workstations or even on the server. (Although I recommend doing what Jon suggested it will increase efficiency)

Hope it helps