DNS/Firewall problem?

Hi guys & gals!
Newbie here, self taught student you might say, love this forum!
i've looked around here and found some great stuff!
but I'm still having some issues, not sure if they're firewall related or not. so here's my setup:
I installed WServer2003 Eval edition on my old HP (pII 433,384meg ram) for testing/education. would like to host my own server from home .
Now the nitty-gritty.
I have a DSL modem from Q-west hooked up to a linksys router ( the router is configured for DHCP).
On the HP comp i'm using for a server I have set an IP addy for local connection to:
192.168.1.10 ( to act as DNS server) subnet mask 255.255.255.0 (off course) and pointing the default gateway to the linksys router at 192.168.1.1, then set use the following DNS server addy to itself 192.168.1.10.
set a host a record "server1" to 192.168.1.10 in forward zones.

All fine, I can ping outside,and internal. when i do nslookup though, It can't find DNS server for 192.168.1.10, connection times out,, i even set timeout to 10. when i type markthesteelhead.com (my domain name) I get server unknown, but it returns the ip addy of the DNS server 192.168.1.10.

also, i made another record pointing to www.markthesteelhead.com (internal for default IIS website for now) and set the ip addy for www.markthesteelhead.com at 192.168.1.102.
When i look at my DHCP clients table in the linksys router,
the computer with server1 on it doesnt show up!!

here's my ipconfig for the server:
host name: server1
Primary DNS suffix: markthesteelhead.com
ip routing: NO
wins: NO
DNS suffix search: markthesteelhead.com

Local area connection:
linksys router
DHCP enabled: NO
IP addy: 192.168.1.10
subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Default gateway(the linksys router): 192.168.1.1
DNS servers: 192.168.1.10

What am i missing?
Should i set the router to forward requests to the DNS server@192.168.1.10?

Should i bind two ip addys to my Local Area Connection,
one for the DNS and one for the web server?

I'm confuzzled

Many Thanks for any help/suggestions,
and happy 4th to everyone!

Mark

Ok, let's start at the top. First of all, we need to confirm the DNS server is running. Open up the DOS prompt and enter the following command:

netstat -an | find "53

And paste for me the results.

Then tell me whether you're using MS DNS server or BIND.

wow quick reply!! you're awesome!

ok,, i'm using DNS with server 2003.

TCP: 0.0.0.0:53 0.0.0.0:0 listening
udp 127.0.0.1:53 *:*
udp 192.168.1.10:53 *:*

so,, let me see,, i'm listening on port 53 locally,
checked my linksys router and yes port 53 is set for DNS
on UDP...hmmmm...wonder if i plug in the ip addy of my server
and checked enabled,,, hmmmm???

your router can go hang itself for all I care. We're checking out the MS DNS server first to make sure it's running properly. It's always a real pain when you fix a problem, but you don't realize it since the server still didn't work. Turns out there was more than one problem. So I'm going to avoid all that mess and check up on things step by step in order.

So yeah, looks like it's running and listening on the proper addresses. Now we need to make sure it'll respond to queries. At the DOS prompt, enter this command:

nslookup - 192.168.1.10

After entering the above command, you get a mini-prompt with just an arrow like '>' that. You are now in interactive mode with nslookup. Now enter the following line:

markthesteelhead.com

After you press enter, paste for me the entire transaction.

ok,, did that,, here's the response:
Non-existent domain
default server: unknown
markthesteelhead.com
Server: unknown
address: 192.168.1.10
Name: markthesteelhead.com

At least it recognizing the name exists,,,

Keep in mind, I don't have a static IP yet from Q-west, I'm trying to make sure I'm on the right path first and understanding whats going on before i go that route.

Looks like you don't have an IP address assigned to the root domain. Try the same thing except with a 'www' in front of the domain. And make sure you set an IP for that domain.

Ok,,,did that
nslookup request timeout, can't find server for name 192.168.1.10
then typed www.markthesteelhead.com
server: unknown
Address: 192.168.1.10
Name: www.markthesteelhead.com
192.168.1.102

I set that ip addy in the range my Linksys router will recognize (100-149)

ok it appears the server is responsive, definately. Now let's talk about that router. You are thinking problems exist where there aren't any! When you look at your DHCP clients table and you can't find the 192.168.1.10, you thought it wasn't "recognized". But really, 192.168.1.10 isn't in that list cause it isn't a DHCP client! The IP works just fine. You can connect to the internet from it, you can forward ports to it. Nothing wrong with it.

So what's next? Are you going to publically host a domain? At the moment the domain on your server is not appropriate for public hosting cause it has private IPs in it.

Yes that's the plan,I can get a static IP addy from q-west for like 4.95 a month.

so you think everything is working fine?
That was my concern for now,, was making sure everything is set up right before i start broadcasting.

Once i get my static IP address,, i assume I just forward all incoming requests on my router to the static IP address from Q-west right?

"i assume I just forward all incoming requests on my router to the static IP address"

to your static IP address? No, your static IP will be no different from your current one except it won't change. You don't forward anything TO your public IP right now do ya? I hope not. You forward packets FROM the router WITH the public IP TO the private IP of a computer behind the router. It all makes sense really.

"so you think everything is working fine?"

Well yes, the server is running, and it has a thing or two to say about your domain. The best way to test to see if you're available on the internet is by remote testing. We've done local testing, so that part is done. I'll need your current public IP address (www.whatismyip.com).

63.230.172.162

NO!! i'm not forwarding anything at this time.

goodness, my ears are ringing. Well, I guess I didn't need the IP then. Can't make a real-world test without a forwarded port. Nothing more for me to do. Good luck.