building a home LAN sandbox

[Kent Eilers]

I want to build a home LAN to learn elementry LAN administration
skills/concepts. I have Microsoft's 2003 Visual Studio .NET Enterprise
edition so this gives my the basic tools (i.e. windows server 2003 and
exchange 2000).

I"ve been researching this and believe I should setup my system as follows:

- setup server on box with 2 NIC's - 2nd NIC goes to my speedstream router
which feeds my other PC's
- setup internal DNS server for sandbox stuff - I can name it anything I
want
- use DNS conditional forwarding to my ISP for external requests
- use DHCP to generate IP addresses for my internal LAN
- use NAT to allow for web surfing etc.

Can I do this given I get assigned a dynamic IP address by my ISP?

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

I want to build a home LAN to learn elementry LAN administration
skills/concepts. I have Microsoft's 2003 Visual Studio .NET
Enterprise edition so this gives my the basic tools (i.e. windows
server 2003 and exchange 2000).

I"ve been researching this and believe I should setup my system as
follows:

- setup server on box with 2 NIC's - 2nd NIC goes to my speedstream
router which feeds my other PC's
- setup internal DNS server for sandbox stuff - I can name it
anything I want
- use DNS conditional forwarding to my ISP for external requests
- use DHCP to generate IP addresses for my internal LAN
- use NAT to allow for web surfing etc.

Can I do this given I get assigned a dynamic IP address by my ISP?

Yes - and for exchange, see www.dyndns.org if you want to receive inbound
mail via SMTP. Personally, I don't like using a server as a router, so I'd
pick up a cheap router/firewall appliance rather than using the dual NIC
config as you describe. It will be a LOT nicer.

 

[astro]

I have a router - are you saying I can get by with one NIC in my server?
Would this setup mimic a typical small business?


"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

I have a router - are you saying I can get by with one NIC in my
server? Would this setup mimic a typical small business?

Yes, I think so - I'd make sure the router is also a firewall for increased
security. I don't multihome DCs for this or use ICS on small networks if at
all avoidable - and if Exchange is in the picture, I'd definitely avoid
it....

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"

Yes - and for exchange, see www.dyndns.org if you want to receive
inbound mail via SMTP. Personally, I don't like using a server as a
router, so I'd pick up a cheap router/firewall appliance rather than
using the dual NIC config as you describe. It will be a LOT nicer.