DNS Blues

[Dragon]

Hi,

I have the following setup in my lab:

2x Windows 2000 Std Servers running on HP harware

Both systems are domain controllers using standard defaults in DCPromo and
installing DNS during initial DCPromo. No changes are made to the system
except taking default. After DCPromo DNS is installed on the secondary
server as well.

First server: DNS1 = 2ndServer, DNS2=1stServer
Second Server = DNS1 = 1stServer, DNS2=2ndServer

Now at times, when I have 2nd server shutdown and restart the 1st server, it
is hanging at "Loading Network Configuration" screen. Sometime it may take
up to 45 minutes before I see the login. I have tried swapping the DNS
entries in the IP properties but I still get the same.

My second issue is that I often see clients complaining "unable to find a
domain controller" etc. I would think that I might have a network issue but
I have the same exact setup at other locations with same issues. Please note
that these systems do not connect to any other system or network (no
internet either). I have also tried deleting the Dot domain but no success.

Any ideas what I am doing wrong here?

thanks.

 

[Kurt]

Can you tell us a bit more about your setup? You say installed "with all the
standard defaults". Of course if you installed 2 W2K servers and selected
all of the defaults during a DCPromo, you would have created two entirely
independent domains rather than a single domain with 2 DCs. So....

What is the domain name (you can use a pseudonym if your security warrants
it?
Is the second domain controller able to replicate with the 1st? (DNS, group
policy, Netlogon share, User and Computer accounts, etc?)
Does DNS resolve the domain name? (nslookup domain.local)
Are all of the FSMO roles on the first DC, or did you transfer some to the
other DC?

....kurt

 

[Dragon]

Thank you Kurt for your reply. I will try to answer yours questions. Please
note that this is not a single setup. I have these setup located all over
the country and they all are cookie cutter setups. All similar configuration
(different IP/Domains).
First node (ab999NodeA.ab999.mnopq) installed using default from DC Promo.
Domain name is ab999.mnopq.
Ran DCPromo on ab999NodeB to join existing tree/domain.
Installed DNS on ab999NodeB.
As far as I can tell, all replication is happenning fine.
DNS does resolve properly.
All FSMO roles are on ab999NodeA, never moved.

 

[Kurt]

In reseraching a similar issue I ran across a MS article about W2K3 having
name resolution / netlogon problems if the NIC driver was wrong. I wish I
had the link, but I believe it said that many things would still work (ping,
etc) but things that involved certain RPC / DCOM functions would fail. The
crux was that you need to update / correct the drivers for the NICs. Another
silly thing is if the workstations are plugged into a Cisco switch with
spanning-tree taking too long to begin forwarding. "spanning-tree portfast"
fixes that one. If not those then you'll need to run general connectivity
diagnostics at the workstations to see why they they cannot connect. It
could be a hardware problem on a switch - I recently watched a tech change a
motherboard on a computer with a connectivity issue, just to discover later
that a network switch was flaking out.

....kurt

 

[Dragon]

Thank you Kurt for your reply.

I guess these are legit comments. Especially regarding the NIC drivers. We
currently do not install drivers from HP's website etc but instead install
them from the Smart Start CD that comes with the servers. If we are using
ghost, then the same driver goes on all the servers.

I am not too sure about the network switch though. We do use cisco but
nothing at all is configure on the switches. In most cases not even an IP
address. Also, I have cookie cutter setup all over and having similar issue
at multiple locations. This is why I am ruling out bad switch. I do however
need to look a bit more into the default setup on Cisco switches and see if
they have anything in them that perhaps is causing.

Thank you.

 

[Kurt]

Cisco switches, out of the box, have portfast disabled. What yo can do is
watch the switch when you start up the computer. The port will stay "amber"
until spanning-tree has determined that allowing traffic won't create loop.
If your computer boots up (newer comptuers with XP boot in about 15 seconds)
before the port status light on the switch goes green, that could be an
issue. To fix it, just console into the switch, enter config mode, change to
the interface and issue the command "no span portfast".

....kurt

 

[Kurt]

OOPs!

Should have been "span portfast"

....kurt