Burn

Running server 2008 on my server right now, and I got WDS set up correctly- I can even PXE boot into it and all goes well. However, I can't remote desktop into the server any more. I think it's got to do with the DNS server that's running (or trying to run) on it. Can anyone give me some insight into where I may have gone wrong?

__________________
My CNC Mill Project
We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.
--Randy Pausch
Current Best Benchmark

Manyak

It's definitely not a conflict, you should easily be able to run AD, DNS, DHCP, and WDS on the same box.

1st the obvious - Did you double check the remote desktop setting, and try disabling it and reenabling it? And did you check the Windows firewall port (TCP 3389)?

And can you RDP into it by using it's IP address instead of name?

How many NICs are connected on it (enabled and connected to the network)?

Are there any error messages popping up in the Server Manager?

__________________
For Sale: [Conus] CM Storm Scout, TEC, WC, Laptop, A900, Model M, GPU, Audio, and a ton more!!

Burn

Okay, it seems when I set up everything that it deleted all my firewall entries, including the port 3390 (I remote desktop in to two computers from outside my home network, my desktop (3389, default port) and my server (3390). Created a new rule and it worked. Dunno why it did that but whatever.

Anyway, I don't really understand what's going on here. I set up the domain and DNS but I don't really know what they are doing right now. As I said before, my router takes care of DHCP addressing when necessary (I have my desktop and server both statically assigned IP's) and have openDNS take care of DNS resolution. So what is the DNS service on the server doing?

__________________
My CNC Mill Project
We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.
--Randy Pausch
Current Best Benchmark

Manyak

Windows' DNS is for internal name resolution when you're running Active Directory/LDAP. If you want a DNS server to cache internet domains you need to install ISA Server.

Just a quick FYI, but WINS is the same too, except it works for NETBIOS names (\\computername\). And you know that stupid delay when you first open network neighborhood (or whatever)? Having a WINS server gets rid of it, and makes network browsing a TON faster.

__________________
For Sale: [Conus] CM Storm Scout, TEC, WC, Laptop, A900, Model M, GPU, Audio, and a ton more!!

Burn

Oh okay, cool! I thought it was doing internet domain caching, so I was a little worried.

Anyway, I'll give the WINS server a try, seems like it'll make browsing a lot quicker. Thanks!

__________________
My CNC Mill Project
We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.
--Randy Pausch
Current Best Benchmark

Burn

I really have no idea what I'm doing but I think I got it working. Anyway, thanks for all your help!

I'm sure I've made countless mistakes in configuring this server overall but I guess you've gotta start somewhere...

__________________
My CNC Mill Project
We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.
--Randy Pausch
Current Best Benchmark

Manyak

Haha don't worry too much, you can't really screw it up. Once you're familiar with the basics everything just kind of falls into place. And unlike the regular Windows Help which only tells you things you already know, Windows Server's Help system is actually useful, most of all because it connects directly to technet.

And WINS doesn't really need any configuration, as long as your DHCP server tells the clients the address of the WINS server (or you configure them manually) that's all you need. The clients will register themselves with it automatically.

__________________
For Sale: [Conus] CM Storm Scout, TEC, WC, Laptop, A900, Model M, GPU, Audio, and a ton more!!

ComGuards

If you're running Active Directory on your network, you should probably offload your DHCP function from your router and have your server do it. That's really the proper way of doing it.

Moving forward, you shouldn't need to run WINS at all, not with a properly-configured Active-Directory-Integrated DNS setup.

Basically, when DHCP is handled by your Server, the server will perform the necessary DNS registrations against Active Directory. Right now, with DHCP being performed by your router, I'm honestly not even sure if your DNS is being properly populated.

I run a complete Windows 2003 Native Active Directory at home with no WINS at all. Everything resolves against Active Directory.

For internet name resolution, you can configure your internal DNS server forward queries, though if it's set up properly, you shouldn't need to do that, since your DNS server has root hints for locating the necessary authoritative servers.

Burn

I did end up offloading the DHCP to the server, so now the server is running AD DS, DHCP, DNS, WDS and File Services. Ditched WINS since it didn't appear to be working.

Is there any way to check if all the services have been properly integrated with each other?

__________________
My CNC Mill Project
We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.
--Randy Pausch
Current Best Benchmark

ComGuards

Install Windows Support tools from the Windows 2003 CD, and then you can run a bunch of command-line tools from the domain controller. Primarily:

dcdiag (no, not to be confused with dxdiag).
netdiag

Also check the Windows Event Logs on the domain controller for errors - those are usually pretty good for checking.