I have a peer-to-peer network of 10 users that consists of:

Win2k SP2 Server - member server
XP Pro SP1 clients
DSL Router giving out IP info via DHCP (clients access the Internet
directly through this router)

I wanted to setup an actual Domain so ran dcpromo to convert the
server to a Domain Controller. I took all the defaults as far as sole
domain controller and forest info. I wasn't sure about the DNS naming
convention so used a FQDN of lawfirm.company.com. DNS installed
without incident and I re booted. No alerts and I began setting up
user accounts and a logon script. I noticed that the full name of my
server was now server01.lawfirm.company.com and started getting
nervous ( I was expecting the server name to just remain server01

I was able to join a workstation to the domain but found that my logon
script wouldn't map any drives and more distressing, access to shares
and computer resources crawled to a standstill.

I re-ran dcpromo, demoted the DC to a member server (lost my user
accounts I knew about) and uninstalled DNS but after a reboot noticed
that the server name now had a trailing dot after it's name. What's
more, any user accounts (i.e. local admin) now had a dot before the
name (.administrator etc.).

My main questions are:
How come my clients couldn't quickly access the DC? Is it a client DNS
issue because they get their DNS info from the router? Is this a
querying issue?

Have I screwed up my server as far as the "." being in the user
accounts and hostname id's?

I really would like to have this network take advantage of an
authenticated environment but am afraid to re-run dcpromo and deal
with client issues again. If I re-run dcpromo, do I have to identify
my DC as FQDN? How short of a name can I get away with?

Thank you for seeing something I obviously didn't and your help.

The W2K-servers should really be at SP4 and have the ms03-039 patch
installed (also on W2K/XP-clients.)
Let your server do all the serving, including DHCP and DNS.
You should have named your AD something like company.local.
Make sure that the ipconfig/all from the clients show that everything is
pointing to the server-IP.
I suggest you stick in a 2nd nic in the server and attach the router to
that.

Marina

"saxguy" <outofnowhere@google.net> schreef in bericht
news:a353tvctfn5vnf0rdgqacf3hjcr6b08788@4ax.com...

on the server go to the registy and search for IsDomainMaster set to true in
both places.

--
Sincerely,
Mark Mancini, CCA, CCNA, Master CIW&CI, CNE 4&5, MCSE+I 4&2000
www.MCSE2000.com
www.AppLauncher.com



"saxguy" <outofnowhere@google.net> wrote in message
news:a353tvctfn5vnf0rdgqacf3hjcr6b08788@4ax.com...

What part of my request for help does your suggestion address please
Mark? (the server has been downgraded back to a standalone server at
this point).

thanks

On Sat, 6 Dec 2003 11:31:59 -0500, "Mark Mancini"
<info@NOSPAMmcse2000.com> wrote:

You have a DNS problem with those XPs Point to the Server for your DNS
[have as your DNS the IP address of the server. Mark's suggestion is
for the computers doing a "browse master error"

saxguy wrote:

dang it I knew I knew it! DNS client issue. I had to make the call to
go back to p2p because of workers returning Monday and I didn't want
to get into a black hole (battling a nasty flu/cold doesn't help). So
thanks for all of your help Susan & everyone. I think I'll set this
environment up in my lab (I have an almost exact topology here) and
see how the router issue figures in (giving out IP info to every box
including server) and then also experiment with the second nic Marina
suggested before I go back in to covert their office.

Health to all
sax

On Sat, 06 Dec 2003 22:43:51 -0800, "Susan Bradley, CPA aka Ebitz SBS
Rocks [MVP] " <sbradcpa@pacbell.net> wrote: