I have an issue that is driving me crazy with IPs on this server. I decided to wipe it and rebuild it from scratch and ever since it's been baffling me.

First, let me explain the setup I have:

Gateway - 192.168.7.1, DNS

SVR1 - NetWare 5.1, IP: 192.168.7.90, DNS, DHCP server with small pool of 51 IPs configured (7.200 - 7.250). DHCP issues IP, gateway, and DNS only.

SVR2 - newly reimaged Windows 2000 Server

WKS1 - XP Pro, IP assigned by DHCP (192.168.7.81)

WKS2 - XP Pro, IP assigned by DHCP (192.168.7.110)

When I configure my W2K server with a static IP of 192.168.7.99, gateway of 192.168.7.1 and DNS of 192.168.7.90 & 192.168.7.1, it can only ping the gateway, dhcp server and itself. It cannot ping anything else on my network.

When I leave the server to request an IP from DHCP, it gets assigned one from the pool (latest is 192.168.7.204) and it can ping everything with no problem.

Does anyone have any ideas? Please note that i'm not using any machine names in ping commands, i'm using simple addresses only.

This is a fresh install with no additional software except for IE6.

Thanks in advance!

First mistake is the gateway address is not the dns address. You should have the ISP's dns server ip addresses in the forwarders tab.

This would also be true for the Netware DNS server. The MS Dns should have the netware dns server ip addresses in the forwarders tab.

But then it appears you may not be running dns server on your MS server since it appears you are talking about the nic properties and tcp/ip.

I run both NW and MS servers. With AD we have MS dns configured to forward to NW dns and ISP dns. Principle here is the request from a xp workstation goes to the ms dns server. This takes care of local name resolution for the workstation. If requesting google.com or resources from NW, the MS dns forwards the request to those dns servers to be resolved.

Golly gee wilerkers everyone. Learn to Internet Search

I have to disagree with your comment about my gateway and dns. I should explain though, my gateway is a SMC Barricade DSL Router. It's running DNS forwarding. It's much easier to point all my machines to it and let it relay the requests than to configure my ISPs DNS servers. The same applies to my NW box (although DNS is a little messed up on there at the moment), it points itself to the Barricade and from there to the web.

You're correct that i'm not running DNS on my W2KS box, I wasn't planning on doing that either.

DNS works with no problems, i'm not having any trouble with that. I can browse the web easily. My problem is with simple ping requests.

Are the workstations registered in NW DNS?

Via dhcp to the workstation what DNS server address are they getting? The NW DNS server?

Or are you providing the wksts with the isps dns ip?

Golly gee wilerkers everyone. Learn to Internet Search

NW DNS isn't setup properly i'm sure. I have to admit i've never figured it out properly.

Via DHCP workstations get issued with the DNS servers (192.168.7.90 & 192.168.7.1 in that priority), and the gateway address (192.168..7.1). They know the DHCP server address from this transaction too. Nothing else is communicated via DHCP.

Hmmmm, a thought here. Both workstations have manual assignment entries in DHCP for their standard NICs. (They're both laptops and have multiple cards). Hence they always receive the same IP. However, there is also the pool of 51 addresses that the server can take an address from.

I've never provided any of my ISPs settings to any machines on the internal network, only the Barricade knows those details. Hence it running DNS forwarding.

Another piece of information for you, all computers plug directly into the Barricade itself (it has a built in 8 port switch). A colleague of mine has suggested I reboot it so I can clear it's ARP cache. I'll do that this evening and post results.

Okay, some updates.

I've restarted my Barricade, although I don't think it's had much of an effect.

Powering up the w2k server it requested an IP from DHCP and was assigned '7.204'. I tried pinging it from my laptop by IP (success) and by name (resolved to the correct IP, success).

I changed it to a static IP (7.99). Tried pinging from the laptop again by IP (failed), by name (it first resolved to the old IP and obviously failed), and a few moments later by name again (this time it resolved to the correct IP '7.99', but the ping failed again). I did nothing to either machine during the pause between the two pings by name.

IPConfig settings for you to see (names have been edited, but IPs not)

Dynamic (DHCP) configuration:

Windows 2000 IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : srvr2
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : x.dyndns.org

Ethernet adapter Integrated LAN:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : x.dyndns.org
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : IBM 10/100 NetFinity Fault Tolerant Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.7.204
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.7.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.7.90
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.7.90
192.168.7.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : November 3, 2005 17:38:44
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : November 6, 2005 17:38:44

--
Static Configuration

Windows 2000 IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : srvr2
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : x.dyndns.org

Ethernet adapter Integrated LAN:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : x.dyndns.org
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : IBM 10/100 NetFinity Fault Tolerant Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.7.99
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.7.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.7.90
192.168.7.1

Okay, i've been trying a few things and i've worked out the following.

The only problem address in my entire subnet appears to be 192.168.7.99

I don't really know why, but I have only 1 theory.

I changed the IP of the server to several different static addresses, all of which function with no problem. This isn't any fancy server, so i've decided to change it's address to 192.168.7.50

My theory is this. This server replaces another (Netfinity 5000) that used the same 7.99 IP. It was assigned manually via DHCP, I had setup it's MAC on the DHCP server. When I put this new box in I switched MACs intending to allow it to be assigned that way. But in my trials of VPN DHCP on W2KS (which I still cannot get working, if anyone has any theories or ideas, etc. etc., i'm very interested to hear!), I decided to set it manually on the server itself. I switched the entry on the DHCP server to exclusion so i'd know it was assigned already (even though it never appeared in any pool).

Anyway, through doing all that, I believe somehow it's got jammed up with the old MAC, therefore the network is still searching for a now non-existent NIC.

It's working now, seemingly with no problems. If anyone has any further ideas, i'm willing to listen!