I am only a beginner with Networking, is anyone there that can help me with this scenario: I have a head office in Town1 and a branch in Town2. DMZ between the LAN in Town1 and the Internet with a Cisco Router on either side of DMZ. People from both ends accessing E-mail from a Exchange Server in the DMZ. Users from outside to be able to log on to and access internal Data using VPN. Town2 has a Primary and a secondary servers forwarding. Town1 also has a Primary and a Secondary Servers. In the last update of our Project we had the following Services installed TOWN1: Serv1: DNS (Primary), AD (DC), DHCP Serv1: DNS (Secondary), DFs, Radius TOWN2: Serv1: AD (CD), DHCP, Radius Does this look right? I am trying to recreate this scenario at home but I'm having problems with the configurations. Has anyone got a step by step tutorial of a similar scenario or can anyone send me instruction on how to configure each server? I can install most of the services but I offten have problems with the exact fine configutatios. I am in front of my computer 24/7 I sleep with it I go to bathroom with it, in other words it goes with me wherever I go! Thanks Penpusher

I don't think anyone here is gonna type the novel that is the step by step tutorial to set all that up. If you have a specific question, ask it. Please help survivors of Hurricane Katrina! www.redcross.org

You don;t sound like a beginner in networking. more like some homework project or work related issue that's leaving you clueless. if you were a beginner, you'd be asking about "oh, how do i connect 2 computers to the internet, or something like that" Besides if you want to do this at home, better get yourself cisco routers then. my suggestion is to get a piece of paper, start with the services at each location, consider the WAN links between location, then ip address and routing.

I can tell you my life story but that wouldn't help, I am still a beginner, although I am at a Diploma level in Networking. Maybe yes, it is a bit of a Novel but what I assumed is that you knew I had all the IP addresses assigned to each computer (by the way I only have five Pentiums (from P1 to P4) I also have some 486's (I'm not sure if I can use them as workstations, since I can only install Win 95 or 98). A project yes, you can call it that, testing, trying experimenting etc. I know how to install all those services but making it functional is a problem Even though I'm at the diploma level I still don't understand lots of things. I feel that the more I learn the more I see how much more is there that I don't know! I don't know if I'm making any sense but that's how I feel! As for Cisco Routers, I haven't done Cisco I can only use routing service in Win 2003. Probably Cisci would be easier since most of them provide vpn service. As you can see, connecting two computer is not a big deal for me. I just thought someone might have a Link or some step by step tutorials on a similar scenario. Or even some hints after installing each one of those services to each computer. It's a bit of a challenge, that's all it is.

There is no sucj thing as a step by step in this field unless EVERYTHING in the environment is EXACTLY the same. My pathetic advice is to break down the services, what they do and how they work. But most important is to always keep the big picture in mind, i.e how dhcp can simplify you life with IP addressing , then how you can use it give out DNS, WINS, etc. Once you get the infrastrucure junk patted own, think WAN stuff (VPN, RADIUS, routing, remote access) PS -it really doesn't take a lot of brains to get these services functioning, merely installing then is all you need to do! What and how you use them are a different matter. I usually purchase dedicated books on certain services, but use the web for problems I run into. IT pro for hire - will reformat for PC for a Bog Mac.

Thanks for replying Racoonracer! It's a pity you can't post small logical diagram in this forum.I am slowly getting the picture of what I'm gonna do and the services I need to install. I am in a dilemma now whether to use a cache server and enable forwarding from all the LAN Servers to DMZ and then to the ISP's Server (in this case I need two routers as well as a "split Brain DNS in the DMZ") or to install ISA Server which would give me an inbuilt Firewall one in between the LAN another on the Internet side. I don't know enough about the ISA server but do I still need the "Split Brain DNS"? ISA appears to be a magic, I heard some say all I have to do is enter the internal IP addresses on one side and a set of external addresses on the other! Any thoughts on this?

Against every recommendation i have read about, I do use split Brain DNS (having the same domain name for internal and external). The external domain IP is nat'd to our internal server IPs. My internal domain name stays inside for reolution and uses forwarding. Cache forwarding and forwarding? If you are jsut trying to "split" your network between internal and external, a cheap linksys router will do the trick. Set the WAN side for your ISP, your internal should be set something like 192.168.x.x /24 or whatever you want. have to get back to work, but will finish up later.