[Solved] DNS Issue Connecting XP to SBS2008

[bartonn]

I am running on a Windows 7 Ultimate machine hosting two virtual machines. One is running Small Business Server 2008 and the other XP. The SBS2008 server has two network adaptors defined: one is NAT to allow it to get to the internet, one is 'Internal Network'. The XP machine just has one network adaptor configured as an internal network. Both are using the same internal network name (intnet). The SBS2008 machine is called bitsserver. From the XP client I can ping the ip address of the server, bitsserver, bitsserver.bitsint.local and several other entires in the DNS list on the server. However, I cannot ping companyweb or connect. Because I cannot ping 'connect' I cannot join the client machine to the domain.

NSLookup consistently fails with the error : Can't find server name for address XXXXX Non-existent domain. Server unknown.

To correct this I added a reverse lookup zone: 56.168.192, this resolved the error that the server was unknown but it still can't see the 'Connect' address. Ping says it can't find the host and nslookup says it can't find it either.

There must be something really basic that I'm doing wrong but I can't see it. Any help appreciated.

Neil

[BillG]

This is a common problem with Active Directory and DHCP servers. It is not really a VirtualBox question at all.

AD clients must use the local DNS server. (In your case that is your DC). The DHCP server built into the internal network will not give your client PC the server's IP address for DNS.

If you want to use DHCP for your internal network you will need to disable the built-in DHCP service and install your own DHCP service on the SBS server and register it in AD. You then configure an appropriate scope and activate it.

For testing, just manually configure the client machine with the internal address of the DC as its DNS primary (and only) IP. If you want the client to resolve foreign URLs as well as AD resources you will need to configure your local DNS to forward to a public DNS service.

[bartonn]

Thanks BillG for responding.

I have the arrangement working in a physical sense with real computers, I just can't seem to make it work in a VirtualBox environment, hence posting here.

I have put the IP address of the SBS2008 server into the Default Gateway field on the client. I can ping the server from the client both by name and by IP address but nslookup still fails. Pinging 'Connect' also fails. Running nslookup on the server works fine when searching for internal names.

This is some output of the commands I've been running:
C:\Documents and Settings\Nelly>ipconfig

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 3:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.56.5
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.56.2

C:\Documents and Settings\Nelly>ping 192.168.56.2

Pinging 192.168.56.2 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.56.2: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.56.2: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.56.2: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.56.2: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for 192.168.56.2:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Nelly>ping bitsserver

Pinging bitsserver [192.168.56.2] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.56.2: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.56.2: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.56.2: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.56.2: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for 192.168.56.2:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 1ms, Average = 0ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Nelly>nslookup bitsserver
Server: bitsserver.bitsint.local
Address: 192.168.56.2

*** bitsserver.bitsint.local can't find bitsserver: Server failed

The IP information is all static, I'm not using DHCP. I cannot understand why NSLookup is failing. Can you explain or point me int the direction of some info that will?

Having read more about SBS2008 I've switched off the NAT network card as it is not recommended to have two, but I'm then not sure how to configure the server so it can get to the internet. I presume it can't.


Thanks,

[bartonn]

Ok, some further experimentation. Bear in mind, all I'm trying to do is setup a test environment where an XP client will talk to a SBS2008 server.

I have removed the other network card from the server. So now the addresses being used are in the 10.0.2 range. I have entered details on the client as a static IP address with the IP address of the server as the gateway.

This is on the client:
C:\Documents and Settings\Nelly>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : nellyb
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 3:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT Desktop Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 08-00-27-5B-20-60
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.2.7
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.0.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.2.5
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.2.5

C:\Documents and Settings\Nelly>ping 10.0.2.5

Pinging 10.0.2.5 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 10.0.2.5: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.2.5: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for 10.0.2.5:
Packets: Sent = 2, Received = 2, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms
Control-C
^C
C:\Documents and Settings\Nelly>ping bitsserver
Ping request could not find host bitsserver. Please check the name and try again
.

C:\Documents and Settings\Nelly>ping bitsserver.bitsint.local

Pinging bitsserver.bitsint.local [10.0.2.5] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 10.0.2.5: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.2.5: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.2.5: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.2.5: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for 10.0.2.5:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Nelly>nslookup bitsserver
Server: bitsserver.bitsint.local
Address: 10.0.2.5

*** bitsserver.bitsint.local can't find bitsserver: Server failed

... and on the server everything works:
C:\Users\bartonn>ping bitsserver

Pinging BITSSERVER.bitsint.local [fe80::60cb:de7b:51cd:91be%10] from fe80::60cb:
de7b:51cd:91be%10 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from fe80::60cb:de7b:51cd:91be%10: time<1ms
Reply from fe80::60cb:de7b:51cd:91be%10: time<1ms
Reply from fe80::60cb:de7b:51cd:91be%10: time<1ms
Reply from fe80::60cb:de7b:51cd:91be%10: time<1ms

Ping statistics for fe80::60cb:de7b:51cd:91be%10:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

C:\Users\bartonn>ping connect

Pinging bitsserver.bitsint.local [10.0.2.5] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 10.0.2.5: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.2.5: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.2.5: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.2.5: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for 10.0.2.5:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

C:\Users\bartonn>ipconfig

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::60cb:de7b:51cd:91be%10
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::8540:54b:d813:5048%10
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.2.5
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 8:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

C:\Users\bartonn>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : BITSSERVER
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : bitsint.local
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : bitsint.local

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT Desktop Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 08-00-27-E6-B3-6C
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::60cb:de7b:51cd:91be%10(Preferred)
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::8540:54b:d813:5048%10(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.2.5(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 252182567
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-12-71-E3-2E-08-00-27-E6-B3-6C

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : ::1
10.0.2.5
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 8:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{0E6E3ACE-D016-4D17-BFCD-1C87660C7
557}
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Although I cannot get the default gateway to be anything other than zeroes no matter what I do.

I must be missing something really basic about how DNS works. I've tried adding in a new host in DNS on the server but it makes no difference, even with a reverse lookup there as well. I can't think of what else to try next. Any suggestions welcome.

[BillG]

Th default gateway has no effect on this. It is only used to contact machines outside the local network. Connecting to a machine on the same network in the same IP subnet uses direct addressing.

The default gateway setting for both the server and client should be the IP address of the router which connects this virtual network to the physical network. This gateway should not be the server if you are running it as a DC. It should be the local (10.0.2.x) address of the router.

Lack of a gateway will not stop DNS or Active Directory from working. It will prevent these machines from reaching the physical LAN on the Internet.

Your client can ping the server and nslookup works from the client. What can't you do?

C:\Documents and Settings\Nelly>nslookup bitsserver
Server: bitsserver.bitsint.local
Address: 10.0.2.5

*** bitsserver.bitsint.local can't find bitsserver: Server failed

This just shows that you don't have a entry in the DNS lookup zone for this server name.
Do nslookup bitsint.local instead to show that the client can resolve the domain name.

[BillG]

This gateway should not be the server if you are running it as a DC.

Sorry about that. I forgot that you are running SBS. That setup is supported in SBS, but no other server version.

[bartonn]

Thanks to BillG for his help. It spurred me on to dig further into this common problem. The problem was the DNS suffix on the client. Chekc out this link for the solution: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/957708

Thanks.
Neil