DHCP box and Windows 2003 Server Domain Controller documentation

Hi Everybody!

I'd really appreciate if someone could tell me about some documentation
I could read in the Microsoft Web Site that will help me understand how the
following four items can talk in the same language:
* A Router/DHCP Box (call it a D-Link, a Cisco, a 3Com, a Linksys, etc)
* Windows 2003 Server as a Domain Controller (with Active Directory)
* Windows Vista
* Windows XP

The reason I'm asking is because we are doing some weird stuff to keep
our network working, and although it works, these solutions might generate
some issues in the future.

Here is what we did:

* We installed the DNS services in our Domain Controller (Windows 2003
Server) so the XP computers could see each other. I feel that this was a
mistake as our Internet Service Provider is providing DNS services as well.
So far, they haven't been in conflict. Not yet, anyway.
* We assigned a static IP address to our Domain Controller.
* On the XP Computers, we explicitly set the primary DSN as our Domain
Controller and the secondary DSN as our DHCP/Router box, so the computers
could boot in a timely manner (without this, they don't do a thing for at
least 30 seconds right after login). This made me question the effectiveness
of the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol.
* On the Vista computer, we had to add the domain name as the suffix in the
DSN configuration, so we could join it to the Domain.

Someone told me that we needed to install the DHCP services in the
Domain Server. That would mean to have two DHCP entities in the same network,
which usually causes network disconnections - I know that by experience.

These issues started when we migrated to Windows 2003 Server.

Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

Best Regards,

Tarh Ik






.

Relevant Pages

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