Multiple server problems - HELP!

Sigh... where to start??

Well, let me start by saying I'm not an IT professional - just the person w/
the most experience in the office. As such, this post will probably be a bit
windy and possibly confusing - please bear with me.

Hardware/OS Description


We have Windows 2003 SBS Standard running on a Dell PowerEdge 2500 server
(it was loaded pretty "vanilla" out of the box). We have 8 client
workstations all running Win XP Pro, service pack 2 (all P4s w/ ample RAM, HD
space, etc.).

Internet Connectivity

We have DSL thru SBC. The DSL modem is connected to a Linksys Etherfast®
Cable/DSL Router (BEFSR41 V3) with a static IP supplied by the ISP. Local
DHCP server is enabled on this router(though all IP addresses on the clients
are manually configured). The IP of the router is 192.168.1.1 and the DHCP
address range is 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.149. The internet connection
is not directly routed to SBS. While there are 2 NICS on the server, only one
is use to connect to the LAN. SBS is not used as a DHCP server. So, in cases
(see "Problems" below) where the clients can not connect to the server, they
are still able to connect to the Internet. Our "network" consists of a bunch
of hubs (3-4), the 8 client machines and the server.

Problems
Almost like clock work, our client computers run into an extreme slowdown
daily (at the same time every day) when attempting to save files on the
server, or access anything on the server for that matter (our financial
software data is stored there which is accessed by the locally installed
software on the clients). If we are lucky (and have the patience to wait it
out), connectivity is re-established after what seems like an eternity and
files are saved, etc.
Mapped network drives are randomly dropped throughout the course of the day.
Sometimes clicking on the "disconnected network drive" through My Computer
will cause it to immediately reconnect, but at other times it just causes My
Computer to freeze up, necessitating a reboot.
Client machine routinely lose the trust relationship to our domain, which I
remedy by removing it temporarily from the domain, adding it to a generic
workgroup, then re-add it to the domain again. (The trust is reestablished at
the point.)
When we installed a wireless access point, we immediately had connectivity
problems from all clients (not just the wireless machines.) The IP addresses
defaulted over to Windows' Automatic Private IP Addressing that assigned IP
addresses like 169.254.x.x My only recourse around this was to either remove
the WAP or assign static IPs to each client. I chose to do both to be sure
that it wouldn't happen again (though in looking at my own client, I noticed
I'm still DHCP enabled). A bandaid fix I'm sure...
Observations

I've searched the Internet ad nauseum to try to figure these issues out.
I've read through quite a lot of forums like this one (yours seemed the most
thorough) but still haven't found any real solutions for our problems - and I
know this is most likely due to my limited knowledge of networking, TCP/IP,
etc.). A couple of ideas that came up seem to be related to how the SBS DNS
server is set up as well as DHCP on SBS, which, as mentioned above, we don't
run. In checking the event logs for the DNS server, there's nothing but
errors listed - specifically event ID 7063. After reading theough the forums,
I looked at the configuration of the DNS server on SBS and found that is does
have a DNS forwarder setup (to an IP I have no idea where it came from -
24.93.x.x). The error message recommended that I either disable recursion on
the forwarder, or get rid of the forwarder all together. I elected to disable
recursion since I had no idea where the forwarded IP came from. I have yet to
stop and then restart the DNS service since it is in the middle of the
workday (I assume connectivity would be lost for the clients).

I have a sneaky feeling that a lot of the problems we are having may be from
the following:
Not having the Internet go through SBS (using the 2nd NIC on the server,
which is currently disabled) and using all of its services and/or controls.
Using the DHCP server on the DSL router instead of SBS.
Since I know I'll be asked, below are ipconfig/all details on both the
server and one of the clients:

ipconfig/all for SBS server:

Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : efiserver
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : efi.local
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : efi.local

Ethernet adapter Network Connection: (this is the one that is currently
disabled)
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Linksys LNE100TX Fast Ethernet
Adapter(LNE100TX v4)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0C-41-EE-82-9C
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.105
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, July 14, 2005 7:29:50 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, July 15, 2005 7:29:50 AM

Ethernet adapter Server Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel 8255x-based PCI Ethernet
Adapter (10/100)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-06-5B-3E-83-0B
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2
Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.6

ipconfig/all for Win XP Client

Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : EFI-06-JC-LT
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : efi.local
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : efi.local
Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:
Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG
Network Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0E-35-B3-27-B1
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 570x Gigabit Integrated
Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-11-43-65-0B-5D
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.103
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 151.164.11.201
151.164.1.8
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, July 14, 2005 7:18:45 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, July 15, 2005 7:18:45 AM

I realize lloking at this now, my client is setup with different DNS servers
(they are what the DSL router has) than that of the SBS server... I'm not
sure what bearing that has -

Well, I'm sorry this post is so lengthy, as I warned right up front. I have
about exhaused the few brain cells I have left and would greatly appreciate
any help you all might be able to offer.

Thanks very much -

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Serving Pop Mail with SBS
    ... resources via Citrix over a somewhat inadequate DSL connection (corp office ... handled over the WAN from SBS when there is a client-vpn session? ... How is it then that although the member server ... 4Mbps Down and 800 Kbps Up) I've noticed that with a client connected ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • RE: Fax monitor incoming + outgoing calls?
    ... problem between the client computer and the SBS server. ... Client is using the internal IP address of the SBS server as the ... To the folder redirection GPO issue: ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: http:///connectcomputer not working from Vista Cli
    ... Also, from your ipconfig for the server, your SBS ... This is ipconfig /all from the Vista Client: ... Ethernet adapter Server Local Area Connection: ...
    (microsoft.public.backoffice.smallbiz)
  • Re: Remote Client Configuration
    ... the client computer to the SBS domain via connect computer wizard remotely. ... local network or via dial up VPN connection, you will use an local copy on ... connection is established, Group Policy is not applied during logon. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: Cannot connect client to server 2003
    ... you need to reconfigure the IP schema of your SBS ... On the SBS 2003 Server open the Server Management console. ... On the Connection Type page, click Broadband, and then click Next. ... Alternate DNS server, type the IP addresses that are provided by your ISP ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
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