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DSL Switch Woes

F

FOBSIDE

Platinum Member
I have a Windows 2003 Small Business Server and a Cisco firewall that I know nothing about. I am switching the DSL provider. Since we're such a small company here, I'd like to switch the firewall out as well to something that I can work with a little more. I am going to go with a 3Com firewall, which basically can handle all the DHCP and DNS, which the server is currently handling.

The problem I'm running into is that when I switch out the connections, none of the workstations can see the server. Each of the workstations can log into the domain without a problem. It doesn't matter if the server is doing DHCP or if the 3Com firewall is doing DHCP. \\servername no longer works. I ended up putting back the old firewall and other DSL connection.

The old IP setup has a subnet mask of 255.255.255.192, which is not a problem, since I can set the 3Com firewall to the same subnet, which I believe means nothing as far as the IPs go should have changed.

I have no idea where to begin troubleshooting this. If you can give me any suggestions or help, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your responses.
 
Anything in error files? What error do you get when you try to connect to \\servername? If the server continues to do both DNS and DHCP instead of the 3com, does it work?
 
If the server continues to do DNS and DHCP, the result seems to be the same. The workstations can't find \\servername. What's strange is that I can see all the other workstations if I browse the domain through the Windows Network.
 
You probably need to post more information about your setup. All the workstations need to see each other is to be plugged into a functioning network and set to join the same workgroup or domain. You don't say what //servername is, or where it is located on the network. Where is the domain controller/active directory running?
 
The server is hooked up to the same switch as the rest of the workstations' ports. I believe the domain controller/active directory is running on the server. There are no other servers on the network. That's what makes this even more confusing to me. The server name, although I believe it to be irrelelevant is warden2k3sf. It is accessible with the old setup with \\warden2k3sf, but not when the firewall is switched out.
 
Wierd. I was trying to figure out which side of the firewall the server was on, and it sounds like it is on the same switch as the workstations. Are you sure it is reachable? The workstations will log on using cached data if they can't find the domain controller (but as I recall you get some kind of an alert dialog when logging in). Can you ping the server by name? If the only difference is swapping out the firewall, then it must be something in there. Can the workstations on the same switch see each other's shares?
 
With either setup, both workstations and server are on the same switch. On the old setup, all the workstations can see each other and their shares, as well as the server and its shares. Once the firewall is switched, it doesn't seem to matter whether the firewall or the server are doing DHCP or DNS. None of the computers can see the server, but they can see each other. Perhaps they are logging in using cached data on the new setup. Could the old firewall be doing something that allows the workstations to see the server?
 
If you cannot ping the server from a client using the name in DNS, then DNS is broken. Or ping. Or there's a firewall on the server. 😛

But the firewall to the internet shouldn't affect anything in this situation, unless it's running the DNS server.
 
Well, I can ping the server name on the old setup. Perhaps it is the current firewall that is doing the DNS and when I switch it out the workstations can't find the server anymore, but I always though you could ignore the DNS server when looking at local machines. The local workstations can see each other, but just not the server. What do you guys think?

Thanks for your help thus far, by the way.
 
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