New SBS 2003 server install - client internet problems

[tfinch2]

Went from a server running SBS 2000 to all new hardware running SBS 2003 with another 2003 server as the TS/app server. Instead of using ISA I'm using a Pix 501 this time around.

Everything is great so far with absolutely no problems except for the internet. We have business class 6 mbps cable, and it takes anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes to load a page. Once it hits the site though everything is fine browsing that site. At first I thought it was the DNS cache needing to be built back up, but it's been two weeks now, and the Cache Lookups look fine. It's not a problem with the Pix because the SBS machine can surf very quickly.

I have IE set up to detect settings automatically, and I've tried to manually set the DNS server in the TCP/IP settings, but it does nothing. The clients are running McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.0i, and all of the other normal apps (Office, QuickBooks, Lacerte)

Am I missing something here?

 

[kstornado]

how are the workstation's DNS settings configured??

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: kstornado
how are the workstation's DNS settings configured??

They were set to obtain automatically, so I manually set the IP to the DNS and it's still the same speed/performance.

 

[kstornado]

Are they configured for an external DNS server?...or the SBS server?

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: kstornado
Are they configured for an external DNS server?...or the SBS server?

The SBS server does the internal DNS, and we have our external DNS co-located locally.

 

[stash]

He's asking what DNS server the clients are pointing to. If you let SBS setup DHCP, they should be using the SBS server for DNS.

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: stash
He's asking what DNS server the clients are pointing to. If you let SBS setup DHCP, they should be using the SBS server for DNS.

They are pointing to the SBS server, and the SBS server is using DHCP. Sorry, I misread his question.

 

[Genx87]

Originally posted by: tfinch2

Originally posted by: stash
He's asking what DNS server the clients are pointing to. If you let SBS setup DHCP, they should be using the SBS server for DNS.

They are pointing to the SBS server, and the SBS server is using DHCP. Sorry, I misread his question.

Just want to clarify, the SBS 2003 servers ip is not dynamic, but static correct?

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: Genx87

Originally posted by: tfinch2

Originally posted by: stash
He's asking what DNS server the clients are pointing to. If you let SBS setup DHCP, they should be using the SBS server for DNS.

They are pointing to the SBS server, and the SBS server is using DHCP. Sorry, I misread his question.

Just want to clarify, the SBS 2003 servers ip is not dynamic, but static correct?

The SBS has a static internal 192 address.

 

[spidey07]

you can check name resolution by just running nslookup from a client, that should either confirm or deny you have a delay in resolution. from there, then run it on the DNS server to see what is going on.

 

[kstornado]

Sounds like an issue with the DNS server on SBS...

If I read your post correctly...surfing the web directly from your SBS server works fine...and the clients are having the problem?

The SBS server is using the DNS settings from the external nic which is getting a DHCP address from your ISP, and can resolve correctly, while your internal workstations are pointed at the SBS server and are taking a long time to resolve?

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: kstornado
Sounds like an issue with the DNS server on SBS...

If I read your post correctly...surfing the web directly from your SBS server works fine...and the clients are having the problem?

The SBS server is using the DNS settings from the external nic which is getting a DHCP address from your ISP, and can resolve correctly, while your internal workstations are pointed at the SBS server and are taking a long time to resolve?

The SBS machine is using the 192 address (itself) as it's DNS address. The SBS machine has no external NIC. The Pix is the only device that has an external IP address.

The SBS can resolve addresses and browse fine, but the clients can not. I will try nslookup this evening.

 

[tfinch2]

I figured it out, thanks guys!

I made a dummy mistake. I accidentally made our gateway the DNS forward address instead of the DNS IP's provided by our ISP.

 

[RedCOMET]

What did you do to fix the problem?

 

[Cloud Strife]

Originally posted by: tfinch2
I figured it out, thanks guys!

I made a dummy mistake. I accidentally made our gateway the DNS forward address instead of the DNS IP's provided by our ISP.

I don't use any DNS forwarding on my home setup. I just leave it blank and use root hints.

You can configure DNS conditional forwarding to speed up DNS queries to often visted sites. eg. google.com

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: tfinch2
I made a dummy mistake. I accidentally made our gateway the DNS forward address instead of the DNS IP's provided by our ISP.

Yeah. There's really not a good reason to use a DNS Forwarder for Internet name resolution. Just leave the DNS Forwardng empty and use Root Hints. That avoids external DNS resolution problems when your ISP's Public DNS Servers fail or change IP address (which they often do, usually without any notification to you).

 

[Cloud Strife]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: tfinch2
I made a dummy mistake. I accidentally made our gateway the DNS forward address instead of the DNS IP's provided by our ISP.

Yeah. There's really not a good reason to use a DNS Forwarder for Internet name resolution. Just leave the DNS Forwardng empty and use Root Hints. That avoids external DNS resolution problems when your ISP's Public DNS Servers fail or change IP address (which they often do, usually without any notification to you).

Yep. You have at least a dozen pre-configured root hints on Windows 2003. It sure beats having only 2 DNS IPs given from your ISP.

 

[stash]

I generally leave the forwarders in. When you have an external NIC on an SBS box, the SBS setup will take the DNS servers assigned to the external NIC and put them in the DNS forwarders config.

This can be beneficial because your ISP tends to have a much larger DNS cache all ready to go.

Either way works though.

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: Cloud Strife

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: tfinch2
I made a dummy mistake. I accidentally made our gateway the DNS forward address instead of the DNS IP's provided by our ISP.

Yeah. There's really not a good reason to use a DNS Forwarder for Internet name resolution. Just leave the DNS Forwardng empty and use Root Hints. That avoids external DNS resolution problems when your ISP's Public DNS Servers fail or change IP address (which they often do, usually without any notification to you).

Yep. You have at least a dozen pre-configured root hints on Windows 2003. It sure beats having only 2 DNS IPs given from your ISP.

I had those in place since the beginning and the problem was happening. I added the forward addresses and everything is perfect now. Pages load fast.