Relocating a network to another office

[krose]

My wife's small business is being relocated to another suite in her building. Computer equipment consists of a server, two laptops, five desktops, a Comcrap modem/router, a couple printers and a sixteen port unmanaged switch. Server is a domain controller. New suite has been remodeled and wired. Will this move be PNP? Any potential problems? Thanks in advance.

 

[JackMDS]

As long as the connections are logically the same as it use to be there should Not be any problems it just a matter of unplugging and replug in the new location.

 

[shadowman724]

Check if the Internet link is working. You can check with the provider for that.
As for the LAN network, do the computers connect directly to the switch or through wall jackets and patch panels? If it's a fresh install then nothing to worry about. Otherwise, sometimes you may encounter a faulty wall jacket that taps on the nerves.

 

[krose]

It ended up being a nightmare. Comcast switched out the modem/router and caused all kinds of trouble. We had to call our *real* IT guy to come out and fix it, he knows what he's doing and it took him several hours to get it working. Bottom line is Comcast Business sucks. The server is also used for terminal services and thanks to Comcast the IP address changed and the two other offices couldn't get in, but that was an easy fix.

As for the LAN, computers are connected to the switch via wall jacks and a patch panel. There is an issue that all the computers are on various networks, e.g. network 2, network 3, etc. and not the server domain. When a user logs on, a message the mapped network drives can't be connected comes up, and if you try to open a network drive you are prompted for your log-in again. It's usable but it needs fixed. No problems with internet. Any ideas?

I should add that the server has a static IP address for terminal services and the computers get their IP addresses via DHCP from the server.

 

[Fardringle]

If the server is running DHCP for the office, make sure that the DHCP service is disabled on the Comcast router.

 

[mxnerd]

If the IT guy knows what he is doing, the PC should not get different range of IP, that' what is causing network 2, network 3 to pop up.

Like what Fardringle said, you should disable router's DHCP service.

 

[krose]

He disabled DHCP on the router when he assigned a static IP to the server. The server is using DHCP to assign IP to the computers.

 

[sdifox]

Why are the pcs not part of the domain?

 

[krose]

They were, somehow as a result of the move they no longer are. I tried going into advanced system properties > computer name > network ID, but I get a message that the computer is not a member of the domain, yet is is listed as so on the server.

I'm certainly no expert at this, I am a chemist not a networking guru. I asked here and was told it should have been a simple move. I will be getting the guy back to fix this. Thank you for all your suggestions.

 

[sdifox]

They were, somehow as a result of the move they no longer are. I tried going into advanced system properties > computer name > network ID, but I get a message that the computer is not a member of the domain, yet is is listed as so on the server.

I'm certainly no expert at this, I am a chemist not a networking guru. I asked here and was told it should have been a simple move. I will be getting the guy back to fix this. Thank you for all your suggestions.

It should have been a simple move. And you just need to change the workgroup to domain and put in your domain name.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Is there anything that relies on the outside IP staying the same? It probably changed, so DNS or anything else that points to the outside IP should be changed. (ex: if you host any kind of server to the outside world)

As for PCs no longer being part of the domain... that's kinda messed, are you sure you're not just logging in as a local user by error?

 

[krose]

Network was still flaky, some computers showed as connected to the domain, and some as Network 2, 3, etc. If I tried to join the domain, I got the error message "Your computer appears to be correctly configured, but the device or resource (DNS server) is not responding”. It seemed to work by turning off the modem/router, at least it worked so that my wife could get payroll done last Monday. After all this trouble, Comcast replaced the modem/router. But the network was still flaky.

I saw a video on YouTube about a problem joining a domain that gave the same error. What he did was uncheck IPv6 in the network adapter properties, and then the computer was able to join the domain. He then rechecked IPv6.

I tried this today and it worked. I disabled the adapter, unchecked IPv6, and enabled the adapter. Boom, connected instantly to the domain. But when I rechecked IPv6, the same erratic network behavior returned. So I left it unchecked. All the computers are in the domain and can ping the network; network drives and printers work, and internet works.

So my new question is will disabling IPv6 on the adapter cause any problems?

 

[sdifox]

Nope. Very few networks are ip v6 ready.

 

[Mushkins]

So after reading this whole thread (really wish I caught this when it was a new question), here's 99% what's happening:

1) Jack said "as long as the networks are logically the same," which they were not. The router was changed, and the static IPs were changed. Business networks, especially when there's a domain involved, are typically not "plug and play" when changing locations. The very first question should have been "Do you have static IPs from your ISP?" Which was apparently "yes, we do." It happens, lesson learned, *always* consult a IT professional to plan an office move like this, every single network is different and someone needs to properly asses *your* network. A $500 consultation fee for a small network is cheaper than thousands of dollars in lost productivity when something goes wrong.

2) I hate Comcast as much as anyone, but they didn't screw this one up. Their responsibility ends with the ISP termination in the office, the internal network is absolutely not their responsibility to plan or configure. The office had a brand new modem/router and the Comcast tech presumably tested that it was giving internet access successfully. They did their part. It's standard practice for an ISP to give you brand new IP addresses when you move locations unless you specifically request to keep the old ones.

3) What's causing your current problems is DNS and IPv6. You're running an IPv4 and an IPv6 network in tandem, but your core infrastructure is not configured for IPv6. So when a device decides to use IPv6 to do a DNS lookup or connect to domain resources, it's going "I DON'T KNOW WHERE THAT IS!!!" and throwing errors.

DHCP in IPv6 works differently than in IPv4 in that everything is sussed out between the router and the individual device, you don't really have a DHCP server in the traditional sense unless you specifically configure it that way. Odds are your old modem/router didn't support IPv6 out of the box and they swapped it with a new one because you were overdue anyway. Disable IPv6 on the modem/router, shut down *everything*, reboot *everything* in the proper order (modem/router > switches > hosts) and this problem should go away.

 

[krose]

Thank you for the response. I am beginning to think I know almost as much as the tech guy. Only I'm not getting paid. He was so out of ideas he actually reinstalled Server 2008. And it still didn't work until I disabled IPv6 on the network adapters.

The two satellite offices use RDP. Simple Word, Excel and Access files. They have been using Office 2000 for years, it works and is fine for what they do. Now after the Server reinstall, I can't install O2K, getting errors about files not able to be registered. How did it install when we got the new server five years ago? So now the remote users can't open their files on RDP, unless they copy and paste them to their local desktops. I want to wash my hands of this, it is not my job. I was happy to try and help but this requires a professional, and I think a better one than the current guy. Thanks to all that tried to help me.

 

[Mushkins]

Thank you for the response. I am beginning to think I know almost as much as the tech guy. Only I'm not getting paid. He was so out of ideas he actually reinstalled Server 2008. And it still didn't work until I disabled IPv6 on the network adapters.

The two satellite offices use RDP. Simple Word, Excel and Access files. They have been using Office 2000 for years, it works and is fine for what they do. Now after the Server reinstall, I can't install O2K, getting errors about files not able to be registered. How did it install when we got the new server five years ago? So now the remote users can't open their files on RDP, unless they copy and paste them to their local desktops. I want to wash my hands of this, it is not my job. I was happy to try and help but this requires a professional, and I think a better one than the current guy. Thanks to all that tried to help me.

He did *what*? Why? I don't even...

Yeah, time to ditch this guy and hire someone who knows what they're doing. At this point it might be easier and faster to just rebuild the network from scratch.

Good luck.