Configuring Networking Settings

The following is tip #5 from "10 tips in 10 minutes: Configuring Windows 2000 Server," excerpted from Chapter 6 in the book Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Administrator's Companion, Second Edition, published by Microsoft Press.

Although most computers will be properly set up for network access during Windows Setup, you might need to change these settings at some point—possibly immediately if the specified settings were wrong or incomplete. This section explains how to get a server running properly on a network.

Changing Your Network Identity
Change is sometimes necessary—although with a server, it's better to spend your time planning first than to have to make changes later. However, as Robbie Burns might have said while reconfiguring his server, "The best laid schemes o' mice and men gang aft a-gley." So even with careful planning, you can discover that a machine needs to have a different name or needs to be joined to a different domain.

To change the identity of a server that isn't a domain controller, log on using an administrator's account and follow these steps:

1. Open the System tool in Control Panel, and then click the Network Identification tab.
2. To change your computer name and domain or workgroup membership, select Properties. Then enter the new name for your computer in the New Computer Name text box in the Identification Changes dialog box, as shown in the image below.

   [IMAGE]

3. To change the domain or workgroup you belong to, choose either the Domain option or the Workgroup option, and then type the domain or workgroup name in the text box.
4. Click More to manually specify the domain name for your computer and to preview the NetBIOS name for your system. Click OK when you're finished.

Configuring Network Components
To add o...

Digg This!     StumbleUpon     Del.icio.us

RELATED CONTENT Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Administration Microsoft to cut back support for Windows 200 Server, 2003 Best tools for probing LSA Secrets area of Windows Registry Unable to view webpage inside LAN Update the entire user property sheet in Active Directory Optimize Windows virtual memory in Windows 2000 Server Active Directory for Windows 2000 and 2003: What's the difference? DNS on workgroup servers vs DNS on domain servers Mocbot update targets MS06-040 flaw Utility helps you view ActiveX component information Unregistered Microsoft Search .DLLs can cause problems Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Administration Research

RELATED RESOURCES 2020software.com, trial software downloads for accounting software, ERP software, CRM software and business software systems Search Bitpipe.com for the latest white papers and business webcasts Whatis.com, the online computer dictionary

r change the settings for core network components such as clients, services, and protocols, open the Network and Dial-Up Connections folder, right-click the Local Area Connection icon, and choose Properties from the shortcut menu. This procedure opens the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box shown in the image below, which you can use to view and change your server's networking components.

[IMAGE]

The top of the dialog box shows the network adapter to which you are binding networking services. Beneath that is the media access control (MAC) address for the network interface card, the unique identifier of your network card that is used for communications with other hosts in your subnet.

To install a network component, select Install, choose the type of component you want to install (Client, Service, or Protocol), and then click Add. Select the component from the list presented and click OK. To configure the component (if the component has a configurable option), select the component and click Properties.

Note: If you have a multihomed server (a server with more than one network adapter), give your local area connections a name indicating to which network the adapters are connected. To do so, right-click the connections in the Network and Dial-Up Connections folder and choose Rename from the shortcut menu.