The "Mshome.Net" issue

[N. Hughes]

Les & Merv discussed this in an earlier thread but I couldn't find their
conclusions. (If you guys resolved this, please pass on the info!)New
installation, SBS2K3 Standard, wizards followed, all working - Almost!
Problems are to with VPN access and the DHCP server. The DHCP server snap-in
shows <server.mshome.net> , and on first opening the window, shows "not
connected". If we expand the server tree, it shows as <running>. Secondly,
we get IPNATHLP errors 30013 in the Event Log about the DHCP allocator. We
have worked out that if we go open RRAS, and go to the properties of the
NAT/Basic Firewall under the IP Routing option, then we can stop the 30013
error by turning off the Allocator under Address Assignment, and we can
reclaim the DHCP server back to <server.ourcompany.local> by unticking the
Resolve Ip Addresses for checkbox under the Name Resolution tab. But then
our VPN link doesn't work... So what have we missed/done?
Regards
Norm Hughes

[Karl Middleton]

I seem to recall that the server.mshome.net thing appears if you run the ICW
instead of the CEICW. I read in this NG that ICW is usually only there if
the SBS2k3 was an upgrade from SBS2k. Is that what happened in your case.

I can't give you the exact steps to fix this but I would think it would be
to remove the references to server.mshome.net and its network addresses in
DHCP, RRAS, and Network Configuration then rerun the CEICW and Remote Access
items off the To Do List in Server Administration.

"N. Hughes" <NOS...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:O2gooIoH...@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...

[Susan Bradley, CPA aka Ebitz - SBS Rocks [MVP]]

Uh...mine was a brand spanking new install and mine has done this too.
I've redone the DCHP and rebuilt the scope twice now.

I'm chalking it up to throwing one to many betas at the little guy but
what am I to know?

Karl Middleton wrote:

--
http://www.sbslinks.com/really.htm

[N. Hughes]

Thanks Karl for your comments. The server was a new HP entry-level model
with SBS2K3 pre-installed, so no, it wasn't an upgrade. Being our first real
install, We just followed the steps and ran the wizards - (or at least one
of my guys did, I'll requiz him on this!)
Tried to unauthorise the mshome.net DHSP server and add the "real" one, but
on restarting the DHCP service it went back to the mshome.net reference. As
I said, by turning off the DHCP allocator and removing the DNS reference
under RRAS, we can get back to the server.company.local server - but then
VPN doesn't work...
Cheers
Norm Hughes

"Karl Middleton" <nos...@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:%23x00LUo...@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

[Les Connor [SBS MVP]]

Norm,

Here are a couple of things that hopefully lead to a resolution:

<snip> from http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];309642

Windows XP ICS also always uses a domain name of MSHOME.NET. Therefore, to
specify a fully qualified host name for a client, you must use the client
computer name followed by ".MSHOME.NET". For example, "COMPUTER1.MSHOME.NET"
is the fully qualified name of an internal client with a name of COMPUTER1.

and,

Thanks for posting your question.
On the advanced properties of the TCP/IP configuration on the external NIC
under the DNS tab, what are the settings? Are you registering this
connection in DNS?
Thanks!

--

Wesley Kendall
Small Business Server Product Support

and,

Are there any xp home machines connected ?

--
Les Connor [SBS MVP]
-------------------------------------
SBS Rocks !

"N. Hughes" <NOS...@hotmail.com> wrote in message

news:#VAWuzoH...@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...

[Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]]

Norm:

FWIW, I've looked at a clean install of SBS 2003 Std and:

Allocator under Address Assignment
Resolve IP Addresses under the Name Resolution tab

...both of these default to 'no checkmark' and I can VPN into the server
(which is behind a Netgear MR814 router) just fine and it assigns an IP in
the SBS subnet to the VPN client.

--
Merv Porter [SBS MVP]
===================================

"N. Hughes" <NOS...@hotmail.com> wrote in message

news:#VAWuzoH...@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...

[Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]]

And maybe another clue (if wireless is involved)...

Your wireless network name may unexpectedly appear as "MSHOME"
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;836517

--
Merv Porter [SBS MVP]
===================================

"Les Connor [SBS MVP]" <les.c...@DEL.cfive.ca> wrote in message
news:ul03Hop...@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

[N. Hughes]

Thanks Les/Merv/Wesley -
I can confirm that: (1) there is no wireless involved, and (2) the
pre-existing network was indeed a peer workgroup, all running XP Home with
ICS enabled. We upgraded all the workstations while off the network (and
there's more interesting stories) - but we made sure we did disconnect the
XP Home ICS machine from the switch before connecting the new server. And
(3), on the WAN interface, under the DNS page, we have a bullet on "append
primary and secondary specific..." and a check on "Append Parent
suffixes..." and that's it.
At this stage we can live without VPN - the staff have access via RWW and
OWA is working, but there's something in me which would like this
resolved... (Sigh!).
Cheers
Norm Hughes

"Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]" <mwp...@hotmail.com_no_spam> wrote in message
news:esydMCqH...@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...

[Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]]

Do you have a file called hosts.ics on your SBS server?

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=BC4895E4.835%25lisan%40brennekeschool.com

Parent thread for the thread above..
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&threadm=BC49851A.112F%25lisan%40brennekeschool.com&rnum=1&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dwindows%25202003%2520mshome.net%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26sa%3DN%26tab%3Dwg

--
Merv Porter [SBS MVP]
===================================
"N. Hughes" <NOS...@hotmail.com> wrote in message

news:OPcGOYrH...@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...

[Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]]

Another interesting post...

http://examnotes.net/article1034329.html

http://examnotes.net/forums/showthread.php?s=f32d22559c0d46e5534cbfce945efbb9&threadid=1034329&perpage=10&pagenumber=2

and maybe check for errant hosts or lmhosts file on the workstations and
maybe the server too.

--
Merv Porter [SBS MVP]
===================================

"Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]" <mwp...@hotmail.com_no_spam> wrote in message

news:#jnEEjrH...@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...

[Alan Cates]

N. Hughes,
I haven't seen this information appear in the thread.

RRAS via the Server Mgnt console does not give access to all the RRAS
properties. One has to access RRAS via the Start/Admin Tools menu. You can
then setup VPN/Dialup addressing. The controls and properties then make more
sense.

Minasi in his WS2003 book provides instructions for setting up NAT/Basic
Firewall that activates the mini-Dhcp service. But no one mentions that it
will interfer with the main Dhcp service or that they are not the same
service. Minasi's labeling it a mini-service was too subtle for me.

It seems once one makes this mistake and learns how to correct the Event
1053 shut downs, they have MSHome.net appearing in their system. I am still
trying to make that go away. I have seen the references to the HOSTS.ICS
file. Mine had MSHome.net all through it. To night I will try renaming it
and restarting the services to see if it corrects.

If anyone has a solution I would appreciate a link to it. The threads
referred to acknowledge the problem but I have not seen a solution.

"N. Hughes" <NOS...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:O2gooIoH...@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...

[Les Connor [SBS MVP]]

Hi Alan, this could be the piece of the puzzle we have been searching for.
Please post back with your results.

--
Les Connor [SBS MVP]
-------------------------------------
SBS Rocks !

"Alan Cates" <al...@removethisDolphinAd.com> wrote in message
news:OoiHzmvJ...@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...

[Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]]

Norm...

When you removed the XP Home Edition workstations, did you first disable ICS
on all of them? Also, was the upgrade to WinXP Pro over the top of WinXP HE
or was it a clean install?

Windows DHCP Server Gives Incorrect Settings for the Default Gateway or the
DNS Server
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=263217

If it was a straight upgrade over the top of WinXP HE and you didn't disable
ICS first, I wonder if there may have been some remnants of ICS left after
the upgrade which makes the DHCP allocator service for ICS attempt to start
up and, subsequently cause the DHCP Server service on the SBS to shut down?

--
Merv Porter [SBS MVP]
===================================

"N. Hughes" <NOS...@hotmail.com> wrote in message

news:OPcGOYrH...@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...

[Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]]

Norm:

Can you also check this file and post what the section on RRAS configuration
says...
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Windows Small Business
Server\Networking\ICW\Icwdetails.htm

(Example of RRAS section of Icwdetails.htm)
-----------------------------------------
Routing and Remote Access will be configured as follows:
Enable the service as a router for the local area
network to route network traffic to the Internet.
Enable IP routing to route network traffic to the
Internet.
Enable broadcast name resolution.
Enable Basic Firewall on the demand-dial interface.
Disable the option to automatically assign IP
addresses by using the DHCP allocator because DHCP is
provided by your server's DHCP server.
Disable the option to resolve IP address for clients
using DNS because DHCP is provided by your server's DHCP
server.

-----------------------------------------

--
Merv Porter [SBS MVP]
===================================
"N. Hughes" <NOS...@hotmail.com> wrote in message

news:OPcGOYrH...@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...

[N. Hughes]

Hi Merv

Of the XP Home machines, we deliberately disconnected each one from the
network switch while we performed the upgrades. We made sure that the new
server was not connected to their switch either. We then upgraded the peer
server in a similar way, and unticked the ICS box, removed its fixed IP, and
made it a DHCP client. The upgrades were all in-place upgrades. I can
confirm that when I removed the check against Name Resolution-NAT/Basic
Firewall Properties under RRAS, the issue went away. I can now confirm VPN
is working (except - and this may be another issue) while I can connect, I
used to be able to run a TS session against the server's internal IP, now I
can't - the TS screen locks at the login page.

Anyway, re. that file on the new server - there were several. Re RRAS, all
said the following:

Routing and Remote Access will be configured as follows:
Enable the service as a router for the local area network to route network
traffic to the Internet.
Enable IP routing to route network traffic to the Internet.
Enable broadcast name resolution.
Enable Basic Firewall on the demand-dial interface.
Disable the option to automatically assign IP addresses by using the DHCP
allocator because DHCP is provided by your server's DHCP server.
Disable the option to resolve IP address for clients using DNS because DHCP
is provided by your server's DHCP server.

Disable File and Print Sharing for Microsoft Networks for the network
adapter or modem used to connect to your ISP.
This reduces the chance of a malicious attack by limiting the ability to
browse the network and to connect to file shares and network printers.
Unbind remote procedure call (RPC) from the network adapter or modem used to
connect to your ISP. This reduces the chance of a malicious attack by
limiting the ability to connect to this service.
Bind the DHCP Server service to the IP address of the local network adapter
so that your server's DHCP server does not provide DHCP addresses to
computers on the Internet.
Configure the DHCP scope to assign IP addresses to client computers using
the following scope options:
Set the router option (003) to 192.168.16.2 to define the default gateway
used by client computers.
Set the DNS server option (006) to 192.168.16.2 to provide client computers
with name resolution services for the local network.
Set the DNS domain name option (015) to <client.local.>
Set the Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) server option (044) to
192.168.16.2.
Set the WINS node type option (046) to h-node.
Set forwarders to 218.214.17.1 and 202.154.92.35 so that name resolution
requests intended for the Internet are forwarded to the DNS servers at your
ISP.
Set the DNS Server service to listen to the IP address of the local network
adapter to ensure that the DNS server is not responding to DNS request from
the Internet.
Enable dynamic and secured updates to allow client computers to update DNS,
but not allow DHCP to update DNS. This allows
client computers to update the DNS table when they are turned on.
Modify the binding order so that the local network adapter has the highest
priority to route network traffic to the Internet.
Set Internet Explorer to never dial a connection, to not use proxy settings,
and set the home page to the address of the computer running Windows Small
Business Server.

Not sure whether this throws any more light on things?

"Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]" <mwp...@hotmail.com_no_spam> wrote in message

news:%23$liLmzJ...@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...

[Alan Cates]

Well, removing the hosts.ics file and restarting is not the solution. SBS
simply regnerates the file with the same identical information. I still have
mshome.net appearing in the Dhcp console. The workstations are all showing
the correct mydomain suffix as is DNS and all the pointers to local
machines. So, this would now appear to be more of a cosmetic problem than an
operational problem.

I do have mshome.net in the registry in a couple of places. I've considered
changing those to mydomain. So far I've resisted and am still looking for a
more 'eligant' solution. I will try removing and reinstalling Dhcp now that
I have the Dhcp Allocator in RRAS shut down. But, because of scheduling I
won't be able to do that for a couple of weeks...

Alan

"Alan Cates" <al...@removethisDolphinAd.com> wrote in message
news:OoiHzmvJ...@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...

[Wesley Kendall [MSFT]]

>Uh...mine was a brand spanking new install and mine has done this too.
>I've redone the DCHP and rebuilt the scope twice now.
>
>I'm chalking it up to throwing one to many betas at the little guy but
>what am I to know?

I worked with Susan on this issue tonight. It appears that the DHCP
Allocator is enabled in RRAS, and this conflicts with the DHCP server in
the base OS. We believe that we resolved this issue by disabling RRAS,
running the CEICW, and then running the Remote Access wizard.
Here are a few things that we need to know from the rest of you that are
experiencing this problem:

1) Are you running ISA?
2) Did you run the Remote Access Wizard from Server Management | To Do List
| Step 3 Configure Remote Access?

I may have more questions as we collect information.

Thanks!

--

Wesley Kendall
Small Business Server Product Support

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Get Secure! http://www.microsoft.com/security

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