Configuring TCP/IP in Windows Server 2008




Open the Network Connections folder from the Control Panel to configure TCP/IP. Right-click the network interface whose TCP/IP properties you want to change and click Properties to open its property sheet. Double-click TCP/IP or select TCP/IP and click Properties to display the General property page, as shown in Figure 1.

FIGURE 1: Use the General tab to set a static IP address or configure the server for DHCP.



Follow the below steps to configure options:

1) Obtain an IP Address Automatically: Select this option to use DHCP to automatically acquire an IP address and other configuration properties.
2) Use the Following IP Address: Select this option if you need to assign a static IP address.
3) IP Address: Specify a static IP address in dotted octet format.
4) Subnet Mask: Specify the subnet mask for the interface in dotted octet format.
5) Default Gateway: Specify the default gateway from which your computer should use to route nonlocal IP traffic.
6) Obtain DNS Server Address Automatically: Select this option to automatically retrieve the list of DNS servers from a DHCP server. This option is available only if you obtain the IP address automatically.
7) Use the Following DNS Server Addresses: Select this option to statically assign DNS server IP addresses.
8) Preferred DNS Server: Specify the IP address of the DNS server which you want to use by default for resolving host names to IP addresses.
9) Alternate DNS Server: Specify the IP address of the DNS server which you want to use for resolving host names if the preferred DNS server is unavailable.

These properties are sufficient for computers connected in a small private network, but in most cases, you need to configure additional properties. Click Advanced on the General tab to access the Advanced TCP/IP Settings property sheet. The following sections explain the options on each property page.

IP settings

Use the IP Settings tab, as shown in Figure 2, to configure additional IP addresses for the computer and additional gateways. The Add, Edit, and Remove buttons in the IP Addresses section permits you to add, modify, and remove IP addresses and related subnet masks on the computer.

You may add multiple IP addresses to a server to host multiple Web sites, for instance, with each site at its own IP address. Click Add to display a simple dialog box in which you can type the new IP address and subnet mask to add. Select an existing address and click Edit or Remove to alter or remove the address, respectively.

Use the Add, Edit, and Remove buttons in the Default Gateways section to add, modify, or remove gateways. In small networks, there is often only one gateway, but in larger networks, multiple gateways are used to provide fault tolerance and redundancy, allowing users to connect outside their local network should one gateway become unavailable. Click Add to specify the IP address of another gateway, or select an existing address and click Edit or Remove to respectively alter or remove the selected gateway. The metric value of a gateway specifies the relative cost of connecting through the selected gateway. When routing is possible through more than one gateway, the one with the lowest metric is used by default.

FIGURE 2: Use the IP Settings tab to configure additional addresses.



The interface metric value on the IP Settings page specifies the relative cost of using the selected network interface. The default value is 1. This setting performs the same function for multi-homed systems (those with multiple network interfaces) as the metric value assigned to the default gateway(s). However, this value determines which interface is used to route traffic when multiple interfaces can be used to route the traffic. The interface with the lowest metric is used by default.

DNS

Use the DNS tab, as shown in Figure 3, to configure DNS settings for the connection. In addition to specifying DNS servers, you can configure other options that control the way the client performs name resolution and enable dynamic DNS updates. The following list explains the available options:

1) Append Primary and Connection Specific DNS Suffixes: Select this option to add the primary DNS suffix and connection-specific DNS suffix to unqualified host names for resolution. Define the primary DNS suffix for the computer through the computer’s Network Identification property page (right-click My Computer, choose Properties, and click Network Identification). The primary DNS suffix applies globally to the system unless overridden by the connection-specific DNS suffix, which you can set in the property ‘‘DNS suffix for this connection’’.

2) Append Parent Suffixes of the Primary DNS Suffix: This option determines whether or not the resolver attempts resolution of unqualified names up to the parent-level domain for your computer.

3) Append These DNS Suffixes (In Order): Use this option to only append the specified DNS suffixes for resolving unqualified names.

4) DNS Suffix for This Connection: Use this option to specify a DNS suffix that is different from the primary DNS suffix defined in the computer’s Network Identification property page.

5) Register This Connection’s Addresses in DNS: Select this option to have the client submit a request to the DNS server to update its host (A) record when its host name changes or its IP address changes. The client submits the full computer name specified in the Network Identification tab of the System Properties sheet along with its IP address to the DNS server. You can view the System properties through the System object in the Control Panel, or right-click My Computer and choose Properties.

6) Use This Connection’s DNS Suffix in DNS Registration: Select this option to have the client submit a request to the DNS server to update its host record when the host name changes or the IP address changes. The difference between this and the previous option is that this option registers the client using the first part of the computer name specified in the System properties along with the DNS suffix specified by the option ‘‘DNS suffix for this connection’’ on the DNS page. You can use this option along with the previous option to register two different FQDNs for the host.

FIGURE 3: The DNS tab controls how the client interacts with DNS servers.



WINS

Use the WINS tab, as shown in Figure 4, of the connection’s TCP/IP properties to configure WINS services. You can use the Add, Edit, and Remove buttons in the WINS Addresses group to add, modify, and remove WINS servers by IP address.

FIGURE 4: The WINS tab specifies Windows Internet Name Service properties for the interface.



The following list explains the other options on the page:

1) Enable LMHOSTS Lookup: Select this option to allow the computer to use a local LMHOSTS file to resolve NetBIOS names to IP addresses. LMHOSTS gives a way to supplement or even replace the use of WINS servers to resolve NetBIOS names.

2) Import LMHOSTS: Click to import an LMHOSTS file into your local LMHOSTS file.

3) Default: Use this option to have the DHCP server automatically assign WINS settings.

5) Enable NetBIOS Over TCP/IP: Select this option to use NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT) and WINS. This option is required if the computer communicates by name with other computers running NETBIOS. NetBT is not required in a homogeneous Windows Server 2008 environment or when connecting to computers on the Internet through DNS.

6) Disable NetBIOS Over TCP/IP: Select this option to disable NetBT in situations where it is not required.