Windows server 2003 internal mail server set up

Hey, problem solved. I kinda had to feel my way around on the job but quickly figured out that each user had settings relating a folder on the network to their own backups as Alans pointed out.
It seems it is currently only set to sync their my docs folders with the server which is probably why they were having problems. I confirmed the settings as best i could and advised them to save their files to my documents folder. I also advised them that they can make subdirectories within the my documents folder for organisational reasons if need be. Its been a week since i heard so presumably all is well. If there are still files going missing i will go back in and check the time server settings, i'm guessing it would be advisable to have all users sync time to the file server and have the server update from the web?

Its not that server 2003 is difficult to learn. It's simply not knowing the extent of what you can do with it and where the settings to everything are.

Thanks for the help guys!

I will continue eagerly learning MS server

It's horrid having Cisco network skills and not knowing any server OS lol. I also need to learn Linux at some point.


Oh and Killa, sorry for not responding to you directly. The email address itself is named after their domain but routed externally via their ISP. Its a first for me as far as this setup goes and i'm a little under experienced to be handling it tbh. As I'm the only guy they have however i'm giving it a shot and appear to have fixed it. As for Exchange VS POP... ? lol I had assumed it was exchange registered and routed through a POP server. But im guessing you can tell from what i've just mentioned. Wouldn't mind hearing thoughts on this actually... As I said, I didn't set it up.

Hey again guys, job done. I'm also feeling much more comfortable around windows server now. I'm still having some teathing troubles however...
I tried to add a new wireless router to the network on the company's request and for some reason all the other machines lost connectivity both to the server and the internet from the ADSL router. I managed to change settings in the router to restore internet access to the workstations as it seemed the firewall had blocked access.

The other machines can no longer communicate with the server atall. It seems as though the server also dropped its firewall when the new router was added and is blocking the other machines access to it but again, I don't understand exactly why this happened beyond an incling that there was a service on the other router which the network perceived as a threat.

I could have opened ports on the server firewall but I cannot get into the firewall on the server to do this. It gives the following error message...

"Windows firewall cannot run because another program or service is running that might use the network address translation component" (Ipnat.sys)"

I have snooped around and to the best of my knowledge there is no other software acting as a firewall on the server. I have tried restarting the service and even restarting the server.

The network topology (which I didn't setup) is like this...
There is a switch at the centre of the network which everything plugs into. This includes ther server, 3 machines, and an ADSL router.
Seems a pretty standard setup and makes sense from that setup that something which would cause the router to lock its firewall down would do the same to the server. Everything was fine until the wireless router was connected (which has since been removed again hoping it would solve the problem but unfortunately not).
The network was configured from a class A to a class C addressing scheme prior to the new router being added as the new router wouldn't allow class A networks to be configured on it (fixed subnet mask in the settings allowing only class B or C).

I spent half the day googling and looking in the MCSE training guide yesterday but didn't find much that helped.

Understanding why exactly this may have happened in the first place would be of great help, but my main priority here is in getting into the server firewall to restore connectivity.

If anyone has had similar problems before or has an idea what it may be I'm very open to suggestions.


Thanks again in advance,

How many NICs in the server that you got that message from?
it's a RRAS (Routing and Remote Access), which is usually here if you use VPN with a single NIC or with dual NICs.
I think it's better if you do more research on RRAS and investigate more what your server should do like, VPN, Firewall, RRAS...

cheers,

It just has the 1 NIC.

As I said earlier, I didnt set it up. Its only set up for the 4 system office as far as I know, as they have no other buildings and there are only the 4 computers in the AD.

Everyone here is absolutely clueless about the network and what it's used for and from what I know of what they do, their network is a little over complex.

I will look into RRAS, thanks.

Only four computers in AD :roll: That IS overkill!

Lol, yea...

I think basically at one point they needed some equipment, were totally clueless and have been taken advantage of by the first company they approached in the kind of way a first time car buyer might be talked into buying a Porsche when all they really need is a mini... Beyond the backup advantages (which could probably be set up with shared folders between the machines) and internal mail routing between 4 computers which are in the same room as eachother (lol) there doesn't seem to be much point to having the server in. They even have an ISDN line in running ip phones and everything.

Anyways, the job is now done. They're happy, that's what is most important.

Thanks for the help again guys!