Working my way through a clean SBS installation to familiarize myself and I've got couple of questions:

1. Internet wizard prompts for DNS addresses assigned by ISP. Shouldn't the SBS server also handle DNS responsibilities? The wizard phhht's when I enter the address of my server as the preferred DNS address. I'm thinking I'll need to put address in and configure outside the wizard.
2. The NIC was assigned this address:
190.165.15.5 (just 'cause)
The router/modem has this address:
192.168.1.1
These two devices need to be in the same subnet, right? Is it possible to change the IP address of the router or should I just use the wildly popular generic address that it starts with?
3. When does the external IP address of the router come into play? It's a DHCP address - I know static is better but how will this affect my server setup and operation?
4. Need to creat a digital certificate. I'm using a .local domain name for the network. A .com address also exists with the same name:
mycomp.local
mycomp.com
Which address to I use for the web certificate? I won't use the SBS server to host my website (the .com address).
5. The firewall requires a second NIC be installed? I'm guessing this isn't the usual Windows firewall. What is this thing and is it better than setting up a SonicWall device in front of the server?

For now I'm leaving a lot of the SBS functionality out as I try to work through this install - no Sharepoint, no Exchange, no webhosting.

I am not an MCSE and have never set up a network from scratch before. I'm hoping this exercise will help me when I begin to study for my MCSE. I found that getting my A+ was a piece of cake because I new my way around a PC already.

Thanks for helping,

Po

1. the question is specific. You put in your isps dns servers

2. You would be better off using standard private ip 192.168.x.x. Server should have a static assignment in the range of the lan subnet.

3. routers wan ip has nothing to do with your network or server setup

4. You don't need digital certificates so this is a step to miss

5. you only need a second nic if you want run a proxy server/firewall/internet monitoring software. Your sonicwall can do a much better job and you don't need those processes dragging down the performance of your server.

Hint: disable dhcp on the router. authorize dhcp on the server AFTER you have documented your ip plan. Configure wksts to point to the SBS for dns. Configure SBS dns to have the isps dns servers in the forwarders tab [not lookup zone]

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Thank you for the reply and information. I have a couple of more questions based on the answers given.

I want to try to take advantage of the Remote Web Workplace and the Report feature. The wizard won't let me skip past the process for getting a web server certificate. So I think I'm in a position where I need to create the web server certificate and I'm stuck for which version of address to put in:
mycomp.local (network)
mycomp.com (website address I don't host)

The server will have a static IP address and will manage DHCP. I think the dynamic address being given to the WAN affects my ability to connect from the outside for administrative purposes, right. In which case I can DNS service, right?

I see that the wizard is very clear about which DNS addresses to enter but I've never heard of resolving names outside of the network. Isn't there a risk involved relying on the ISPs servers to do this work?

Anyway thanks again for the good answers. I hope to make it through this digital certificate step tonight so any more info you can provide me will be greatly appreciated.

Po

1. never heard of remote web workplace. You would need to host it locally via IIS

2. I would suggest you start with port forwarding

3. no risk having your isp resolve internet ips. After all they are doing for you now just to get here.

Imagine the power of knowing how to internet search
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html