DNS Server Question

[macdummy]

We have DNS set-up weird, I think!

We have an XServe and a Sonicwall. The Sonicwall is acting as our fiewall, dns, and dhcp server. We had some help setting it up and as I dig in a bit I am notcing some weird things. First of all the wireless has never worked on the sonicwall. I can see it, and I seem to be able to connect to it, but it does not give me internet access. Additionallly, I am having trouble getting to some specific places like hotmail, and gmail. So today I logged into the Sonicwall web panle. What I found was our DNS is on an entirely different subnet than our main network. Shouldn’t DNS be on the same subnet as everything else? The strange thing is that it kind of seems to be working. Our users can connect to the server.

So how should we be doing DNS? Should the Sonicwall be handling DNS? If so, should DNS be located on our main network subnet?

Thanks soooo much!

[guitar24t]

I have no experience with Sonicwall, but I have set up DNS servers (like OS X Server) seprately, and then added them as a DNS to the DHCP on the router (if allowed), and if not, on the computers themselves (not sure how many computers you have). This seems to work well, but I am not sure if you need to access services over the internet, where, I believe, a direct connection (from the Sonicwall) would be more helpful. I like the OS X Server DNS because it is easy to configure 😀 compared to others.
As to whether or not to have the DNS on the main network, I have no idea. Like I said, I prefer the OS X DNS.
Robert

[torona318]

Sonicwall does not handle DNS, It is not a DNS server. It directs your clients where to find the dns servers are on your network. It sounds like you do not have an internal DNS server on your lan. If you have an internal DNS server like on an OS X server (recommended) Just edit the DHCP settings on your sonicwall and have it give custom dns settings for your DHCP range.

As far as not being able to get to certain sites on your sonicwall, try disabling CFS on the sonicwall. http://www.318.com/techjournal/security/safari-browsing-and-sonicwall-enhanced/

In regards to your wireless not working make sure you have the appropriate rules to bridge the network with the lan.

Hope that helps,
Thomas

[Author]

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