Article ID: 945948 - Last Review: April 1, 2008 - Revision: 2.0

The server may not receive information from the network when you run the Configure Your Server Wizard on a Windows Server 2003-based or Windows Small Business Server 2003-based computer

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SYMPTOMS

Consider the following scenario. You run the Configure Your Server Wizard on a Windows Server 2003-based or Windows Small Business Server 2003 (Windows SBS)-based computer. The network trace shows that the DHCP Discovery process occurs unexpectedly. This process uses a media access control (MAC) address that is unrelated to the addresses of the physical network adapters in the computer.

In addition, the packet that is received contains a domain that is named "DETECTIVE." This DETECTIVE domain appears in the DHCP table. This domain does not exist in the network to which the server is connected.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs because the server sends a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) INFORM message to the network. This DHCP INFORM message contains a MAC address that is unrelated to the addresses to which the physical network adapters are assigned. The packets are expected. Therefore, the packets are not seen as malicious.

MORE INFORMATION

This is a feature of the Configure Your Server Wizard. The Configure Your Server Wizard checks whether a DHCP server exists. The Configure Your Server Wizard does not perform this check if the server is running Routing and Remote Access, a Domain Name System (DNS) server, or a DHCP server. When the server is behind a firewall, the firewall may drop the packets that are sent to the server until a timer expires on the firewall side. When the packets are dropped, a short absence of network traffic occurs.

APPLIES TO
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1
  • Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Standard Edition
Keywords: 
kbtshoot kbprb KB945948
 

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