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AG Domain DNS & WINS Network Setting


The following screen shots and information will help you verify that the DNS and WINS servers settings are correct in your Enterprie (EN) machine's "Local Area Connection" network connection. Certain settings were entered during setup that point the machine to College of Ag Sciences network resources. By having these settings at our standards, your machine is able to connect to our resources. Example: the Outlook with Exchange mail server.

 

We have listed 2 sections below. Both have the same information. The first section is a "quick read" while the second includes screenshots as well as more details on the individual steps. If you attempt to follow the steps in Brief and have questions, please see the steps in Details section.

 

Note: Home machines or Non-EN machines that use College resources (Outlook configured for the College's Exchange server) should avoid using these DNS and WINS numbers to "point" their computer to our servers. Instead, you should establish a VPN connection to Penn State before opening Outlook.

Standard College Settings - In Brief

  1. Right-click the My Network Places icon on the desktop and click Properties.
  2. From the View menu choose Details. Scroll to the LAN or High-Speed Internet section.
  3. Right-click the Local Area Connection icon and then click Properties.
  4. Scroll to the bottom of the "This connection uses the following items:" and highlight (select) Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). Then click Properties.
  5. On the General tab, your computer may have a Dynamic or Static IP Addresses. You should not change the 1st section's setting. We are concerned only with the DNS server addresses.
  6. From the General tab, click the Advanced button. Click the DNS tab.
  7. If your Enterprise computer is located in a county Extension office with a Server, you may not have any DNS numbers listed. This 'blank' setting is fine. Leave as is. Go to Step 8.

    If your Enterprise computer is not located in an Extension office with a Server, click Add and enter 128.118.124.206. Then click Add. Click Add and enter the 128.118.93.206. Click Add.

  8. In the middle section of the DNS tab, all EN machines should have Append primary and connection specific DNS suffixes and Append parent suffixes of the primary DNS suffix options selected.
  9. In the bottom section of the DNS tab, the DNS suffix for this connection: should be empty.
    The Register this connection's addresses in DNS checkbox should be checked.
    The Use this connection's DNS suffix in DNS registration checkbox should not be checked.
  10. Click the WINS tab.
  11. You should have 1 listing: 128.118.124.207 If this is here, leave as is. Go to Step 12.

    If you have other numbers, highlight them. Click Remove. Then, click Add and enter the 128.118.124.207 number. Click Add.

  12. The Enable LMHOSTS lookup checkbox should be checked. In the NetBios setting section, the Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP button should be selected.
  13. Click OK. Click OK. Click Close.
  14. Right-click the Local Area Connection icon and click Disable.
  15. Wait a moment for the connection to be shut down. Then, Right-click the Local Area Connection icon and click Enable.
  16. Test the connection by opening Internet Explorer or Microsoft Outlook.

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Standard College Settings - In Detail

You have several options for opening the Network Connections window. Step 1 lists three options.

  1. Right-click the My Network Places icon on the desktop and click Properties.
    or
    Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click once on Network and Internet Connections. Click once on Network Connections.
    Or
    Click Start, click Control Panel, and then Double-click on Network Connections.

    Note: We recommend that you view this folder by Details, instead of by Icons or by List. This allows you to identify the correct connection,

  2. From the View menu choose Details. Scroll to the LAN or High-Speed Internet section. You should see listings similar to the below graphic. Please note, your listings may be numbered differently. Ex: the "Local Area Connection" for the Cisco Systems VPN Adapter may be may "Local Area Connection 3" instead.



    KEY POINT #1    : These steps assume that you will be selecting the "Local Area Connection" entry that corresponds to your wired, Ethernet port on the back of your computer. There is a simple means of doing this. Have the network connected when you open the Network Connections window. The entry listed as "Connected, Firewalled" in the Status column will be the one you select. Some laptop computers may have an additional entry if the computer is placed in a "dock" or if they have a PC card for their network connection. Again, have the network wire connected. The active connection should be listed as "Connected, Firewalled" in this window. This will be the entry you check the settings in.

    KEY POINT #2: If you use a "Wireless Network Connection" from outside the office to access the College Exchange server, this connection should NOT be given the College's DNS and WINS entries. If you need to access College Resources from a Wireless connection (from home or a hotel), you should establish a VPN connection to Penn State once you have a network connection.

  3. Right-click the Local Area Connection icon and then click Properties.

  4. Scroll to the bottom of the "This connection uses the following items:" and highlight (select) Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). Then click Properties.



  5. On the General tab, your computer may have a Dynamic or Static IP Addresses. (See Samples A, B, and C).

    Note: You should not change the 1st section's setting. We are concerned only with the DNS server addresses.

    Sample A (Dynamic IP, Dynamic DNS)        Sample B (Dynamic IP with College DNS)

      

Sample C (Static IP with College DNS)


  1. If your dialog box appears like the Sample A or Sample B graphic (the Radio button "Obtain an IP address automatically" is selected), click the Alternate Configuration tab as well. Go to Step 7.

    If your dialog box appears like the Sample C graphic, go to Step 8.

  2. In 99 percent of cases, the Alternate Configuration tab should be given the Automatic private IP address setting (see Sample D graphic). It is very unusual for the "User configured" option (see Sample E graphic) to be set. But, if you computer has these settings, write them down. Please note, the DNS and WINS numbers should match the below sample! If you have other entries, write them down as a backup. Then edit the settings to match the College Standard settings.

    To return to the General screen, click the General tab.

    Sample D (Alternate Configuration - Automatic)  Sample E (Alternate Configuration - User config)
         
  1. From the General tab, click the Advanced button. Click the DNS tab. The below graphic displays how the dialog box may look.

    Sample F (DNS Tab with no VPN)              Sample G (DNS Tab with no VPN)

   

Note: If your Enterprise computer is located in a county Extension office with a Server, you may not have any DNS numbers listed. See Sample G. This 'blank' setting is fine. Leave as is. You don't need to add the numbers from Sample F. Otherwise, you should have 2 listings:

128.118.124.206
128.118.93.206

Note: We have used other entries when setting up EN machines in the past: 128.118.25.3, 128.118.93.141, 128.118.93.142, 130.203.1.4, 128.118.141.32, 146.186.163.66


  1. If you have the older numbers, highlight them.  Example: 128.118.25.3. Click Remove.

    Note: If you already have 128.118.124.206 and 128.118.93.206 listed as DNS server addresses, you can skip Step 10.

  2. If your Enterprise computer is not located in an Extension office with a Server, click Add and enter 128.118.124.206. Then click Add. Click Add and enter the 128.118.93.206. Click Add.

    Note: It should be a rare circumstance that you would need to add or change the DNS numbers. Examples that we have seen....

    a) Some county extension offices have reported being unable to visit non-PSU sites unless their ISP's DNS entries are also entered here. If your office is in this situation, you should add these numbers to the list of DNS server addresses.

    b) Some Hotels want you to use their numbers. In these cases you would select the Radio button for "Obtain DNS server address automatically." When you leave the hotel, you would need to reenter the College numbers.

    NOTE: All Enterprise computer should have Append primary and connection specific DNS suffixes and Append parent suffixes of the primary DNS suffix entered in the middle section of the DNS tab. In the past, your computer may have had agsci.win.psu.edu and win.psu.edu entries listed in this box. They are no longer used.

  3. Click the Append primary and connection specific DNS suffixes Radio button.
    Click the Append parent suffixes of the primary DNS suffix check box beneath this setting.



  4. The DNS suffix for this connection: should be empty.
    The Register this connection's addresses in DNS checkbox should be checked.
    The Use this connection's DNS suffix in DNS registration checkbox should not be checked.

  5. Click the WINS tab. The below graphic displays how the dialog box should look.

    Sample G (WINS Tab)


    Note    : You should have 1 listing:

    128.118.124.207

    Note    : We have used other entries when setting up EN machines in the past: 128.118.155.11, 128.118.155.200, 128.186.157.97, 128.186.157.9
  6. If you have the older numbers, highlight them. Click Remove.

  7. Then, click Add and enter the 128.118.124.207 number. Click Add.

    Note: The Enable LMHOSTS lookup checkbox should be checked. In the NetBios setting section, the Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP button should be selected.

  8. Click OK. Click OK. Click Close.

    Note: Assuming that you are connected with an Ethernet cable at this point and want to test the settings that you have restored, continue to the next step. You will be switching the connection Off and On to put these new settings in place. If you were performing these steps with the Wireless connection, you can switch it Off and On in the same manner.

  9. Right-click the Local Area Connection icon and click Disable.



  10. Wait a moment for the connection to be shut down. Then, Right-click the Local Area Connection icon and click Enable.

  11. Test the connection by opening Internet Explorer or Microsoft Outlook.

    Note: At this point, you're finished entering your network numbers.

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