Understanding the Change IP Address Tool

  • Article

When you run the Change IP Address Tool, you can both change the IP address of the server's local network adapter and update all network services that use this IP address at the same time.

Changes made by the tool

When you run the Change IP address Tool, the following changes are made:

  • The IP address and subnet mask of the network adapter used to access the local network are changed.
  • The DNS server address and WINS server address for the TCP/IP properties of the local network adapter are set to the new IP address. Note
    • When your server uses one network adapter to connect to the local network and another to connect your computer to the Internet, the default gateway for the local network adapter is not set. In this configuration, the default gateway is configured for the network adapter used to connect to the Internet and only one default gateway can be configured.
  • Network services that are dependent on the IP address of the local network adapter are updated. Network services configured by the Change IP Address Tool
    • DHCP service. If you are using the DHCP server service provided with Windows Small Business Server, it is also updated by the tool. If the new IP address is within the address range of the existing scope of IP addresses, the tool will add a new exclusion to the existing scope. The router option (003) is updated to the new IP address of the local network adapter. If the new IP address is not within the address range of the existing scope, the tool creates a new scope based on the new IP address. Notes

If your server has only one network adapter and you have a broadband connection that uses a router to connect to the Internet, the router option is not updated as this address is set to the IP address of the router itself.

If you are using an existing DHCP Server service on the local network, you must ensure that the new IP address of your server's local network adapter is excluded from the range of IP addresses assigned by the device.

  • DNS server. The tool updates the DNS Server service to listen to the IP address of the local network adapter. If the reverse lookup zone no longer matches the new IP address, it is deleted and a new reverse lookup zone is created.
  • Firewall service. If your server uses one network adapter to access the local network and another network adapter to access the Internet, the firewall service settings are updated. If the Routing and Remote Access service is running, the tool updates the IP address for the inbound packet filters on the network adapter used to access the ISP. The routing table for the Routing and Remote Access service is automatically updated as well. If Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2000 is running, a local address table (LAT) is created based on the new IP address. If you use a dial-up connection to connect to the Internet, the tool will also update the client address set for ISA Server.
  • Exchange server. If Exchange server is installed, the relay restrictions are updated to the new IP address.
  • WINS server. The service is restarted to ensure that the new IP address is used by the service.
  • Internet Information Services (IIS). The permissions for the default Web Site and virtual directories are set to the new IP address. Additionally, if Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2000 is installed as well, the following changes are made:

Configures http.sys driver to only bind to the local network adapter and the loopback adapter. By doing this, IIS will only listen to Web requests from the local network adapter. This allows ISA Server to monitor incoming Web requests from the Internet.

Disables socket pooling, which enables ISA Server to use port 80, so ISA Server can monitor incoming Web requests.

Tool requirements

To use the Change IP Address Tool, you must be logged on as a member of the Domain Admins security group.

Note

Running the tool

The Change IP Address Tool is available from the Internet and E-mail taskpad in Server Management. For more information about running the task, see To change the IP address of the local network adapter.

Important

  • Network services for client computers will be affected until the client computer configuration is updated. To update client computer configurations If client computers are assigned IP addresses by the DHCP Server service on your server, you can manually update this information by releasing and then renewing the IP address at each client computer. To do so, use either the ipconfig or winipcfg commands. For information about these commands, see Using Ipconfig and Winipcfg (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=46979). If you have an existing DHCP device on your network, it must be configured with the necessary settings. For more information about configuring an existing DHCP device, see Appendix C in Getting Started (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=46897). If client computers use static IP addresses, you must manually update the network settings for the network adapter of each client computer. For help with manually configuring TCP/IP on client computers, see Install and configure TCP/IP on client computers running earlier versions of Windows.
  • If you specified a static range for assigning IP addresses to assign to remote client computers when you ran the Remote Access Wizard, you must update this information. Otherwise, remote client computers will be unable to access network resources. For more information about running the Remote Access Wizard, see Configure remote access.