I have searched high and low for a solution to this problem.
I have multiple servers running Windows 2000 Server as well as Windows Server 2003, 2003 R2, and 2008 R2. All of these servers are on the same Active Directory domain.
The servers run showing the network profile as Domain Network, which is fine and correct. However, when a Windows update is installed, the server changes the profile to Unidentified Network once it has rebooted. This then doesn't allow any traffic to the server. For security reasons, we can't turn the firewalls off for.
The only way to fix the problem is to physically be in front of the machine and work on it to change the profile back. Once the Profile has been reinstated to the Domain profile, it will be fine until the next month's update.
This happens on all the Windows software mentioned above. The machines are not all identical, so it's not a hardware problem either.
If anyone can help I'd be very grateful.
Best Answer
Ensure that each server has static network settings. Do not use DHCP to automatically configure the network settings of your mission-critical servers, even if reservations are configured on the DHCP server. (Of course, when you configure static IP addresses, you should be careful to avoid inadvertently creating a conflict with your DHCP address range by creating reservations or exclusions as appropriate.)
Verify that the primary and secondary DNS server IP address configured statically on each server's network adapter is in fact the static IP address of a domain controller on your network. (This is how Windows discovers that it is connected to a domain network!)
Make absolutely certain that a domain controller providing DNS services is up and running when any other computer reboots for updates. If your domain's DNS is temporarily down when computers restart for updates, perhaps because your domain controllers themselves are rebooting for updates, this can result in the detection of an unidentified network.