browser elections for network neighbour hood

[tjbradford]

I want to be in control of the network neighborhood in that if a pc connects to a switch on one subnet it can be viewed by my network places from a machine on another subnet , if i look at the moment the pc on the domain can see other domain pc's and can see another workgroup but when clicking on the workgroup is unable to open that workgroup to view the pc's inside it. i'm unsure why this is , how is that workgroup pc able to make other machines aware of its workgroup but yet from the other machines you can't view it!

 

[chipk]

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv/reskit/cnet/cnfi_brs_zqyi.mspx

You probably need to read around the above link and apply it to your particular network setup. I'd bet you're seeing a lot of browser elections in your server logs. I'd also bet somewhere in your network you have an ip helper address, which basically forwards broadcast traffic and make this problem worse. That's likely the case if computers in your workgroup get DHCP from a server in your domain.

 

[blantonlewis]

Browsing shouldn't be depended on at all for anything (IMHO)... it's what we have AD for. True you can't browse for services, but that only works if you're looking to get something for nothing or you have a very small network. Browsing provides a lot of info to unauthenticated computers about your network.

We have turned browsing off by setting an option in the DHCP server. You can create shares & printers in AD if you need to.

If you must keep browsing around, set up a WINS server and point all your machines to it (you can even do this via DHCP option), WINS will act as a central repository for all the browsing info. Finally, use BROWSTAT (resource kit) to see what's going on with your browsing, browsing gets really nasty across subnets and generates lots of broadcast traffic even when it's working correctly! Bottom line: get away if you can!

 

[GlenJohnson]

Blantonlewis is absolutely correct. If you turn browsing off, you will be surprised at how much faster your network will run. All those machines won't be running around trying to be in charge. Get rid of it, on clients also. (W2K) Good luck.

Glen A Johnson
Tek-Tips Florida
Frodo has failed,
Rush has the rings!