Changed from software to hardware firewall...broke NETWORK PLACES

[xwray]

I'm sure this has a simple answer but being as network illiterate as I currently am I could use some help.

Previously I was running WinGate on a dedicated machine for NAT and it's "firewall" features. This machine's first NIC was connected to a cable modem and the second NIC was connected to a switch to which the other machines on
my home network were connected. All was working great including NETWORK PLACES and it's display of the machines connected to the network.

To harden up my home network and to try to learn some network stuff at the same time I purchased a Cisco 501 PIX firewall appliance. I basically took down the dedicated WinGate machine and the switch. The 501 is both a firewall and a 4 port switch. The firewall and it's rules took the place of the Wingate machine and it's 4 port switch took the place of the stand alone switch. The only change I made to the network machines was to change from static IP addresses to dynamic using the 501's DHCP server apabilities.

The current situation is this:

The internet connectivity is working perfectly and all machines can get to the internet. I can ping all machines using their machine names. I can browse another computer manually using \\machinename NETWORK PLACES comes back with a can't find server list or words to that effect.

It appears that WinGate was providing some service or feature that allowed NETWORK PLACES to work properly which is not being done by the 501 either because it doesn't support it (hard to believe) or because I have not yet
configured it. I believe that the 501 has DNS and WINS capabilities which I don't know enough about but I'm thinking I might need something like this to
get NETWORK PLACES working. Obviously the 501 is doing something that allows me to ping by machine name but that info doesn't appear to be getting to NETWORK PLACES.

Given this description, is there enough information to allow one of you network experts to tell me what I need to do or be looking at to get NETWORK PLACES to work as it should. What services do I need running on this simple network to make it all come together and if it's something I need to change on the networked machines (all Win2K with all upgrades and patches) what are they. Do I need any additional network software?


many thanks for any assistance...

 

[NetworkGhost]

Do you have a workgroup setup on your workstations? Any type of desktop firewalls?

 

[xwray]

Thanks for the response. I have the home LAN set up as a workgroup and all workstations are members of this workgroup. There are no desktop firewalls on any of the machines

 

[NetworkGhost]

If there are problems with network neighborhood then the main issue would be laid with windows and not your FW. With that I would ensure that you have all the basics for network neghborhood configured. Like netbios over tcp/ip. It is possible the wingate was doing something for you that pix cannot.

Here is a checklist to go by: Should be similar for WIN2K

Enable NetBios over TCP/IP in WIndows XP

Step 1: Turn On NetBIOS over TCP/IP

Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Network and Internet Connections.

Click Network Connections.

Right-click Local Area Connection, and then click Properties.

Click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and then click Properties.

Click the General tab, and then click Advanced.

Click the WINS tab.

Under NetBIOS setting, click Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP, and then click OK two times.

Click Close to close the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box.

Close the Network Connections window.

Step 2: Start the Computer Browser Service

Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Manage.

In the console tree, expand Services and Applications.

Click Services.

In the right details pane, verify that the Computer Browser service is started, right-click Computer Browser, and then click Start.

 

[xwray]

I followed your instructions...the Browser Service was in fact disabled. I enabled it but I still get the same results and I have waited over an hour for things to sync up. Now, I only turned the service on on the computer I'm using for Network Places...was I supposed to do so for all computers?

 

[NetworkGhost]

Yes all PCs need it.

 

[xwray]

OK...I set 'em all as enabled but no joy...

 

[NetworkGhost]

Try rebooting?

 

[xwray]

Rebooted many times including the 501. I'm about resigned to this never working again...it's not causing me any real grief but it is extremely frustrating when you know it worked before and for whatever reason decided to quit working. I know that network browsing problems have been a source of frustration for *lots* of other folks and I suppose that list just increased by one.