Computer disappears from workgroup - why?

[chrislpnt]

I am using a simple workgroup-based Windows network with 4-6 computers. One is a Debian Etch server with Samba 3.0.24-6. The server is the WINS server for the network. I can browse the network fine and access shares on the server at all times. Trouble is, ONE machine (XP Pro SP3) that runs pretty much 24/7 spontaneously disappears from the list after a while. Let's call it //XFILES. This means, no matter from where I browse the network, XFILES is not listed anymore. All other computers are listed fine. I can still access XFILES' shares directly (e.g. "search for computer" finds it) but depending on the client this is not always possible. So I'd really like for the list to be accurate.

To give you an example what I did:

/etc/init.d/samba stop
rm /var/lib/samba/wins.dat
rm /var/cache/samba/browse.dat
/etc/init.d/samba start

I.e. deleting wins.dat and browse.dat and restarting Samba. After the first access of the server's shares from XFILES, smbtree shows the complete network, wins.dat and browse.dat are both created and updated and I see all computers when browsing from anywhere. Then, after a while of waiting, changing nothing on the network, suddenly XFILES goes missing. It is then no longer listed in browse.dat but I had seen it listed in wins.dat so the latter doesn't seem to be relevant. What "brings it back" is when I browse XFILES' shares from XFILES itself, but that is not always possible.

My question is: What causes an always-on machine to spontaneously disappear from browse.dat? Is there any way I can debug this? Down below I have attached my relevant smb.conf settings.

Kudos to anybody who can shed some light on this.

Chris


[global]

workgroup = MYWORKGROUP
announce version = 5.0
server string = smbserver
wins support = yes
name resolve order = hosts wins bcast lmhosts
socket options = TCP_NODELAY IPTOS_LOWDELAY SO_KEEPALIVE SO_RCVBUF=8192 SO_SNDBUF=8192
domain master = yes
preferred master = true
winbind enum groups = yes
winbind enum users = yes
strict locking = no

 

[PHV]

No mention of this XP-SP3 box in the samba logs ?

Hope This Helps, PH.
FAQ219-2884
FAQ181-2886

 

[chrislpnt]

Nope, not really. I found this one error type repeatedly in log.smbd but I eliminated it according to this:

http://threebit.net/mail-archive/samba/msg01516.html

So all errors are gone, but it still happens. In log.nmbd no errors, and in the log for the computer in question, just a bunch of regular connects/disconnects. No errors.

Chris

 

[PHV]

Does the XP-SP3 box have the samba server as WINS server ?

Hope This Helps, PH.
FAQ219-2884
FAQ181-2886

 

[chrislpnt]

Yes, I checked this with ipconfig /all:

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : xfiles
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : here

Ethernet adapter LAN:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : here
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VIA Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : xx-xx-xx-66-65-B3
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.100.4
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.100.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.100.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.100.1
Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 192.168.100.3
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, November 04, 2008 9:37:20 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Monday, January 18, 2038 11:14:07 PM

192.168.100.3 is the address of the Samba/WINS server.