Having to remap daily

[GEAK]

Sorry in advance if this is the wrong forum for this question...

The office I'm working in (programming) has two servers (W2K & W2K3) and a number of client workstations (all running XP Pro). We have a number of shared drives/folders on our servers where we store applications, code snippets, modules, files... whatever, that everyone needs to access on occasion.

To make things easier, most of us map these locations on our local workstations and keep our machines running 24/7. Unfortunately the mappings don't stay mapped. On a daily basis we need to remap the drives/folders. To streamline it I've created a couple of batch files that save me having to retype the commands all the time. In essence this is what I do on a daily basis in order to reconnect the mapped drives:

1. net use /d x: (disconnect an existing mapping - repeated for each mapped drive)

2. net use x: \\servername\sharename (done on just one drive for now) at this point it prompts for a user & password. Even if I give it a valid user name & password it is rejected. Since it'll be rejected anyway, I've gotten into the habit of typing gibberish-enter-gibberish-enter.

2a. BTW, I'm aware that you can provide username & password in the net use command but when I do (whether valid or not) it doesn't proceed to step 3. When I provided them within a batch file, in the "net use" line, all combinations of user/password are rejected.

3. net use x: \\servername\sharename
the second time I do this the mapping is instantaneous. No prompt for user ID, no prompt for password - it's immediate. Once one drive is mapped all the other drive mappings can be recreated without having to provide an id/password.

Even with batch files the process takes a minute or so and it's annoying. The last place I worked (a college) I also used mapped drives but rarely had to reconnect them so I know there's something wrong. However, unlike the college position I had where there was a diversity of knowledge & experience, at this job we're pretty much all programmers or consultants. I have the most networking experience of all of us and my knowledge is pretty much limited to spelling "network" correctly.

Is there an easy solution to this or is this something that needs to be addressed by a true network specialist?

TIA

 

[karmic]

from a command prompt, run nslookup and post the results back... Sounds like it may be dns...

~ K.I.S.S - Don't make it any more complex than it has to be ~

 

[GEAK]

Hmmm, I'm not sure how this will help with diagnosing the problem, particularly since this is a LAN issue (I'm obviously not very familiar with nslookup).

When I ran it I got the following:

[tt]Default Server: nsc1.ar.ed.shawcable.net[/tt]
[tt]Address: 64.59.184.13[/tt]

...followed by a prompt. Like I said, I'm unfamiliar with it so didn't know what command (if any) to type next.

 

[karmic]

Looks like we're in the same location...

Anyhow, do you have a domain controller or just member servers...

If you're running a domain internally, then nslookup should return the ip address of the internal dns server. That's if everything is working properly.
When the nslookup command returns your ISP dns server, it's basically looking for your domain elsewhere...

Have a read of this from microsoft. It should give you an idea of where your problems lie.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;323380

~ K.I.S.S - Don't make it any more complex than it has to be ~

 

[ZipperHeadMan]

I'd have to disagree, this isn't a DNS problem.
You should be running a GPO login script from you 2K3 server that maps these drives. Simply mapping from a local workstation doesn't guarantee connectivity. Also, rights my be an issue. The following should be configured for proper connectivity: Everyone FULL CONTROL on the share and than lock it down with NTFS permissions.

 

[karmic]

ok, zhm, you're saying that an nslookup response of:

Default Server: nsc1.ar.ed.shawcable.net
Address: 64.59.184.13

on a domain controlled network is fine???

~ K.I.S.S - Don't make it any more complex than it has to be ~

 

[ZipperHeadMan]

Ya but who cares? that's a separate issue in itself.

GEAK>>>>If you ping the servers NAME do you get a return address or a time out?

at the command prompt of a workstation type:

ping {servername}

 

[acl03]

GEAK - are you running a domain here?



Thanks,
Andrew

 

[GEAK]

We aren't running a domain - at least not that I'm aware of.
Pinging our (w2k3) server produces this:
[tt]Pinging ctecsrv2003 [192.168.1.4] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.1.4: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.4: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.4: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.4: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.4:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms[/tt]

... and pinging our (w2k) server produces this:
[tt]Pinging srv [192.168.1.2] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.1.2: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.2: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.2: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.2: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.2:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms[/tt]

Karmic, I haven't had a chance to look over the link you recommended, but I'll do so to see if it makes it any clearer for me.

 

[daveh777]

when you say you have to re-map the drives do you mean they dissapear or they don't work? If they don't work what error are you receiving (no rights, no permissions etc.)? Are you runnig offline files? Are you on a wireless connection, if so maybe the wireless is dropping out and your pc is reverting to offline, only when you re-map the drives does it re-connect to the network hence it asks you for a username and password.

when you lose connection in a command prompt run an "ipconfig /all" command and compare this to your "ipconfig /all" while you are connected, maybe the pc's are losing their IP or some other strange network disconnection?

Dave

 

[daveh777]

run the ping command (against your servers) again when the drives are disconnected!

 

[ZipperHeadMan]

OK so, pinging the servername gets you an IP response.
This tells me DNS is working....at least on your local subnet.

Back to the drive mapping issue.

We can tell if your server is in a domain by right clicking My Computer and going to properties, click the Computer Name tab and look on the left hand side under Full Computer Name...it should say either Domain or Workgroup. What does your's say in this case?

Ideally you want to let your server handle the drive mappings for all your computers via a login script controlled by a Group Policy within Active Directory.
If you need help with this let me know.

 

[GEAK]

A bit more clarification then... This morning I attempted to access one of the two mapped drives. After about a minute of no response from Windows Explorer I got this message:
An error occurred while reconnecting X: to \\srv2003\programming
Microsoft Windows Network: The local device name is already in use.
This connection has not been restored.

Prior to attempting to access the (mapped) X: drive, I ran ping on both servers. The response was exactly the same as indicated in an earlier message.

I also ran IPCONFIG/ALL with the drives inaccessible and after restoring the connections, just like PING the response was the same before & after.

ZipperHeadMan: my workstation (well, all workstations) are part of a domain. I'm going to try educating myself on group policies & active directory to see if I can figure this out... I'll get back to you if I'm stumped. In the interim anything you can do to point me in the right direction is appreciated.

 

[karmic]

In the mean time, you do have a problem with DNS if nslookup is returning the ISP DNS servers... It should return servername.domainname.suffix and the ip address of your domain controller..

Please have a look at the posting from microsoft...



~ K.I.S.S - Don't make it any more complex than it has to be ~

 

[cliph55]

What about changing the idle time out parameters on the server? I did a search on this the other day because this is a problem I have been having...it is suggested that the following method be used to resolve this issue...I am still looking for another answer or option.

To change the default time-out period on the shared network computer....
Use Registry Editor to increase the default time-out period. To do this, follow these steps, and then quit Registry Editor:
1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit (Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003) or type regedt32 (Windows NT 4.0), and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters
3. In the right pane, click the autodisconnect value, and then on the Edit menu, click Modify. If the autodisconnect value does not exist, follow these steps: a. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click REG_DWORD.
b. Type autodisconnect, and then press ENTER.
4. Click Hexadecimal.
5. In the Value data box, type ffffffff, and then click OK.
Maybe this will help...
Cliph55