Server not visible when clients brows network and vice versa 1

[JeroenDortmans]

I have a server 2003R2 which is a DC, terminal server, DHCP server, DNS server.
My clients are XP SP2 and one W2k SP4.
The server has tow NIC’s one for the intranet and one connected to the internet.
The server acts as a NAT router.
I enabled VPN so I can use terminal server from outside the company.
Everything works fine except that when I browse the network in explorer on the server I see the domain but I do not see the client computers, I only see the server.
When I browse the network in explorer on a client then I see all client computers but I do not see the server.
I made a logon script for the users to enable some network drives. The network drives are shares on the server. This works fine. Also another logon script to enable printers on the clients works fine.

I have tried the following: change the isdomainmaster key (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Browser\Parameters\isdomainmaster) to true on my domain controllers (server).
I restarted the browsing service but no difference.
I also checked the firewall on the server in “routing and RAS”. The simple firewall is only enabled on the NIC connected to the internet.

At this moment I do not know what to do to enable viewing all clients together with the server when browsing the network in explorer. I need some help!!!

 

[porkchopexpress]

I'm pretty sure this issue will be caused by having two network cards.
Take a look at this link under the "How to browse with a multihomed PDC section".

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=191611

 

[JeroenDortmans]

porkchopexpress, thanks for your answer.

I think you did set me in the right direction.
When I look in the logfiles I see that there are events with ID 8015 and 8033 which concern browsing.

When I read the article:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=191611

I see that it is about multi domain networks where you only must enable one primary domain controller (PDC).
I only have one domain controller in my network so this will probably not be the problem.
Further this article talks about the master browser. When I reed this part it gives me the idea that the master browser looks to the wrong NIC and therefore only sees my DC and the clients which are connected to the other NIC.
So it looks to me that the part "How to browse with a multihomed PDC" describes how to solve my problem.
There is stated that: Unbind the WINS Client (TCP/IP) interface from all your adaptors except for one.
The thing is that I don't understand the suggested steps to follow.
Can you help me any further please.

 

[porkchopexpress]

I think the instructions are quite clear, pick the outbound card the follow the instructions. Is that the part you're having trouble with?

1. In Control Panel, double-click Network.
2. Click the Bindings tab.
3. In the Show Bindings For box, select All Adapters.
4. Expand all the adaptors.
5. Select WINS Client (TCP/IP), and then click Disable.

 

[JeroenDortmans]

When I on my server 2003R2 (Dutch language version) in control panel double-click network I see my two network connections (one for internet and one for intranet).
So what is meant by the bindings tab?

 

[porkchopexpress]

When you are in Network there is an advanced tab, click this and there should be a bindings tab. As far as i can tell you would need the WINS client to be present for this to work.

Do you have another server?

You could try stopping the computer browser on the server so an election is forced, another box should then maintain the list preferably one that isn't turned off very often.

 

[porkchopexpress]

Also dissabling NetBIOS over TCP/IP on the internet facing adaptor should do the trick. Follow the first few instructions in this link.

http://www.petri.co.il/disable_netbios_in_w2k_xp_2003.htm

Remember to try these solutions one at a time.

 

[JeroenDortmans]

porkchopexpress, thank you very much for the good hints you gave me.
The problem is solved.
After installing server 2003R2 and setting up the DC I added a second NIC.
That is what did cause the problem.
NetBIOS over TCP/IP was enabled on my external (internet) NIC and not on the intranet NIC.
When I did change that I could browse the network and see al client computers.
Sometimes these "simple "problems can take to much time.

Many thanks,

Jeroen

 

[porkchopexpress]

No probs.