Wins problem or so I thought 1

[bobej]

We have 500 units about 150 of them are not resolving server apps corectly. The network traffic is only peeking at 33% Wins appears fine it is running on 2 servers and I am adding a3rd. As an example of the problem in one department with pc's of the same spec nt4sp6 some of them get all the apps all the time some 3 out of 4 some 2 out of 4 not always the same app missing and not always on different servers

Help please

 

[richardb71]

Have you tried to put in a lmhost file to the server where the apps are located? try putting one on a machine where you cant get to some of the apps. and try again to see if that helps. if it does then you have a wins problem.
Are you replicating the databases between wins servers?
push and pull? if so and the lmhost file solves the issue then what you need to do is break the replication,stop wins, rename the Wins folder to Winsold and create a new wins folder. then restart wins, and resetup your replication. it will fully populate within 51 minutes.
by the way to force wins to add your machines or your servers run nbtstat -RR

also the standare lmhosts file would look like this
10.0.0.1 computername #PRE #DOM: domainname
nhen save it in the winnt/system32/drivers/etc folder as a file without an extension on it
then go to command prompt and run nbtstat -R
followed by nbtstat -c This will then show that in cache.
then try your apps again. if it works now then wins is definitely your problem

 

[bobej]

Well I have done as you said and shore enough it was a wins problem, I have also added another wins server and all is well
thanks for your time and help

2thumbsup

 

[richardb71]

This issue with Wins can cause this same type problem with replication, joining domains, and just browsing generally,
the first thing you should always do is to ping by ip: good
then ping by name good? if not then there is a name resolution:
this is a regular occurence if trying to join computers to domain and the computer is on a different subnet.
below is an example of the correct lmhost file to use if a computer is on a different subnet or you cant find domain controller when joining domain. but you can ping by ip.
not by name

10.0.0.1 computername #PRE #DOM:domainname
10.0.0.1 "domainname \0x1b" #PRE


make sure the spaces between the quotation marks is EXACTLY 20 spaces and you include the \0x1b that is the hex number for the pdc

after you save is as a file with no extension in the winnt/system32/drivers/etc folder and run nbtstat -R followed by -c you should display 5 lines and one will be the 1b if not something is wrong in the lines above

now is you can ping by name then it is definitely wins

remember to break replication first and rename wins on all servers, and reduplicate the replication otherwise if one of the other wins servers had already replicated the corrupt wins database then it will come back

 

[gordonp]

It may be strictly coincidence, but we recently experienced something similar after running SQL Check and SQL Critical Update (scans the computer on which it is running for instances of SQL Server 2000 and MSDE 2000 that are vulnerable to the Slammer worm). It may have been a dumb idea since we knew we had the latest service packs installed and the chances of us being vulnerable to the Slammer attacks were slim to none.

Anyway, after running the SQL Check and rebooting the servers (again, may be coincidental), we experienced some major hiccups with our systems. Servers could no longer see one another; workstations could no longer communicate with certain servers.

We narrowed the problem down to a corrupt WINS database and our main server losing its role as the "master browser" on the network. We also discovered one of our workstations had become one of the "master browsers." Not what we expected.

The operating system has a browser election to see which PC's will become browsers, domain master browsers, and backup browsers but you can specify which servers can or cannot become browsers if you wish.

I guess the workstation had "won" the election during the reboot process.

You may have to force or exclude a server from being a browser or domain master browser. This is done by editing the registry string MaintainServerList to either No, Yes or Auto. You can also specify a server to become the preferred domain master browser with the ISDomainMaster string.

We had to change the registry settings of the workstation to NOT be a master browser:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Browser\Parameters]
"MaintainServerList"="NO"
"IsDomainMaster"="FALSE"