Winxp / Linux / Win2k Network Questoin

[axman505]

I will add a link to an image here that more lays you my plans.

I wanted to allow print and file access between the win2k and winxp machine while going through the router.

THe thing that confuses me, is that when i pull up the listed computers in the workgroup from the winxp machine, it list every computer in the workgroup, including the win2k and linux workstation. BUt if i pull up the listing on the win2k machine, all i see ismy local lan, just the win2k and the linux workstation,

Why is it thet the XP machine can go through linux, but can see the other computer, but it still cannot gain access to the share, but it can see the computer name in the workgroup listing.

THe diagram:

http://www.frozenpc.net/image1.gif

 

[ifincham]

Hi,

Presumably the boxes on one side of the router are on one subnet and the XP is on another. Also, if you have samba set up I'd guess you have it as PDC or otherwise as domain master browser. The XP box would have to broadcast to find a master browser and should then get the full 'picture' returned from samba. The W2K box, however, would not necessarily see the XP unless you set the XP box to register itself with the samba wins server, i.e. you set the wins server IP in the XP TCP/IP config as the linux box IP. That's one theory anyway.

To connect between the XP and W2K all you really need is IP connectivity. You can always use the IP address instead of the netbiosname if there is a netbios resolution problem. Try from a dos box on W2K :

net view \\192.168.1.1

instead of

net view \\xpboxname

(i.e. where 192.168.1.1. is the IP address of the XP box)

You can link to shares similarly, i.e. using


\\192.168.1.1\sharename

instead of

\\servername\sharename

As long as you can ping both ways and the file/print sharing has been activated it should work .

You might also like to check the firewall config because, for the first time, M$ has shipped an o/s (XP) with an integral firewall -->

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/networking/icf.asp

Hope this helps

 

[axman505]

i understand that from the 2k box i can got \\ip whatever\sharename

are you saying once this is activated, the winxp computer is smart enough to trace the path back through linux to the 2k machine?

 

[ifincham]

Hi,

To bore you with a bit of history - originally M$ networking used only the netbios/netbeui protocol and the netbiosname (computer name) was the unique identifier. Certain machines collected info on shares (browsers) and others might be domain controllers, etc. Broadcasts would be made to contact a PDC for logon or a Master/Local browser to get the browse list. You can see this kind of info if you do :

nbtstat -n

or for a remote machine :

nbtstat -a netbiosname
nbtstat -A 192.168.1.1

With pure netbios, everything was limited to the broadcast domain and there was (is) no routing capability.

Nowadays, however, it works via 'nbt' or netbios over TCP. TCP/IP acts as the transport mechanism and netbiosnames only play a similar role to a TCP host name in IP routing. In other words, if you say 'net use e: \\ntserver\share' it first resolves 'ntserver' to an IP address and then follows normal IP routing. Its very similar to if you ask for

http://www.redhat.com

- a lookup is needed to the IP address and then IP routing happens.

Whats the netbios equiavlent of a dns server ? A wins server (nmbd for samba). Thats very similar to dynamic dns with clients posting their netbiosname/IP address mapping and getting queries resolved the same way. You can also use the 'lmhosts' file in a similar way to a 'hosts' file. For W2k see :

c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\lmhosts.sam

copy that file to the same directory as just 'lmhosts' and put any mappings you like in there - e.g. the name of the XP box.

Regards

 

[axman505]

in theory this would work with a win2k machine outside as well as xp . correct??

i will try this out and let oyu know whats up

 

[ifincham]

Hi,

Yes, in principle you can use M$ file sharing between two boxes over the public internet. However, this is about as insecure as you can get and any sensible organisation would firewall it out or do it encrypted with a VPN.

Regards