Browse List Erratic or Gone

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Guest

We have a LAN/WAN network consisting of several W2K (SP4) servers that needs
constant NETBIOS communications (necessary because Veritas BackupExec
communicates with Exchange for mailbox backup via NETBIOS). Our browse list
comes and goes, many times just containing hostnames from PCs on our
WAN, not the LAN. Sometimes there are no PCs in the browse list. Our file
server (Veritas BE server) is the primary WINS server, our Exchange server is
secondary WINS server with push/pull replication between the two configured
statically. All LAN/WAN clients are set to use the primary WINS server thru
DHCP -- any fixed IPs are configured to refer to the primary WINS server.
When browsing breaks, our backup fails. We've tried to implement best
practices in our network, but obviously something is not right. PLEASE
HELP!!!
 
Is this a domain or a workgroup? Have you tried setting one server to be
the browse master and disabling the browse master function on all other
servers?

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* My website, such as it is ... http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
 
Richard:

Yes, we have a domain, the file server is the Master Browser, all other PCs
have browse master option disabled so that we are having no browser elections
being forced. NBTSTAT -n indicates all registered, no conflicts.

Bob

Richard G. Harper said:
Is this a domain or a workgroup? Have you tried setting one server to be
the browse master and disabling the browse master function on all other
servers?

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* My website, such as it is ... http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


Bob Biegon said:
We have a LAN/WAN network consisting of several W2K (SP4) servers that
needs
constant NETBIOS communications (necessary because Veritas BackupExec
communicates with Exchange for mailbox backup via NETBIOS). Our browse
list
comes and goes, many times just containing hostnames from PCs on our
WAN, not the LAN. Sometimes there are no PCs in the browse list. Our
file
server (Veritas BE server) is the primary WINS server, our Exchange server
is
secondary WINS server with push/pull replication between the two
configured
statically. All LAN/WAN clients are set to use the primary WINS server
thru
DHCP -- any fixed IPs are configured to refer to the primary WINS server.
When browsing breaks, our backup fails. We've tried to implement best
practices in our network, but obviously something is not right. PLEASE
HELP!!!
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
In a Domain, the DC with the "PDC Role" will always be the Domain Master
Browser. In a single subnet LAN it will also be the Master Browser as well.
No other machine should be.

--

Phillip Windell [MCP, MVP, CCNA]
www.wandtv.com

Bob Biegon said:
Richard:

Yes, we have a domain, the file server is the Master Browser, all other PCs
have browse master option disabled so that we are having no browser elections
being forced. NBTSTAT -n indicates all registered, no conflicts.

Bob

Richard G. Harper said:
Is this a domain or a workgroup? Have you tried setting one server to be
the browse master and disabling the browse master function on all other
servers?

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* My website, such as it is ... http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


Bob Biegon said:
We have a LAN/WAN network consisting of several W2K (SP4) servers that
needs
constant NETBIOS communications (necessary because Veritas BackupExec
communicates with Exchange for mailbox backup via NETBIOS). Our browse
list
comes and goes, many times just containing hostnames from PCs on our
WAN, not the LAN. Sometimes there are no PCs in the browse list. Our
file
server (Veritas BE server) is the primary WINS server, our Exchange server
is
secondary WINS server with push/pull replication between the two
configured
statically. All LAN/WAN clients are set to use the primary WINS server
thru
DHCP -- any fixed IPs are configured to refer to the primary WINS server.
When browsing breaks, our backup fails. We've tried to implement best
practices in our network, but obviously something is not right. PLEASE
HELP!!!
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Phillip & Richard:

New info that we discovered: NBTSTAT -n doesn't always report the same info.
During one round of reduce browse lists, NBTSTAT -n displays several
conflicts. One thing never noticed before was our virtual RRAS port with
it's unique IP address. Conflicts were showing up here, too. Restarting
RRAS resolved the conflicts immediately; running NBTSTAT -RR immediately
restored most all of our complete browse list -- after 5 minutes, all on-line
PCs showed up. Perhaps we have some problem in RRAS that is corrupting
NETBIOS communication?

Phillip Windell said:
In a Domain, the DC with the "PDC Role" will always be the Domain Master
Browser. In a single subnet LAN it will also be the Master Browser as well.
No other machine should be.

--

Phillip Windell [MCP, MVP, CCNA]
www.wandtv.com

Bob Biegon said:
Richard:

Yes, we have a domain, the file server is the Master Browser, all other PCs
have browse master option disabled so that we are having no browser elections
being forced. NBTSTAT -n indicates all registered, no conflicts.

Bob

Richard G. Harper said:
Is this a domain or a workgroup? Have you tried setting one server to be
the browse master and disabling the browse master function on all other
servers?

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* My website, such as it is ... http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


We have a LAN/WAN network consisting of several W2K (SP4) servers that
needs
constant NETBIOS communications (necessary because Veritas BackupExec
communicates with Exchange for mailbox backup via NETBIOS). Our browse
list
comes and goes, many times just containing hostnames from PCs on our
WAN, not the LAN. Sometimes there are no PCs in the browse list. Our
file
server (Veritas BE server) is the primary WINS server, our Exchange server
is
secondary WINS server with push/pull replication between the two
configured
statically. All LAN/WAN clients are set to use the primary WINS server
thru
DHCP -- any fixed IPs are configured to refer to the primary WINS server.
When browsing breaks, our backup fails. We've tried to implement best
practices in our network, but obviously something is not right. PLEASE
HELP!!!
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I would suspect so but I have never had the need to use RRAS myself so I'm
not sure what you should check from this point on.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* My website, such as it is ... http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


Bob Biegon said:
Phillip & Richard:

New info that we discovered: NBTSTAT -n doesn't always report the same
info.
During one round of reduce browse lists, NBTSTAT -n displays several
conflicts. One thing never noticed before was our virtual RRAS port with
it's unique IP address. Conflicts were showing up here, too. Restarting
RRAS resolved the conflicts immediately; running NBTSTAT -RR immediately
restored most all of our complete browse list -- after 5 minutes, all
on-line
PCs showed up. Perhaps we have some problem in RRAS that is corrupting
NETBIOS communication?

Phillip Windell said:
In a Domain, the DC with the "PDC Role" will always be the Domain Master
Browser. In a single subnet LAN it will also be the Master Browser as
well.
No other machine should be.

--

Phillip Windell [MCP, MVP, CCNA]
www.wandtv.com

Bob Biegon said:
Richard:

Yes, we have a domain, the file server is the Master Browser, all other PCs
have browse master option disabled so that we are having no browser elections
being forced. NBTSTAT -n indicates all registered, no conflicts.

Bob

:

Is this a domain or a workgroup? Have you tried setting one server
to be
the browse master and disabling the browse master function on all
other
servers?

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* My website, such as it is ... http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


We have a LAN/WAN network consisting of several W2K (SP4) servers
that
needs
constant NETBIOS communications (necessary because Veritas
BackupExec
communicates with Exchange for mailbox backup via NETBIOS). Our browse
list
comes and goes, many times just containing hostnames from PCs on
our
WAN, not the LAN. Sometimes there are no PCs in the browse list.
Our
file
server (Veritas BE server) is the primary WINS server, our Exchange server
is
secondary WINS server with push/pull replication between the two
configured
statically. All LAN/WAN clients are set to use the primary WINS server
thru
DHCP -- any fixed IPs are configured to refer to the primary WINS server.
When browsing breaks, our backup fails. We've tried to implement
best
practices in our network, but obviously something is not right. PLEASE
HELP!!!
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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