Node Type 'P' or 'H' better?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Celina
  • Start date Start date
C

Celina

Hi
At the moment we have ca. 2000 Windows-Clients
(NT4/W2K/XP) connected to our network. My colleagues made
the suggestion to change the node typ of the clients from
default h-type to p-type because we have two WINS Servers
in our network and our clients are configured to use them
both. So there is no need for our clients to use
broadcasts for name resolution.

My question is: Has anybody changed the node type from H
to P in a network with around 2000 Clients and can tell me
about his experiences? Are there any hints we have to
mind? Can I observe an improved performance of my clients
name resolution? Or - in worse case - is the performance
slower than before? Are there any situations where it is
better to use H than P and vice versa?

Any information would be helpful!

Thanks

Celina
 
According to RFC 1001,

Broadcast (or "B") nodes communicate using a mix of UDP datagrams (both
broadcast and directed) and TCP connections. B nodes may freely interoperate
with one another within a broadcast area. A broadcast area is a single
MAC-bridged "B-LAN".
Point-to-point (or "P") nodes communicate using only directed UDP datagrams
and TCP sessions. P nodes neither generate nor listen for broadcast UDP
packets. P nodes do, however, offer NetBIOS level broadcast and multicast
services using capabilities provided by the NBNS and NBDD.
P nodes rely on NetBIOS name and datagram distribution servers. These
servers may be local or remote; P nodes operate the same in either case.
Mixed mode nodes (or "M") nodes are P nodes which have been given certain B
node characteristics. M nodes use both broadcast and unicast. Broadcast is
used to improve response time using the assumption that most resources
reside on the local broadcast medium rather than somewhere in an internet.
M nodes rely upon NBNS and NBDD servers. However, M nodes may continue
limited operation should these servers be temporarily unavailable.

H nodes are just reverted M nodes.

If WINS server is unreachable for some reason, P node cannot resolve NetBIOS
names.
 
Hello, Jetro
Thanks for your Reply.

Let's see whether I understood this in the right way:
The benefit of a H-Node is the quicker name resolution in
case of unavailability of our WINS-Servers.
In an article of Microsofts Knowledgebase I've read that
it takes a longer time for the error message "network path
not found" in case of being configured as a P-Node (than
configured as a H-Node). In practice: Is that correct?

Thanks for your help.

Celina
 
Hello, Jetro
Thanks for your Reply.

Let's see whether I understood this in the right way:
The benefit of a H-Node is the quicker name resolution in
case of unavailability of our WINS-Servers.
In an article of Microsofts Knowledgebase I've read that
it takes a longer time for the error message "network path
not found" in case of being configured as a P-Node (than
configured as a H-Node). In practice: Is that correct?

Thanks for your help.

Celina
 
Hello, Jetro
Thanks for your Reply.

Let's see whether I understood this in the right way:
The benefit of a H-Node is the quicker name resolution in
case of unavailability of our WINS-Servers.
In an article of Microsofts Knowledgebase I've read that
it takes a longer time for the error message "network path
not found" in case of being configured as a P-Node (than
configured as a H-Node). In practice: Is that correct?

Thanks for your help.

Celina
 
Domain model should utilize H-nodes, workgroup model can utilize either M-
or H-nodes. P-node has no advantages over M-node and is limited by single
segment boundaries without lmhosts file use.
Both Broadcast and Name Server query timeouts are configurable in the
registry. By default BcastQueryTimeout is 0.75 sec and NameSrvQueryTimeout
is 1.5 sec with 3 attempts each one.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;120642
TCP/IP and NBT Configuration Parameters for Windows 2000 or Windows NT
 
Hello, Jetro
Thanks for your reply.

Whats the reason for utilizing H-nodes in a Domain model?
May it be possible that clients can't make a domain logon
in case of using P-nodes? I've read an article about the
need for a single broadcast in domains even if P-Node is
configured. Is this linked to your statement?
For your information: We use an W2K3-ADS.

Thanks in advantage

Celina
 
Broadcasts should be reduced to the minimum to avoid any havoc in a busy
environment. H-nodes query WINS server first, only then broadcast if the
server is unavailable. WINS server exists in Windows Server OS and a
workgroup might not include such server but only workstations. That's why a
Microsoft workgroup should utilize the lmhosts file which is a static
equivalent of WINS and M-hosts (okay, B-nodes as well) broadcasting first,
then querying WINS server.
NetBIOS broadcasts are unreliable and limited and as SMB protocol owner
claims, it was one of the reasons SMB was rebuilt to support non-NetBIOS
Microsoft networks.
Pre-W2k clients doesn't support the new SMB and might not locate a domain
controller having problems with NetBIOS. But it could happen with any mode
node indeed.
 
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