Win2K can't see across router 1

[pray11342]

I have a new Win2K Workgroup server being set up for a specialized app.

Installed the server on our Novell network. Network has 2 physical segments, 10.230.98.0 <---> 10.230.99.0, routed by the Novell Server.

The Win2K Workgroup server has a static address on the .98.0 network. When I look at Network Neighborhood, I can only see workstations on the .98.0 network. I can ping and tracert between the segments. On a workstation conected to the .99.0 network, I can even map a drive to the Server shared directories, using the \\10.230.98.5\ShareDirName format.

Someone has suggested that MS Workgroup can only see computers that are running NetBEUI, and since NetBEUI is not routable, the Workgroup must be located on the same physical LAN. Sounds reasonable, but one of the stations that can see the server does not have netBEUI loaded. It is on the same physical segment.

Anyone have any clue why Network Neighborhood can't see the server from the other segment, and vice versa?

Thanks, Paul Ray
pray@systech-computers.com

Programming Languages -- .BAT Files

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[gaveeve]

One of the main purposes of a router is to cut down on broadcasts. They do not forward broadcasts, which will help with your bandwidth and security. But this is also why you cannot see the other subnet. When you ping, the router knows how to forward it to the other subnet.

 

[member 141630]

You need to get a WINS server to resolve this issue.
Windows machines find eachother by using a broadcast.. but broadcasts don't pass through a router.
So using WINS and ensuring your clients ALL subscribe to it will fix it

 

[pray11342]

I can connect to a Novell server across an internal router.

At this site, there is an IBM AIX server, Workstations on both segments connect to it.

I assume that I can connect to a W2K domain server across a router. If they are not using Broadcast, then there is a login service/protocol that looks across the router.

Is there such a service for a Windows Workgroup server? If there is none, the only connection avbailable is a mapped drive?

Paul Paul Ray
pray@systech-computers.com

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[member 141630]

If the router is set to forward all packets by default then you'll be able to do almost anything, but if you fire up network neighbourhood and browse, all you'll see are the machines on YOUR lan and not the one on the other side of the router.
Use a WINS server and then you'll see all the machines in your browselist (assuming they are all subscribing to the same WINS server)

 

[pray11342]

Thanks, F1lby!

The Winserver is what I was looking for!

For a small network, (we will only have 5-6 PCs accessing the Win2K) someone suggested that editing an LMHOSTS file is also a cheap/dirty fix.

Thanks
Paul Ray
pray@systech-computers.com

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[member 141630]

LMHOSTS will allow name to IP resolution but WONT allow you to see other machines in the browselist.
So, yes you could do NET USE z: \\MACHINE\SHARE if LMHOSTS was set correctly
BUT... LMHOSTS files are ticking timebombs, and later on a machine gets moved to a different network or machines change their names or any number of network scenarios, and then you find one day that a machine wont behave as expected on the LAN (because of that LMHOSTS file!).

 

[Seaspray0]

lmhosts entries will work provided you are not dynamically assigning addresses and using fixed addresses. You can also add records to the hosts file for DNS resolution.

 

[pray11342]

I am using DHCP, so it looks like the Winserver is the best idea after all.

I am not at this site full time, hate to think of the fun if someone goes on vacation for 4 days, comes back and is assigned a new TCP/IP address. Heck, in 6 months, I will have forgotten how to fix it!

Thanks F1lby and Seaspray0! Paul Ray
pray@systech-computers.com

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[pray11342]

I have been working on this for some time, and finally came across the answer.

Thought I would post it here, as many others seem to have the same general problem

Not sure how to post a link to a thread, will cut and paste my final post in

thread96-579837


Thanks, Jpoandl,

Your discussion of browser elections brought back a dim memory for me or another problem, and it brought back a lot more than that in GOOGLE.

I read up on browser elections, and went ahead and rigged the election on our LAN so the WIN Server is the Master Browser. Alas, there was no difference in the Network Neighborhood.

Here is more information on Browser elections than you can digest in a few minutes --

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tr...indows2000serv/reskit/tcpip/part4/tcpappi.asp

It seems that each subnet on a Network Domain will have a Master Browser, and there is a Domain Master Browser also

-- Quote

&quot;When a domain spans multiple subnets, the master browser of each subnet announces itself as the master browser to the domain master browser, using a directed datagram called a MasterBrowserAnnouncement. The domain master browser then sends a remote NetServerEnum API call to each master browser, to collect the list of servers from each subnet. The domain master browser merges the server list from each subnet master browser with its own server list, forming the browse list for the domain. This process is repeated every 12 minutes to ensure that the domain master browser has a complete browse list of all the servers in the domain.

Note The Domain Master Browser must be able to resolve the server name of each master browser on a TCP/IP network (using WINS, for example). Each Master Browser must be able to resolve the DOMAIN[1B] name as well as the Primary Domain Controllers machine name.&quot;

-- End Quote

All this is very interesting, but with a single server and less than a dozen clients, we are set up as a WorkGroup, not a Domain.

Just a little further in the discussion I find this little Gem, straight from the horse's mouth at Microsoft --

-- Quote

&quot;Note: Windows workgroups cannot span multiple networks. Any Windows workgroup that spans subnets actually functions as two separate workgroups with identical names.&quot;

-- End Quote

In all the searching I have done for 3 weeks about this problem, this is the very first time that I have run across that statement!

It explains my problem, and other folks with the same problem in this forum, and many others that I have found in google searches.

However, the network has been doing its very best to make me understand the truth of the above statement. It certainly confirms what I observed.

So, in order to wrestle our network into submission, it seems that I must re-configure it as a Domain, which will be another adventure entirely.

Thanks for the help. See you all on Tek-Tips.


Paul Ray

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