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Windows 2k servers missing from Network Neighborhood

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4 replies

by posterkid 2 views

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About every hour or so, 99% of our servers are
disappearing out of Network Neighborhood. By rebooting our DC with PDC emulator FSMO,(we still call it the PDC) the following is logged in system log:

Event ID: 8015
The browser has forced an election on network
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{F14D830F-DA96-4858-99EE-DE2ECD13648C}
because a Windows 2000 Server (or domain master) browser
is started.

It appears that another device is assuming domain browsing responsabilites away from the PDC even though it is still up and functional, but I may be wrong. There is no event message stating that the PDC has lost domain browsing rights. Again, a reboot of the PDC temporarily fixes the
problem, and generates the above event.

This has just started recently, over the past few days.The only thing I can think of that has changed, is the decommission of a DC that was a WINS and DNS server, and a recommision of a DC on new hardware, and an update of remaining servers to sp4.

Info:
Flat LAN, no routing
Win2k AD Native mode
14 DC's
All servers(DC and member)are Win2k sp4, or Win2k Adv server sp4. One WinNT4.0 server sp6
hub/spoke WINS topology
PDC is hub, with 7 subordinates in a push/pull replication with the pdc only. They do not rep with each other.
Help!! this is really frustrating.

4 replies

by itmantpc

Quite the delimma you have there. Anything new been added to the network. Any changes to your configuration?

Check this, on the AD machines, check your DNS entries. Do they only point to local DNS zones?
If you need external resolution, setup a forwarder. Also, your DHCP server should point to your local DNS, not external. I have seen this one setting cause many problems on the network, like the one you are experiencing.

Let me know if this helps, maybe I can help you do some research on it.

by dnvrtechgrrl

It does sound like another machine is fighting for Master Browser rights. Any DCPromo that has been done most likely kicked off this set of problems.

Check your system logs to confirm that a pc on the network is taking control. I had this very problem a few weeks ago. You can "google" or search for the fix on the web. The steps of the instructions will be different for each OS.

Remove each offending machine from trying to take control and see if you are still having the problem.

by chris..

It does sound like you're missing your Master Browser for the subnet.

Here are some other options for ya

1. Try the Microsoft tool: NetBIOS Browsing Console.
2. Here is an intersting technet artical on the issue: Q188305 and Appendix I - Windows 2000 Browser Service

The second artical talks about how NetBIOS browsing works in 2k and how to force a machine to be the Domain Master Browser etc.

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