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Browsing issues...

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by cisco_guy 1 view

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I have a NT 4.0 network divided into 2 subnets connected via 2 routers. On one subnet I have a WINS server and the PDC, and on the other subnet I have another WINS server and a BDC. Everyone can log in fine and ping everyone on both subnets but network neighborhood doesn't appear to be working. Specifically the subnets don't see eachother....yet you can ping them via their name. Interesting?

9 replies

by mckaytech

The browsing/Network Neighborhood function is one of the weaker parts of the Windows world. My understanding is that for browsing to work in this scenario, it may be necessary for the WINS server on the BDC side to have an LMHOSTS entry for the PDC.

It might be interesting to run browstat (from the Resource Kit) and see what it can tell you about the browsing system.

paul

by barry hensley

My guess is that you are not forwarding NetBios names and data from one subnet through the router to the other subnet.

I don't know what type of router you are using so I can't give you specific commands. But, most routers support the configuring of both nbname (port 137) and nbdata (port 138), both necessary for the NT browsing function to work across subnets. Some routers just call this function netbios. You can turn it on or off and you can configure how it works.

You will need to enable the ability to pass data on both ports between subnets. Also, most routers support a forwarding or destination address for nbdata. This will be the WINS server on each subnet.

by barry hensley

If you are using a Cisco router, see the following commands:
ip forward-protocol udp 137
ip forward-protocol udp 138

by barry hensley

Also, you need to make sure that you have the WINS servers configured to replicate their data between each other.

Something else to check is to make sure that you don't have another browse master running on the network somewhere (like a Win95 box).

by cisco_guy

Thank you...a combination of the ip forwarding and ip helper address commands solved my problem!

by ntoz

Your Wins Servers must be configured to PUSH/PULL each others data. Each subnet has a master browser, the subnet with the PDC, the PDC is the Domain master browser. Once both WINS servers have a replica of each others data, you should be able to browse both subnets. Remember it may take up to 45 minutes by default to see objects in each subnet due to the nature of how the data is replicated.

Pete

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