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Can't map to W2K server via CNAME alias

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4 replies

by shanghai sam

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I've created a new software distribution server on Win2K named GRIFFIN, but I want to assign it a CNAME alias in our DNS called "SOFTWARE" so that future RIS and FTP operations can point to the same name in the event we replace Griffin. Unfortunately, I can't map to the drives on Griffin (e.g. \\software.mydomain.com\install) using the CNAME alias from Win2K systems; I get a "duplicate name exists" error. NT systems don't have any problems connecting to the above path. After checking TechNet, all I found was the Article Q254210, which basically just tells me to use the server's NetBIOS name and not any other. This is not sufficient. Has anyone seen this behavior before?

4 replies

by duwaned

Hi.

I managed to find an MS Technet Article Q251398 which relates to this exact problem. From what the article says, this behaviour is by design in Windows 2000 and should not be. Previous versions of Windows never had this reaction.

I hope this helps you.
Regards.
Duwane

by duwaned

Hi.

I managed to find an MS Technet Article Q251398 which relates to this exact problem. From what the article says, this behaviour is by design in Windows 2000. Previous versions of Windows never had this reaction.

I hope this helps you.
Regards.
Duwane

by mdsnitc

Yes, we have seen this issue in our environment. As stated already, this is by design and MS Technicians were no help to us. Our work-around was to assign a NetBIOS alias "software.mydomain.com" and allow wins to manage the name. The result for you would look something like this:

NetBIOS Remote Machine Name Table

Name Type Status
---------------------------------------------
GRIFFIN <00> UNIQUE Registered
DOMIAN <00> GROUP Registered
GRIFFIN <03> UNIQUE Registered
GRIFFIN <20> UNIQUE Registered
SOFTWARE.MYDOMAIN.COM <20> UNIQUE Registered

HKEY_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters

Add Value: OptionalNames REG_SZ String: "Alias"

If you make it a type REG_MULTI_SZ, you can add multiple alsiases.

by estebandelatorre

w2k is very dns dependant, it won't work fine without a correct dns resolution. Previous versions can use netbios to resolve the name, but not in the same order as win2k
Sp2 is supposed to solve this order.

Hope it helps!!

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