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Can I find/remove a phanton workgroup?

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8 replies

by coldstar

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My routed, multiple domain network consists of WinNT4 Servers (running WINS, DNS, & DHCP), and W9x clients. Network protocol is TCP/IP. In Network Neighborhood there is a workgroup or domain named simply "a". Problem is, I have no workgroup or domain named "a". When I click to expand the domain, I get an error message "a is not accessible. The list of servers for this workgroup is not currently available" I have searched the WINS database for info, and found none, I've tried PINGing "a" (Yeah, I know, it's a domain name, not a host name, but I tried anyway). I can't find it, and I cant remove it from the neighborhood. Any ideas?

8 replies

by shanghai sam

In the Question I stated that I had checked the WINS database. Just now, I checked it again. There is no entry and no datum for anything named "a"

Randy

by shanghai sam

In the Question I stated that I had checked the WINS database. Just now, I checked it again. There is no entry and no datum for anything named "a"

Randy

by msgtray

You say that you are running DNS on your network. DNS is a static database that must be manually updated, and a common entry in this database is an "A" record. You mentioned that you checked your WINS but you didn't say that you have checked the DNStable. It's just a thought. Ray

by gideon.holdway

Hello,

The domain list is maintained by the network browse masters. Although these use WINS, this is a separate mechanism.

The root cause of the phantom entry may be an incorrectly configured Win9x workstation that thinks its in a workgroup called "a". By default the Win9x will try to become a browse master for that workgroup, and will succeed if there are no other machines in a workgroup or domain of the same name.

Really, in a network where each subnet includes a domain controller the Win9x workstations should be configured to disable the browse master feature. It just causes needless network traffic. It's a property of "File and print sharing for Microsoft networks".

If you have many clients your main problem will be identifying the culprit. Take a look at the Microsoft Windows NT Server technical note titled "MS Windows NT Browser"
for more info.

Hope this helps

Gideon.

by shanghai sam

Gideon,
If I had an incorrectly configured W9x client that thought it was in a workgroup named "a", would it not be the browse master for that workgroup? And if so, would it not provide me with information in Network Neighborhood? We do try to stop the workstations here from maintaing a browse list, although it is not beyond me to configure one incorrectly. I've got approx 650 nodes here, and I'm the only real network person. It's possible that someone helped me out and caused a problem as well. I'm still stuck on the idea that if it was a badly configured machine, it would provide info to the browse list. Am I missing something?

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