samba - Jun 2006 - Slightly OT: Browsing issues with Windows 2003 Server, Win 2K server and Windows 2000 clients

Hi, everybody:

Forgive me for bringing this to you. We normally use Samba servers but 
are dealing with a situation involving two Windows 2003 servers and 
browsing, and the truth is, I can't think of a better forum to bring 
questions about browsing.

We have the following situation:

Domain controller is a Windows 2000 machine at 192.168.0.100
The backup domain controller is a Windows 2003 machine at 192.168.0.150

There are two subnets connected by a VPN tunnel.

192.168.0.0/24
10.10.20.0/24

The machines in one subnet cannot see machines in the other subnet.

We are using WINS on the backup controller at 192.168.0.150. This 
machine is also the Active Directory DNS server.

I have configured machines on 10.10.20.0 to use 192.168.0.150 as WINS
server and a couple of the machines on 192.168.0.0 to use
192.168.0.150 as the WINS server, but it doesn't matter with the 
machines are registering to WINS or not; if they are on the remote 
subnet they are invisible.

When I use the NETBIOS Browsing Console on a machine on 10.10.20.0, it
pukes immediately saying that the Domain Master Browser for the 
specified domain could not be found.

When I use the NetBIOS Browsing Console on a machine on 192.168.0.0,
it completes "successfully" but tells me that it cannot find a machine
on 192.168.0.0 in the browse list of a machine on 10.10.20.0.

Traffic flows freely between the two networks. I can ping the PDC and 
BDC from the remote subnet (10.10.20.0/24).

What have I missed here? Where do I need to be looking? The lack of 
cross-subnet browsing is interfering with some printing functions.

-Stephen-

Stephen Bosch escreveu:
> Hi, everybody:
>
> Forgive me for bringing this to you. We normally use Samba servers but 
> are dealing with a situation involving two Windows 2003 servers and 
> browsing, and the truth is, I can't think of a better forum to bring 
> questions about browsing.
>
> We have the following situation:
>
> Domain controller is a Windows 2000 machine at 192.168.0.100
> The backup domain controller is a Windows 2003 machine at 192.168.0.150
>
> There are two subnets connected by a VPN tunnel.
>
> 192.168.0.0/24
> 10.10.20.0/24
>
> The machines in one subnet cannot see machines in the other subnet.
That I know WINS only resolve IPs to netbios names it is not responsible 
for "browsing", but it registers with the names the record types of
the
machines that it knows about (this is part of netbios), answering who 
acts as what in the network (in that case, who is the LMB and has the 
browse list). The machine that holds the list of "available" machines
of
its network segment is the Local Master Browser of that segment.

Theres a chapter in TOSHARG called "Network Browsing" showing an
example
of a routed network using WINS.
>
> We are using WINS on the backup controller at 192.168.0.150. This 
> machine is also the Active Directory DNS server.
>
> I have configured machines on 10.10.20.0 to use 192.168.0.150 as WINS
> server and a couple of the machines on 192.168.0.0 to use
> 192.168.0.150 as the WINS server, but it doesn't matter with the 
> machines are registering to WINS or not; if they are on the remote 
> subnet they are invisible.
Configured machines in one subnet and a couple of machines in another?
Hmm. A network with a half of machines using WINS and a half not can 
show that behavior.

The Local Master Browsers in each segment of the domain search for a 
Domain Master Browser and ask to sync the lists. Have you sure that the 
machines that are acting as LMBs in each segment are doing this? That 
they can find the DMB and ask to sync the browse list? Maybe one of them 
isnt doing that, maybe you excluded an LMB of using the WINS server and 
its not finding the DMB?
>
> When I use the NETBIOS Browsing Console on a machine on 10.10.20.0, it
> pukes immediately saying that the Domain Master Browser for the 
> specified domain could not be found.
As above, is that machine using WINS and the WINS server knows who is 
the DMB?
>
> When I use the NetBIOS Browsing Console on a machine on 192.168.0.0,
> it completes "successfully" but tells me that it cannot find a
machine
> on 192.168.0.0 in the browse list of a machine on 10.10.20.0.
>
> Traffic flows freely between the two networks. I can ping the PDC and 
> BDC from the remote subnet (10.10.20.0/24).
>
> What have I missed here? Where do I need to be looking? The lack of 
> cross-subnet browsing is interfering with some printing functions.
>
> -Stephen-
Regards.

Edmundo Valle Neto.