samba - Oct 2017 - Tip and Workaround: UPS World Ship refuses to help with XP

Hi All,

I replaced a Linux file server at a company last month.
Both server had to be active at the same time to transition,
so the new server got a new name.

The customer client computers are all XP still.  The machine
with the client UPS World Ship stopped working as it
kept looking for the old server.  I replaced every instance
of the old server's name with the new server in the registry.
That did not work.  Checked all the INI files and there was no
server path in any of them (superfinder XT).

I called UPS' tech support and they refused to help until
we upgraded.  They said to use the web edition until
then.  I added "and FedEx too".  That startled them.
They deserved that.

Then it occurred to me, now that the old server has been
retired, I could take advantage of Samba's

    netbios aliases

feature.  I aliases the new server with the old
server's name.  Windows Explorer now shows two servers
in network.

And, problem solved.  Chuckle.

The customer should upgrade anyway, as M$ is playing such
hardball that who knows what else will stop working in the
future.

-T

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Computers are like air conditioners.
They malfunction when you open windows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Sun, 22 Oct 2017 13:36:01 -0700
ToddAndMargo via samba <samba at lists.samba.org> wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> I replaced a Linux file server at a company last month.
> Both server had to be active at the same time to transition,
> so the new server got a new name.
> 
> The customer client computers are all XP still.  The machine
> with the client UPS World Ship stopped working as it
> kept looking for the old server.  I replaced every instance
> of the old server's name with the new server in the registry.
> That did not work.  Checked all the INI files and there was no
> server path in any of them (superfinder XT).
> 
> I called UPS' tech support and they refused to help until
> we upgraded.  They said to use the web edition until
> then.  I added "and FedEx too".  That startled them.
> They deserved that.
> 
> Then it occurred to me, now that the old server has been
> retired, I could take advantage of Samba's
> 
>     netbios aliases
> 
> feature.  I aliases the new server with the old
> server's name.  Windows Explorer now shows two servers
> in network.
> 
> And, problem solved.  Chuckle.
> 
> The customer should upgrade anyway, as M$ is playing such
> hardball that who knows what else will stop working in the
> future.
> 
> -T
> 
I can sort of understand why the UPS support team didn't want to help.
If something went wrong, your customer might try and blame them.

There is also the point, every time you fix something like this,
it defers the XP upgrade. I know it is really out of your hands, but
there will come a time that you cannot fix the problem and it will
probably occur at the most inconvenient moment. 

Your customer really needs to understand that Microsoft will not
provide support for XP, so printer manufacturers etc are not writing
XP drivers any more. If a printer was to terminally fail and its
replacement didn't come with XP drivers, what will your customer
do ?

There is also the point that Windows is now 64bit and your XP
machines are highly likely to be 32bit.

A phased XP replacement will cost less in the long run.

Rowland

On 10/22/2017 02:14 PM, Rowland Penny via samba wrote:
> On Sun, 22 Oct 2017 13:36:01 -0700
> ToddAndMargo via samba <samba at lists.samba.org> wrote:
> 
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I replaced a Linux file server at a company last month.
>> Both server had to be active at the same time to transition,
>> so the new server got a new name.
>>
>> The customer client computers are all XP still.  The machine
>> with the client UPS World Ship stopped working as it
>> kept looking for the old server.  I replaced every instance
>> of the old server's name with the new server in the registry.
>> That did not work.  Checked all the INI files and there was no
>> server path in any of them (superfinder XT).
>>
>> I called UPS' tech support and they refused to help until
>> we upgraded.  They said to use the web edition until
>> then.  I added "and FedEx too".  That startled them.
>> They deserved that.
>>
>> Then it occurred to me, now that the old server has been
>> retired, I could take advantage of Samba's
>>
>>      netbios aliases
>>
>> feature.  I aliases the new server with the old
>> server's name.  Windows Explorer now shows two servers
>> in network.
>>
>> And, problem solved.  Chuckle.
>>
>> The customer should upgrade anyway, as M$ is playing such
>> hardball that who knows what else will stop working in the
>> future.
>>
>> -T
>>
> 
> I can sort of understand why the UPS support team didn't want to help.
> If something went wrong, your customer might try and blame them.
> 
> There is also the point, every time you fix something like this,
> it defers the XP upgrade. I know it is really out of your hands, but
> there will come a time that you cannot fix the problem and it will
> probably occur at the most inconvenient moment.
> 
> Your customer really needs to understand that Microsoft will not
> provide support for XP, so printer manufacturers etc are not writing
> XP drivers any more. If a printer was to terminally fail and its
> replacement didn't come with XP drivers, what will your customer
> do ?
> 
> There is also the point that Windows is now 64bit and your XP
> machines are highly likely to be 32bit.
> 
> A phased XP replacement will cost less in the long run.
> 
> Rowland
>        
> 

I completely agree.