Win2k Woes......

[Brian Sumpter]

Hey everyone!

I'm new to the list here,  and have been lurking for a few days to see if a
problem I'm having was being discussed here, but seems I'm the only one
having this particular problem.  So on to the specifics:

Network:  SOHO network / 100 Base T

Computers:  5 total - only two with problems (denoted by * ).

a) Windows 2000 Professional
b) Windows 2000 Professional *
c) Windows 98 SE *
d) Macintosh System 8.5
e) Red Hat Linux 7.0

Samba:  Samba 2_2 branch compiled from yesterday's CVS tree.

Specifics:

OK, I'll try to make this short yet descriptive to the best of my writing
abilities.  Over a month ago, I downloaded and compiled Samba 2_2 from the
CVS and set it up as a PDC for the network.  Everything worked great, and
the Win2k boxes were able to join the domain and access the network
perfectly (including roaming profiles).  The 98 box could log onto the
domain, and could see the samba shares, but could not access them (got a
"Network Path Not Found" error).  I wasn't concerned with the 98 box at the
time since it was a laptop and very rarely needed network access anyway.  So
I chugged along over a month on my Win2k boxes pleased as I could be that
Samba was acting as a PDC (and doing a mighty fine job of it!).

About a week ago, one of the Win2k boxes started doing really funky things,
so in typical fashion, I decided to do a reformat as I contributed the
problem to standard Microsoft "OS Rot", which develops over time on any of
Redmond's platforms.  I formatted and reinstalled Win2k, and the setup went
perfectly.  I joined the domain normally, and rebooted to get a clean start
on the domain.  That's when the problems began.

It seems this box is having trouble resolving the network now.  Sometimes on
log on it says the domain "HOME" is not available, and will not allow me to
log on at all, and other times it will allow me to join the domain, but then
none of the shares (or any of the other Windows machines) are available,
either in Network Neighborhood, or by going directly to the shares with the
\\sharename\drive names.  I get a "<sharename> could not be located on the
network" error.

I can restart the network (by disabling and re-enabling the LAN in Network
Neighborhood), and can then sometimes access the shares.  Sometimes even
this doesn't work.

The next step was to examine the Samba logs.  It seems the new Win2k box
(named "Bessy") is trying to become a Master Browser for the "HOME" domain.
Samba is of course winning the election, but does give up PDC abilities for
a few minutes while the two boxes battle for control.  I think this is  the
root of the problem, but am not entirely sure.  I bumped the OS level up to
100, but Samba still gives up control for a few minutes until the Win2k box
either decides its going to be a Master Browser anyway, or gives up, at
which point Samba takes back over and becomes the PDC once again.

I'm positive there's nothing wrong with the smb.conf file causing this, as
it worked perfectly until the Win2k box was reformatted.  All the other
boxes on the network work just as they did before the reformat of the 2k
box.  I went into the registry on the troubled 2k box, and verified that the
IsDomainMaster key was set to FALSE, and duplicated all network settings on
the other (working) Win2k box to no avail.

I've replaced the network cable, and swapped out the network cards, neither
of which changed the situation.  One thing of note - even when I restart the
Network on this box, it still takes some time to see the shares, sometimes
as long as 5 minutes.  Even then it will "lose" the network again after 15
or 20 minutes.

Has anyone had this problem before?  Is there something different I need to
do in the smb.conf or the smbpasswd files when I reinstall an OS?

Sorry for the long letter - just wanted to be descriptive as possible.
Below you will find a dump of my smb.conf file, and any help anyone can
offer will be greatly appreciated.

SMB CONF FILE:

###########################
####  Primary Section #####
###########################

[global]
#####  Primary Section #####
   wins support = yes
   security = user
   status = yes
   log file = /usr/local/samba/var/samba-log
   lock directory = /var/lock/samba
   workgroup = home
   server string = "Emedia Server"
   socket options = TCP_NODELAY
   dns proxy = no
   preserve case = yes
   short preserve case = yes
   case sensitive = yes
   share modes = no

#####  Domain Section #####
   status = yes
   encrypt passwords = yes
   domain logons = yes
   logon script = scripts\%U.bat
   domain admin group = @bsumpter, @kat
   add user script = /usr/sbin/adduser -n -g machines -c Machine -d
/dev/null -s /bin/false %m$
   os level=100
   time server = true

#####  Password Sync ######
   # passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u
   # passwd chat = *password* %n\n *password* %n\n *successful*


###########################
######  User Section ######
###########################

[public]
   comment = Public Stuff
   path = /home/public
   public = yes
   writable = yes
   printable = no
   browseable = yes
   create mode = 777

[homes]
   comment = Home Directories
   browseable = no
   writable = yes
   read only = no
   preserve case = yes
   short preserve case = yes
   path = /home/%U
   create mode = 0750
   create mask = 0750
   directory mask = 0750
   locking = no

[tmp]
   comment = Temporary file space
   path = /home/tmp
   read only = no
   public = yes
   create mode = 777

[netlogon]
   browseable = no
   path = /usr/local/samba/netlogon
   writeable = no
   guest ok = no



Thanks!
--
Brian Sumpter
Emedia Designs
bsumpter at emediadesigns.com
http://emediadesigns.com/