Why only one WINS server?

[David Collier-Brown]

Robert Dahlem wrote:
> In my environment there is no MS WINS server, only Samba WINS servers. From trying
> I know that MS clients can resolve NETBIOS names by broadcasting a WINS request and
> Samba will answer to these requests as long as it is configured with "wins proxy = yes".
> 
> The lookup in my environment depends on /etc/hosts only and this one should be in sync
> nearly all the time because it is fed by NIS. This is really convenient because now all
> clients can use anything in /etc/hosts without having to configure something special on them.
> 
> Is this situation a legal exception from the rule not to setup two Samba WINS servers?

	Very nearly! This is what I consider sane and reasonable, but
	Mr Murphy is still around...

	Because MS is trying hard to be both
		1) friendly/helpfull, and
		2) backwards compatible,
	it is entirely possible to come up with a case where
	an old and undesirable behaviour (e.g., broadcast announcements)
	interacts with modern ``best practice'' (subnets) to ensure
	that some machines are only visible on one net and via
	one particular wins server.

	With effort, and reference to source code, we might be able to 
	define rules that would avoid such problems, and procedures
	to ensure they aren't broken.  However, I'd far rather spend
	the effort setting up DNS, which is well-understood, and 
	actually documented, rather than something whose definition is
	private source code and which is doomed anyway.

--dave (been there. hated it) c-b



> Its just for the case that one machine in a net with two or more Samba servers goes down.
> If this were the machine with the only WINS server on it no more name resolving would be
> possible ...
> 
> >  As Microsoft plan to retire wins in favour of DNS in the very
> >near future, I'd recommend using it cautiously, and making sure
> >you don't depend on anything peculiar to WINS.
> >
> > If you do You Will Hate Yourself Later (:-))
> 
> :-)
> 
> I already learned that its wise to configure "wins support = no" and to point to a "wins
> server" when there is one and you have to insert a Samba machine in this net. But in this
> situation all the clients already know about some MS WINS server and I only have to care
> that Samba registers with it.
> 
> Regards,
>         Robert
> 
> --
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-- 
David Collier-Brown,  | Always do right. This will gratify some people
185 Ellerslie Ave.,   | and astonish the rest.        -- Mark Twain
Willowdale, Ontario   | davecb at hobbes.ss.org, canada.sun.com
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