Frustrated with browsing, domains, and network logins ...

[Anthony Brock]

I'm trying to get cross-network browsing/domain logins working.  In brief, 
I am very frustrated.  We thought the initial problem was a browsing 
problem, but now it does not appear to be that.  Even once the workstation 
can see the servers, it STILL cannot perform a Domain login, although it 
CAN access resources if I use the Ms Dos prompt and issue a 'net use ...' 
command.

This happens occasionally with some of our machines, and we are not able to 
get them to work again once it starts.  PLEASE help if you know 
anything!  I am desperate!

Also, I tried upgrading to Samba-TNG, but then cross-network browsing broke 
for about half our clients!???  Did something change with the development 
branch?  Anyway, when we down-graded, most workstations that failed started 
working again...

I have no idea if this is an NT, Samba, or Win98/Win95 issue.  Any help is 
GREATLY appreciated (and I have read the browsing.txt file).

Details follow:

********************
Basically, our setup is a follows,

We have a WINS server located at x.x.4.1 ->dns1 (Samba 2.0.6)
We have a Domain PDC for PLANTSERVICES located at x.x.9.61 -> plant_server 
(NT 4.0 ServicePack 5)
We have a workstation that needs to login to PLANTSERVICES at x.x.5.154 -> 
dherron (Win98)



We are using DHCP for the workstation, and the PDC and WINS (which is a 
samba Work Group Server for another domain) have static IPs.

The Win98 workstation was working fine until yesterday morning, when it 
stopped logging into the network.  This is a symptom that has occurred 
frequently on campus, and we are VERY frustrated once this starts 
happening.  We are not aware of any changes that were made to either the 
workstation, WINS, or PDC.

In trying to trouble-shoot this problem, I used the following command:

[abrock at classroom-dhcp abrock]$ nmblookup -B x.x.5.255 -M -
Sending queries to x.x.5.255
x.x.5.131 __MSBROWSE__<01>
x.x.5.171 __MSBROWSE__<01>
x.x.5.29 __MSBROWSE__<01>
x.x.5.179 __MSBROWSE__<01>

As you can see, x.x.5.154 was not listed.  I then tried:

[abrock at classroom-dhcp abrock]$ nmblookup -B x.x.5.255 -M PLANTSERVICES
Sending queries to x.x.5.255
name_query failed to find name PLANTSERVICES

So, I tried:

[abrock at classroom-dhcp abrock]$ nmblookup -A x.x.5.154
Sending queries to 198.106.77.255
Looking up status of x.x.5.154
received 6 names
         DHERRON         <00> -         M <ACTIVE>
         PLANTSERVICES   <00> - <GROUP> M <ACTIVE>
num_good_sends=0 num_good_receives=0

When comparing this with another machine, I noticed that there was no 
entries like:

         DHERRON         <20> -         M <ACTIVE>
         PLANTSERVICES   <1e> - <GROUP> M <ACTIVE>
         PLANTSERVICES   <1d> -         M <ACTIVE>
         ..__MSBROWSE__. <01> - <GROUP> M <ACTIVE>

Also, queries to the WINS server reported:

[abrock at classroom-dhcp abrock]$ nmblookup -U dns1 -R -S dherron
Sending queries to x.x.4.1
x.x.5.154 dherron<00>
Looking up status of x.x.5.154
received 2 names
         DHERRON         <00> -         M <ACTIVE>
         PLANTSERVICES   <00> - <GROUP> M <ACTIVE>
num_good_sends=0 num_good_receives=0

[abrock at classroom-dhcp abrock]$ nmblookup -U dns1 -R -S plant_server
Sending queries to x.x.4.1
x.x.9.61 plant_server<00>
Looking up status of x.x.9.61
received 10 names
         PLANT_SERVER    <00> -         M <ACTIVE>
         PLANTSERVICES   <00> - <GROUP> M <ACTIVE>
         PLANTSERVICES   <1c> - <GROUP> M <ACTIVE>
         PLANT_SERVER    <20> -         M <ACTIVE>
         PLANTSERVICES   <1b> -         M <ACTIVE>
         PLANT_SERVER    <03> -         M <ACTIVE>
         PLANTSERVICES   <1e> - <GROUP> M <ACTIVE>
         ADMINISTRATOR   <03> -         M <ACTIVE>
         PLANTSERVICES   <1d> -         M <ACTIVE>
         ..__MSBROWSE__. <01> - <GROUP> M <ACTIVE>
num_good_sends=0 num_good_receives=0

At this point, we re-installed the OS in an attempt to fix the problem, 
since it seems that this machine would HAVE to be a master browser on this 
network (there are not other members of PLANTSERVICES on this network).  No 
success.

After installation, the problem was unchanged, and nmblookup reports were 
unchanged.

So, in a brain-storm, we turned on file and print sharing of the Win98 
workstation.  Now, the following appears,

[abrock at classroom-dhcp abrock]$ nmblookup -U dns1 -R -S dherron
Sending queries to x.x.4.1
x.x.5.154 dherron<00>
Looking up status of x.x.5.154
received 6 names
         DHERRON         <00> -         M <ACTIVE>
         PLANTSERVICES   <00> - <GROUP> M <ACTIVE>
         DHERRON         <20> -         M <ACTIVE>
         PLANTSERVICES   <1e> - <GROUP> M <ACTIVE>
         PLANTSERVICES   <1d> -         M <ACTIVE>
         ..__MSBROWSE__. <01> - <GROUP> M <ACTIVE>
num_good_sends=0 num_good_receives=0

However, we still have the same problem when trying to login to the 
PDC.  On the other hand, if I turn-off the 'Logon to Windows NT Domain' in 
Client for Microsoft Networks, I am able to login to the machine, but 
cannot see any other machines in the domain.  If I then open an MS DOS 
PROMPT, and issue:

net use w: \\x.x.9.61\netlogon

it will successfully connect!  After is successfully connects, I can then 
see all the servers in the domain, like I am supposed to.  However, if I 
then log off, I STILL can't login to the domain, but the list remains in 
Network Neighborhood.

What is going on?  Does anyone have any idea why this workstation cannot 
login to the domain?  How to I get cross-network browsing to work BEFORE 
issuing the above command?

Thanks in advance for any help,

Tony Brock
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* Anthony Brock                                         abrock at georgefox.edu *
* Director of Network Services                         George Fox University *
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