ghost machines, revisited

[Keith Warno]

Jim Watt wrote:

> Jumping into this thread somewhat late...hopefully I got the attributions
> straight! :-)
> 
> 
> There are two parameters affecting how long the Samba WINS server will
> retain registrations.  When a client registers with a WINS server, it
> will be told the length of time the registration is valid.  If the client
> doesn't re-register before the "max wins ttl" (time to live) has passed,
> the server will purge the registration.
> 
> We had to change these in order to allow VPN clients returning from "outside"
> to "inside", thereby reducing the likelihood of stale records.
> 
> Here are the settings we used, along with the rationale:
> 
> # Set WINS ttl to six hours, minimum three.  This allows VPN clients
> # six hours leeway before they can reregister after returning to the
> # LAN. (ttl is in seconds - so 60*60*6 and 60*60*3)
> 
>     max wins ttl = 21600
>     min wins ttl = 10800
> 
> The max ttl defaults to six days.  "min ttl" defaults to six hours.
> 
> We've found that the Microsoft Win2K WINS server is less picky about
> allowing clients to register updated WINS information than Samba.



These things do not look like WINS issues; the ghost machines are not in 
wins.dat but rather than browse.dat.

I nuked both wins.dat and browse.dat on the samba WINS server, and the 
ghosts have returned so it seems the WINS box is getting some mis-guided 
information from somewhere.  Crap.