[Samba] Re: moving netbios alias between machines

[Ron Peterson]

On Fri, Aug 13, 2004 at 10:23:36AM +0000, Sten Sletbak wrote:
> In article <20040813031342.GA20243 at mtholyoke.edu>, Ron Peterson wrote:
> > I would like to move a netbios alias (e.g. 'testname') from one machine
> > to another.  Seems like an easy enough thing to do: remove it from
> > machine 'a', and add it to machine 'b'.
> > 
> > I've done this, but all's not well in netbios land.  My clients still
> > want to talk to the old machine, and do.  Do I simply have to be more
> > patient?  How patient?  Is there anything that can be done to speed up
> > the process?
> > 
> > If I have to, I can begin assigning IP's to each netbios alias, so that
> > if I ever want to move them, I can also move the IP.  I'd really like to
> > be able to cutover quickly to a new machine, so if that's what I have to
> > do, I'll do that.
> > 
> > Any advice?
> >
> 
> I have tried this on a couple of occasions, and it has worked quite well.
> Do you have wins server set up?
> It may be that the clients use the lmhosts file (c:\windows\lmhosts) for
> netbios resolution, and that's a bad thing if the IP changes.
> And, yes, there may also be delays on the network/clients/wins server/new alias server...
> Give it 10 minutes and try rebooting the client if it still fails.

I'm using WINS (netbios-node-type 8).  I'm trying to move print services
to another machine.  File shares are moving along w/ the alias just
fine.  But the client printers (XP Pro on my desktop, for testing) are
still connecting to the old IP.

If I boot my workstation into Windows 2000, where I've never installed a
printer mapped to the netbios name I'm using (\\pq\dw213), I can add it
and it works just like it should.

Seems like more of a Windows problem than anything to do w/ Samba...

Thought I'd delete the printer and re-add it.  Bzzt.  Now it's hung up
trying to delete the printer.  The printer status says 'deleting', but
it never deletes.  Rebooting doesn't help.  Tried moving the netbios
alias back to the old machine.  Still can't delete it.

Windows is so easy to administer.  Until something doesn't work.  Then
it's impossible..

-- 
Ron Peterson
Network & Systems Manager
Mount Holyoke College