[Samba] Remote browse sync, wins, problems...

[Simon Detheridge]

On Mon, 2005-03-07 at 09:48 -0700, John H Terpstra wrote:
> On Monday 07 March 2005 09:31, Simon Detheridge wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I have a network with three different sites, each with their own
> > workgroup, each on their own subnet, connected by a VPN.
> >
> > Each site has a master samba server, acting as a domain master and wins
> > server. Each site has a mixture of Windows (mostly 2000 professional)
> > and linux workstations on each workgroup.
> >
> > I am trying to get all workgroups and all machines viewable in 'network
> > neighbourhood' at each site.
> >
> > The sites are set up as 192.168.1.x, 192.168.2.x, and 192.168.3.x...
> > Samba servers are 192.168.1.2, 192.168.2.2, and 192.168.3.2
> > respectively.
> >
> > Each server is set up like this:
> >
> >      wins server = yes
>         ^^^^^^^^^^^^
> 
> Have you checked the man page for smb.conf?
> 
> I think you want either:
> 
> 	wins support = Yes
> 
> OR
> 
> 	wins server = IP_Address_of_WINS_server 

My apologies. I meant to write:
    wins support = yes

Too much scrolling through the man page... ;-)

> Use testparm to validate your smb.conf file.

Yes, my init-script does this automatically.

> >      remote browse sync = 192.168.2.2 192.168.3.2
> >      remote announce = 192.168.2.2 192.168.3.2
> 
> Have you checked the man page for these parameters?

Yes, I have.

> You might consider using:
> 
> 	remote browse sync = 'Remote_network_address' ...
> 	remote announce = 'Remote_network_address'/'Remote_Domain_Name' ...

Can you give me a better example? Why is 'remote browse sync' incorrect?
It contains the addresses of all remote master browsers.

What domain name should I be using for 'remote announce'? 
Example:
Site 1 is 192.168.1.0/24 and has workgroup SITE1
Site 2 is 192.168.2.0/24 and has workgroup SITE2
Site 3 is 192.168.3.0/24 and has workgroup SITE3

For the 'remote announce' for site 2, should I put:
    remote announce = 192.168.1.2/SITE1 192.168.3.2/SITE3
or
    remote announce = 192.168.1.2/SITE2 192.168.3.2/SITE2


??

> > where the sync and announce values are for the two remote networks.
> >
> > The problem I have is that in each site, while all three workgroups show
> > up in network neighbourhood, only the 'local' workgroup has machines
> > visible in it. The 'remote' workgroups are empty.
> >
> > Conventional wisdom would have me abandon the idea of one wins server
> > per site, and switch to running one central wins server, so it could
> > collect the names of all workstations. HOWEVER: there is a problem. Site
> > 2 has a very-high-latency (read: 2-way-satellite) connection. I don't
> > really want clients on that network to have to use a remote wins server
> > as it will take a long time for all client machines to resolve names.
> > Similarly I don't want to host the master wins server on that network
> > for the same reason.
> >
> > Anybody have any ideas how I can either:
> >     a) Fix the above problem so that all workgroups are correctly
> > populated, using remote browse sync?
> > or
> >     b) Set up a caching wins forwarder (like a caching-only bind server)
> > on the site2 network, that answers wins requests quickly but forwards
> > unresolved queries to the 'real' master wins server, thus solving the
> > problem?
> >
> > or any other ideas on how I can make this work?
> 
> Ah! You have found the devil of NetBIOS networking!
> 
> The above changes should help.
> 
> - John T.

Thanks,
Simon