[Samba] "Windows cannot obtain the domain controller name foryour computer network" error on XP Pro SP2 clients for Samba 3.0.23dPDC

[stephen mulcahy]

stephen mulcahy wrote:
> Does this mean I should include an SRV record on my DNS server for
> _ldap._tcp.dc._msdcs.DUCK pointing at the PDCs A address? Or is this
> just noise generated by the fact that Samba 3 isn't an AD server?
> 
> I've seen no mention of setting up SRV records in the HOWTOs so any
> advice appreciated.

I went and configured an SRV record pointing to my Samba/Wins server
just in case. It made no difference.

In order to determine if this is indeed a problem caused by specific
gigabit network adapters I went and installed new gigabit cards from an
entirely different manufacturer in both the server and the client.
Unfortunately the results are entirely the same - still seeing a UserEnv
error in the Application event log with id 1054 and the client is
failing to process the user part of the NTConfig.POL.

I've created a test environment which differs only in that the test
systems are linked by a single gigabit switch rather than 2 switches
daisychained together which is the case in the production environment.
The test environment works without problems (even the same clients
connect to the Samba server and process the entire policy file without
any UserEnv errors).

I guess at this stage I'm inclined to conclude that using Windows
policies with my clients is inherently unreliable (at least on my
network) and to proceed to look at some other solution.

Hopefully these notes will be useful to someone else who encounters a
similar situation (I'm surprised that no-one else has encountered these
errors, but perhaps not many people are using NTConfig.POL + Samba with
tdbsam backend + Windows XP SP2 clients with all the latest Windows
updates).

-stephen

-- 
Stephen Mulcahy, Applepie Solutions Ltd, Innovation in Business Center,
   GMIT, Dublin Rd, Galway, Ireland.      mailto:smulcahy at aplpi.com
  mobile:+353.87.2930252  office:+353.91.751262  http://www.aplpi.com