[Samba] Another WINS Question/Issue

[Nick Couchman]

As previously posted, I've migrated my WINS server over to Samba.  I've run into one issue, and have one question, about WINS functionality:

- The default expiration time for WINS entries is 6 days.  For my client systems, this isn't a problem, as most of them reboot, renew DHCP leases, etc., often enough that they are forced to send WINS updates every day or so.  However, I found this morning, 6 days after implementing my Samba WINS server, that my NT4 Domain Controllers do not send updates every 6 days, or at least not in a way that forces Samba to keep the WINS entries in the database.  So, is there something I should tweak, either on the Samba side or the NT4 side, that will allow this to work properly?  I don't plan on having NT4 around all that much longer, as I'm going to migrate domain control to Samba, but for the time being, I'd like to avoid a repeat.

- The Samba man page for smb.conf has always advised not to operate more than one Samba WINS server on your network (wins support = yes).  However, I found the remote browse sync option, which looks to be capable of doing some basic browse list synchronization across subnets, and was wondering if this would allow me to safely operate more than one WINS server on my network.  Obviously the WINS servers would be on different subnets, and I also understand perfectly that this does not provide full WINS database replication the way that NT4/2000/2003/2008 can provide.  However, in situations where I may have a firewall or WAN link between the two sites, is it safe and/or useful to use this option and point the WINS servers at each other?

Thanks, in advance, for any insight!

-Nick



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