[Samba] samba connection to fully qualified domain name

[Herta Van den Eynde]

Environment:
Samba server:
 Solaris 10 5/08
 Samba version 3.0.24
Windows client:
 Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2

extract from smb.conf:
[global]
       workgroup = BBB.CCC
       wins server = xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
       smb ports = 139

[WINDCHILL]
       path = /ptc/eaiXMLFiles
       force group = plm
       read only = No
       force create mode = 0775

Up till May 12, you could create a samba connection from the windows
client to the samba server using its fully qualified domain name.

As of May 13, 02:50 you can only create a samba connection from this
windows client using the hostname without the FQDN, or using the ip
address.  Trying to connect to the samba server with FQDN gives the
error:
"Windows cannot fine \\AAA.BBB.CCC\WINDCHILL.  Check the spelling and
try again, or try searching for the item by clicking the Start button
and then click Search."
A basic ping to the hostname with FQDN still works fine.
Connecting from other clients (another Windows Server 2003 Service
Pack 2, and a Windows XP Service Pack 3) works fine as well.
nslookup resolves the hostname as well as hostname+domainname.
Reverse lookup also works fine and returns the FQDN.

A few month back, the reverse happened:  we could connect using the
hostname+FQDN, but not using the hostname.  As far as I can tell,
nothing changed on either the samba server or the client: no
reconfigs, no restarts, no reboots.

This is most annoying, as it stops one of our applications from
operating properly.  And this must be about the fifth time this
happened in the past 365 days.

I browsed the web, but found nothing that seemed to apply to our situation.

Does anyone have any idea how to debug this?

FWIIW, I'm a unix/linux admin, with limited knowledge of windows.

Kind regards,

Herta

--
"Life on Earth may be expensive,
but it comes with a free ride around the Sun."