[Samba] WINS Not Updating When Client Moves Subnet

[Andrew Chambers]

Hi

This is my first post so please be gentle!

Many thanks to the developers of Samba, I’ve used it for years and it is a great system!

I’m running Samba Version 3.6.6 on a raspberry Pi for testing purposes before using in anger and a Linux PC! I only need the functionality of WINS for my application for XP and Win7 clients, my PCs won’t be on a domain. I use a separate DHCP server that dishes out my WINS server address as well as setting each client to Hybrid. Ipconfig shows my clients are set to Hybrid and are using Samba for WINS. My test network has several subnets separated at layer 3 with routers and no firewalling is taking place on routers or PCs. Layer 2 separation exists between each subnet. Browsing works fine on the clients. I can ping Samba from every connected subnet.

If I add an XP or Win7 client on the same subnet or offnet (compared to Samba) for the first time to the test network Samba WINS updates appropriately. However if I remove an XP or Win7 client from the network and move the client to a different subnet DHCP assigns the correct address but WINS does not update with the new IP. If I run wireshark on the client I can see the client sending several packets to update the Samba WINS but Samba responds with packets saying “Registration response, Request was refused NB”. If I change the hostname of the client WINS will accept the new WINS entry ok, it is updating of WINS previous entries from a different IP that always fails. I only have Win7 and XP clients and as long as no client moves IP I have no issue. If I “nbtstat –RR” a client without moving it to a different subnet I see a packet exchange with Samba to ensure WINS is correct but I don’t see any “request was refused” packets. I will have users on laptops though who will roam between subnets and I need these to update WINS when they move subnet. My Samba config is shown below and after much googling I’ve only found a couple of others who have had similar issues so I must be doing something silly! I run netBIOS of ip on each client and no other protocols are running. I could set a low TTL on each WINS entry but that seems a bodge, what I want is for WINS to update correctly when a client moves IP address. Any ideas on what else I could try?

[global]
    domain master = yes
    preferred master = yes
    local master = yes
    os level = 255
    netbios name = RASPBX

    server string = Rasberry Test WINS Server
    wins support = yes
    ;   wins server = w.x.y.z 
    dns proxy = no
    name resolve order = wins host lmhost bcast
    ;   interfaces = 127.0.0.0/8 eth0

Many thanks!

Andy