WINS Server for XP Pro

In addition for a small network with fixed IP's you can even use host files.

What appears to be the problem ?

I hope this helps !

WINS is really only needed when you have multiple subnets.  If you have multiple subnets, then you likely have a server already which can run WINS...

I agree... what's the perceived need?

I have multiple networks linked through multiple firewalls, configured with VPN tunnels that can "see" one another. According to tech support from the firewall provider, Fortigate, WINS must be used to resolve systems, shares and devices, such as time clocks.

The problem is that not all of the sites have their own server, and I am not sure we can use WINS on one site to access a different site that does not have a WINS server. In fact, I cannot see how this can be done.

We have successfully accessed a static IP time clock through the proprietary software from one network to a different one, but the time clock is in a network with a 2003 server running WINS.

We'll likely need to install some kind of server, be it Unix, or 2003, but the full need cannot be fully explored as of yet, so I hesitate to shoot from the hip and take the chance of being way off!

Steve

I'm not blindly blaming WINS. This came from the techs at Fortinet. And once WINS was configured at the PC, it could "see" the remote site on the different network. But perhaps that one server can service the other networks ... I'll look at it from a different perspective. But I don't see how.

Site A is on, we'll say, 10.1.100.x, site B is 10.1.101.x, site C is 10.1.102.x, etc.

Because of the firewall setup, according to their technical support, WINS needs to be functioning for the VPN tunnels to fully function. We have a WINS server at 10.1.100.x, and so from 10.1.101.x we can see devices at 10.1.100.x.

Although we have not tested it as of yet, I am fairly certain that from 10.1 100.x we WILL NOT be able to see devices at 10.1.101.x because there is no WINS server on that end.

Got it? I am not "blaming" WINS, just looking for a solution short of installing a server of one flavor or another. Looks like I have my answer ... it does not exist.

Thanks!

For this kind of stuff, if the addresses are static, use a Hosts file.

I hope this helps !

It's clear from this description of WINS, you DO NOT need WINS on multiple networks:
http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/library/01b8e158-4587-4269-917a-5ad38c2537021033.mspx?mfr=true

So yes, if you DON'T want to try to resolve your Fortigate problem, then your answer is there is no WINS server for XP.  If you DO want to resolve your problem, then please post some of your technical documentation saying the Fortigate requires WINS.

Maybe you're misinterpreting something or maybe we're misunderstanding something... the documentation may be able to clear things up.

And it's not unheard of to have a technician be WRONG or misinterpret/misdiagnose the problem.

question for sparker652 - could you advise what you did in the end?  Your setup, incl' Fortinet boxes etc is identical to mine and I have the identical issue.  I cannot work out how to provide network browsing "into" the remote ofices whilst they can see out with no problem.  Many thanks.

What we were trying to accomplish was VPN tunnelling to multiple sites, with one site acting as a "spoke" for the rest.

So the issue is that each site is on its own "network" and cannot see one another the way it is needed in order to connect to time clocks, for example, that were at opposite ends of the "spoke."

So we decided to use ONE server as the "designated" DNS server (which in our case was the server at the CENTER of the spoke) Then we plugged that Server;s IP into the Windows XP Pro systems as the DNS server at the "remote" sites, and allowed everything to "sync" up.

It works great!!!

The NAY Sayers just did not understand the problem! We figured it out on our own.

Hope this helps! Feel free to contact me back with any further questions.


Steve

sounds like we have very similar setups.  We have 5 offices around Europe, one of which is the HQ and has the PDC (an SBS install) in place.  Two of the "spokes have their own Win2K3 servers with DNS and WINS servers installed that sync to the HQ DNS and WINS servers.  Both those in HQ and those at the other end of the spokes can see all computers in all offices in Network Neighbourhood.  However the other two offices have only Win XP workstations as fileservers.  They are pointed at HQ for DNS and WINS and they can see all the other offices and themselves in Network Neighbourhood.  However, and here is the key issue/problem, those in the other offices cannot see the XP workstations in these "serverless" offices in network neighbourhood.

This causes problems when, for example, those in the remote offices save photos/documents on their local fileserver and refer to them to others working in the other offices, who then cannot access them.

All the office connections are site to site VPNs through Forinet 50b and 100a routers.

Installing WINS server in the two serverless offices would seem the answer, except there must be another way, surely?  I posed this as a question to the experts exchange site back in October but got nothing concrete in response.

Still an issue - hmmm.

Gerry