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commsxl

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empty network neighbourhood

hi all,

i have two 2003 server machines on a domain, both domain controllers.

on the secondary domain controller i am able to open network neighbourhood and view all the machine names.

on the primary dc however, the network neighbourhood is empty yet if i manually enter addresses i can resolve them.

any ideas how to get machines back in the nn on my pdc?

cheers,
chris
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JammyPak
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well, if everything's working I honestly wouldn't worry about it....it's only browsing! :)

if you want to fix it, make sure that all PCs and both of the servers are using the same WINS server, and that should do it.
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commsxl

ASKER

thanks for the response.

any ideas why though? i would like the browsing functionality available in some applications on the primary dc.
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ASKER

sorted!

checked the wins pages of the tcp/ip advanced settings and the secondary dc was set to default (for netbios over tcp/ip) and the primary set to disable. set the primary to default and job's a good'n.
Wow, lots of variables here.

Your dealing with the NetBt settings here, so there are lots of things that could be going wrong.

1) Are they all in the same subnet?  Check your TCP/IP properties subnet and DNS.  Both these DC's should be staticly configured.
2) What currently is your master browser?  Install the support pack tools on the 2003 Cd, and use the BROWSTAT command.
3) Check HKLM\System\CCS\Services\Browser\Parameters.
     IsDomainMaster - FALSE --- I would set this to TRUE on your primary machine, forcing this machine to always win elections.
     MaintainServerList   Yes - means it will copy from master browser to itself.
                                 Auto - means if master browsers tells it to make a copy
                               no or False - means don't ever make a copy, always request from a bkup or master
 4) Do these DC machines have dual nics?  If so you might have them both configured to use the same gateway.  Disable one, or use load balancing drivers w/ 1 IP.
     This might free up a netbios conflict keeping this machine from seeing the tree from another bkup server or master.
5) Check your event viewer - system log to see what browser or NetBT errrors you might have.

Hope some of this points you in the right direction.
hmm.. okay.  I didn't think of that yet.  You can control this setting in DHCP for your clients if you'd like, especially if you have any VPN users, make sure you enable netbios over TCP/IP.
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thanks for the pointers fluidsmgmt, there's a few things there to look at
wait, is it working now? when you said 'sorted' I thought maybe it was fixed....
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yes it is thanks.
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modulo

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