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General discussion

Browsing subnets

Feb 11, 2004 10:36PM PST

I?m having trouble with browsing across subnets. There are many subnets on our network but one seems to be problematic. Computers on 172.16.0.0 can not see computers on any other subnet. Computers on all other subnets can see all computers except those in subnet 172.16.0.0. NSLOOKUP, PING and ?RUN - \\host_name\share_name? all work fine, but seeing hosts in network neighborhood doesn?t. We are Active Directory, mixed mode and all our clients are Windows 2000/XP. We use DNS and WINS on all Domain controllers (each subnet has a DC and Global Catalog server). WINS is used for the hand full of NT4 machines we still have. AD seems to be replicating OK. I?ve exhausted all resources to no avail. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

RC

Discussion is locked

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Re:Browsing subnets in Network Neighborhood.
Feb 11, 2004 11:03PM PST

"but seeing hosts in network neighborhood doesn?t."

Let's be clear that the GUI display was never fixed by Microsoft. I'll share a story about a company that pinned their entire network management system (a product they intended to sell!) around NN (Network Neighborhood.) Even I visited them once to deliver the bad news.

Sorry, it doesn't always work.

If this bothers you, then good. You can always call Microsoft and take the long bus ride of support or you can take my words that it doesn't (always!) work as people expect or want it to.

You will find that for some it works and others it does not. No where will you find it always work.

Was I clear enough?

Bob

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Re:Re:Browsing subnets in Network Neighborhood.
Feb 11, 2004 11:17PM PST

Bob ? you were very clear and succinct and I appreciate that. Let me be equally clear. On the subnet in question, we have 21 PCs and 2 servers and none can browse other subnets from NN. No computer anywhere on our network can see computers in the 172.16.0.0 subnet except those in that subnet. This is not a critical issue and our company doesn?t require this functionality to operate, but it?s an annoyance to our users. I guess my hope was to generate more questions to try and narrow the issue down instead of ?it just doesn?t work that way? because it does work that way most of the time.

Was I clear enough?

Thanks for your help.

RC

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How else can we do this?
Feb 11, 2004 11:41PM PST

Microsoft has articles galore on the subject. And even with all that, the delays in the NN are from minutes to days till it's synchronised.

You seem intent that NN works.

I know its broken. At least broken in that what Microsoft thinks as working and what the rest of us really wanted.

Got it?

I'm trying to be blunt and honest about this issue. There is no cure to NN. You can read and research and call Microsoft all you want, but in the end, NN is the thing that it is with all its delays and more.

Bob

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Another discussion.
Feb 11, 2004 11:15PM PST
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=ONO8tcfvAHA.1808%40tkmsftngp02&oe=UTF-8&output=gplain

The issue gets more perverse as you have subnets, WINS, and AD and what else?

45 minutes for an item to disappear, or multiples of that for a machine to show up. Even higher amounts of minutes are noted at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/prodtechnol/winntas/deploy/prodspecs/ntbrowse.asp and beyond that, the article doesn't reveal the ugly truth that with each layer of subnet, the times can multiple out to days.

Bob
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Just a summation.
Feb 12, 2004 1:56AM PST

" I?ve exhausted all resources to no avail. "

Since you've written this, I didn't bother with noting all the articles telling us how to fix it since you've already done that. So I skipped all that and moved directly to the bitter truth about Network Nieghborhood (NN) and how it can take any number of minutes to days to synschronise across subnets.

The upshot of all this is that many wanted NN to be a realtime report of what's on a network or subnet, but Microsoft didn't program it to work like that. Instead it works much like a slow set of cog wheels with a few missing teeth. It grinds along with 10, 45, and 51 minute broadcasts which may or not see reponses. It also faces the election issues that can totally flumox the NN plumbing.

Bottomline? -> It's unreliable.

Workaround? -> Use the command line of NET VIEW and such.

Bob

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Re:Browsing subnets
Feb 23, 2004 3:43AM PST

It seems that the tcp/ip functions are working but the windows protocol functions are not for that particular subnet. It may be that there is a switch or server in that area of the system that is not enabled for those. A scan for traffic on ports 135, 137, and 138 might help to resolve this problem. hth.

jl