Browse problems over vpn domain

Hi All,

Just looking for a little advice.

I have a domain that spans two sites.

Both sites are connected via a vpn. I am able to connect to all
machines on the other side of the vpn manually. Mount network drives,
remote admin etc. But I need to be able to browse the machines on the
remote network via the "my network places". WINS is set up and I have
domain replication betwen the two sites but alas I am unable to browse
one site from the other and vice versa. Has anyone come across this
before, or know how to reolve the issue?

Any help much appreciated.

Thanks

bink

Browsing in a situation like this is really just the same as browsing
across a router. What are you using to host the VPN connection? If you are
using your Windows servers as the VPN routers you may well have problems if
they are also acting as browse masters. Multihomed browse masters are a real
problem. See KB 292822 .

"fio" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi All,
>
> Just looking for a little advice.
>
> I have a domain that spans two sites.
>
> Both sites are connected via a vpn. I am able to connect to all
> machines on the other side of the vpn manually. Mount network drives,
> remote admin etc. But I need to be able to browse the machines on the
> remote network via the "my network places". WINS is set up and I have
> domain replication betwen the two sites but alas I am unable to browse
> one site from the other and vice versa. Has anyone come across this
> before, or know how to reolve the issue?
>
> Any help much appreciated.
>
> Thanks
>
> bink
>
>
>

Does the remote domain show up in the list?
What happens when you attempt to browse
the domain or computers on the remote domain?

"fio" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:
> Hi All,
>
> Just looking for a little advice.
>
> I have a domain that spans two sites.
>
> Both sites are connected via a vpn. I am able to connect to all
> machines on the other side of the vpn manually. Mount network drives,
> remote admin etc. But I need to be able to browse the machines on the
> remote network via the "my network places". WINS is set up and I have
> domain replication betwen the two sites but alas I am unable to browse
> one site from the other and vice versa. Has anyone come across this
> before, or know how to reolve the issue?

Without giving too much away it's a dedicated symantec firewall/vpn
appliance, one at each end. NO multihomed servers either.

On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 17:07:50 +1000, "Bill Grant"
<not.available@online> wrote:

> Browsing in a situation like this is really just the same as browsing
>across a router. What are you using to host the VPN connection? If you are
>using your Windows servers as the VPN routers you may well have problems if
>they are also acting as browse masters. Multihomed browse masters are a real
>problem. See KB 292822 .
>
>"fio" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed).. .
>> Hi All,
>>
>> Just looking for a little advice.
>>
>> I have a domain that spans two sites.
>>
>> Both sites are connected via a vpn. I am able to connect to all
>> machines on the other side of the vpn manually. Mount network drives,
>> remote admin etc. But I need to be able to browse the machines on the
>> remote network via the "my network places". WINS is set up and I have
>> domain replication betwen the two sites but alas I am unable to browse
>> one site from the other and vice versa. Has anyone come across this
>> before, or know how to reolve the issue?
>>
>> Any help much appreciated.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> bink
>>
>>
>>
>

You'll need WINS on both sides and replication between the WINS servers in
order for the cross subnet browsing to work.

--
Scott Harding
MCSE, MCSA, A+, Network+
Microsoft MVP - Windows NT Server

"fio" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> OK, the remote domain is part of the main site domain,
> e.g. domain1.co.uk at both sites (different subnets).
>
> Propogation works between both sites. The primary domain controller
> DC1 and Master browser MB1 are the same machine and on the local
> (main) site, this is also the main DNS server for the main site.
>
> There are also 2 domain controllers (DNS servers) at the remote site
> one of those being the segment MB etc. The WINS is server also at the
> remote site on one of the above DNS servers.
>
> So in theory, it's a single segmented domain with the other segment
> over a vpn.
>
> On both sites I can search for a specific computer by name at the
> "other site" in "My network places" and I can see the remote machines
> individually and indeed go in and have a look around the shares.
>
> However when I "browse" the entire network only the local computers
> (the computers on that segment) on the domian can be seen.
>
> So at the remote site I can browse all the machines at that site. and
> the same goes for the main site.
>
> Thanks
>
> <frustrated>
>
> On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 10:37:31 -0400, "Michael Giorgio - MS MVP"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >Does the remote domain show up in the list?
> >What happens when you attempt to browse
> >the domain or computers on the remote domain?
> >
> >"fio" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:
> >> Hi All,
> >>
> >> Just looking for a little advice.
> >>
> >> I have a domain that spans two sites.
> >>
> >> Both sites are connected via a vpn. I am able to connect to all
> >> machines on the other side of the vpn manually. Mount network drives,
> >> remote admin etc. But I need to be able to browse the machines on the
> >> remote network via the "my network places". WINS is set up and I have
> >> domain replication betwen the two sites but alas I am unable to browse
> >> one site from the other and vice versa. Has anyone come across this
> >> before, or know how to reolve the issue?
> >
>

Or lmhosts files. <g>

Domain Browsing with TCP/IP and LMHOSTS Files
http://support.microsoft.com/support.../Q150/8/00.ASP

"Scott Harding - MS MVP" <scrockel@**NO_SPAM**hotmail.com> wrote in
message news:
> You'll need WINS on both sides and replication between the WINS
servers in
> order for the cross subnet browsing to work.

OK, the remote domain is part of the main site domain,
e.g. domain1.co.uk at both sites (different subnets).

Propogation works between both sites. The primary domain controller
DC1 and Master browser MB1 are the same machine and on the local
(main) site, this is also the main DNS server for the main site.

There are also 2 domain controllers (DNS servers) at the remote site
one of those being the segment MB etc. The WINS is server also at the
remote site on one of the above DNS servers.

So in theory, it's a single segmented domain with the other segment
over a vpn.

On both sites I can search for a specific computer by name at the
"other site" in "My network places" and I can see the remote machines
individually and indeed go in and have a look around the shares.

However when I "browse" the entire network only the local computers
(the computers on that segment) on the domian can be seen.

So at the remote site I can browse all the machines at that site. and
the same goes for the main site.

Thanks

<frustrated>

On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 10:37:31 -0400, "Michael Giorgio - MS MVP"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Does the remote domain show up in the list?
>What happens when you attempt to browse
>the domain or computers on the remote domain?
>
>"fio" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:
>> Hi All,
>>
>> Just looking for a little advice.
>>
>> I have a domain that spans two sites.
>>
>> Both sites are connected via a vpn. I am able to connect to all
>> machines on the other side of the vpn manually. Mount network drives,
>> remote admin etc. But I need to be able to browse the machines on the
>> remote network via the "my network places". WINS is set up and I have
>> domain replication betwen the two sites but alas I am unable to browse
>> one site from the other and vice versa. Has anyone come across this
>> before, or know how to reolve the issue?
>

"fio" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Let me get this right. I need a WINS server? on both sites not just
> the remote site. At the moment I have the MB machine and DNS servers

You can do it many ways. It can be a single WINS server located in whatever
your favorite spot may be and point all machines in all sites to this WINS
server. You could also have a WINS at each site and set them up as
"push-pull" partners with each other. There is more than one way to do this.
You also may have to be sure the "Netbios Over TCP/IP" is also enabled.

After all that it still may not work. VPN is a *low* performance link.
Network Neighborhood was designed to work on a high speed (10mbps+) LAN
links, it was not designed to work over "slow dialup" which is what VPN is
classified as. When and if it does work you will loose efficiency on the
VPN because it will eat up more bandwith than what you are currently using
just for the sake of what might be considered "eye candy".

--

Phillip Windell [MCP, MVP, CCNA]
www.wandtv.com

"fio" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> such as the DNS servs. This didn't seem to make any difference at all
> and nothing appeared in the network browser. What could I be doing
> wrong? Which machine should this be configured on? The DNS at the

Netbios Naming and the Network Browsing may be related but they are not the
same thing. Your Netbios Naming is working fine because you can "search" for
a machine by name and actually find it.

Network Browsing is a totally different process. A Master Browser must be
"elected", then the Master Browser has to receive/gathter Netbios
Information from all over the whole network and build a "Master Browse
List". Then Clients need to properly determine which machine is the Master
Browser, then they retreive the data from the Browse List to populate the
"Net'Hood" window.

It sounds like you have two Master Broswers instead of one (one in each
segment) and the clients are looking to the one in thier segment and
receiving the Browse List data for only that segment.

Try running just one single WINS Server. Locate it where ever you like,...it
doesn't matter. Then point every single machine in the entire netwrok to
that one WINS server no matter where the machine is located. There can only
be one Master browser, so having two will force an election and only one
will win. Then wait about a day or two. The problem will probably clear
itself up once the "browser elections" are settled and WINS has its database
fully synced with the whole network.

You can add more WINS Servers after everything is working right.

--

Phillip Windell [MCP, MVP, CCNA]
www.wandtv.com

Thanks for that, I haven't actually set this up btw. It was done
before I joined the company, they have been trying to get this working
for over a year and I've been on the case for a couple of days now.

Not getting anywhere so thought I'd try you guys and gals. Thanks for
the help.

Let me get this right. I need a WINS server? on both sites not just
the remote site. At the moment I have the MB machine and DNS servers
on the main site pointing at the WINS server on the remote site. The
wins server at the remote site is paired with the domain MB at the
local site. However I'm not sure if any machine at the local site is
actually a WINS server itself. Does this make sense? Should I have a
WINS server at the main site also? and if so how I get them all
talking to each other nicely and this finally working.

I hope not to bore you but this is kind of important to me, I'm out of
the job if I don't get it working PDQ.

Thanks a hell of a lot.

Concerned


On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 10:06:44 -0700, "Scott Harding - MS MVP"
<scrockel@**NO_SPAM**hotmail.com> wrote:

>You'll need WINS on both sides and replication between the WINS servers in
>order for the cross subnet browsing to work.