Different computers in domain listing at different times

All;

There is a rather annoying thing going on with my network that I just can't
seem to solve.

We have three remote office that connect to the main office via VPN
connections created by on the routers at each site.
At the main office there are four Win2K servers, two of which acts as DCs.
At one remote site there is a win2K DC machine, at another there is a win2k
machine that is not a DC and at the third there is no server. One machine at
the main office is a DNS and WINS server, we have to use wins because of
some legacy stuff. The DC at the remote office is also a DNS server.

The problem is that when browsing the domain, different computer show up at
different times of the day. Sometimes all the computers at the main office
are shown, sometime only the computers at the remote office with the DC,
sometime a mixture of machines from all locations.

Any suggestions or thoughts as to why this happens ??

Much appreciated!

Tom

> At one remote site there is a win2K DC machine, at another there is a
win2k
> machine that is not a DC and at the third there is no server. One machine
at
> the main office is a DNS and WINS server, we have to use wins because of
> some legacy stuff. The DC at the remote office is also a DNS server.

You probably need to WINS to make the BROWSING work and it is
probably setup incorrectly which is causing the problem.

Browsing is a LEGACY NetBIOS application.

> The problem is that when browsing the domain, different computer show up
at
> different times of the day. Sometimes all the computers at the main
office
> are shown, sometime only the computers at the remote office with the DC,
> sometime a mixture of machines from all locations.

You need every "server" (including workstation-peer servers) to be a WINS
client of the same WINS "database."

"Database" does not necessarily mean the same WINS server, but if you have
more than one server they must replicate their database.

General rule: Configure NIC properties of "servers" (including DCs, DNS,
and
WINS servers) to use the proper name servers too.

This is especially important with dynamic registration. WINS is almost
always
dynamic, and today DNS is frequently so.

--
Herb Martin
"Tom Thompson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> All;
>
> There is a rather annoying thing going on with my network that I just
can't
> seem to solve.
>
> We have three remote office that connect to the main office via VPN
> connections created by on the routers at each site.
> At the main office there are four Win2K servers, two of which acts as DCs.
>
> Any suggestions or thoughts as to why this happens ??
>
> Much appreciated!
>
> Tom
>
>