How to remap NETBIOS name on W2K3 Server

I have a client that is a marketing company they are migrating to a new file
server this week. They just got me involved in correcting an issue with the
migration.

They have thousands of documents created in Adobe Creative Suite. Each one
of these documents links to dozens or perhaps even hundreds of sub documents.

For instance document 1 may have the following links:
\\server1\share1\document2
\\server1\share2\document2
\\server1\share1\document3

etc.

They moved all the documents to the new file server and instructed their
employees to correct all the broken links in the documents. The employees
have been busy correcting documents for the past week. So now we have many
good docs, and many more broken docs. This has led to a big issue:

1. Adobe PhotoSuite appears to be waiting for a TCP timeout on every broken
document link. This is causing PhotoSuite to crash often.

2. It's ridiculous to fix all these docs. although now since some are fixed
and other docs aren't changing the server name of Server2 to Server1 really
won't work either.

To combat issue 1 immediately I have brought the old Server1 back online
with no shares enabled. This has allowed Adobe to swiftly timeout and not
crash - but doesn't fix the broken links.

What I'd like to do to fix issue 2 is to map the name Server1 to Server2 in
DNS as well. In trying this I've found that SMB file sharing won't work in
this fashion. Even once the name is mapped in DNS I can't browse to the
server over standard windows file sharing.

What can I do so that I can enable this? I believe W2k3 has some
authentication\encryption built into SMB, but I'm having trouble finding
documentation....

It's a low security environment (not a financial company etc) so turning off
the SMB encryption\authentication is a possibility. But even better would be
to simply enable Server2 to be able to repspond as both Server1 and Server2
properly on the network for SMB.

Thanks, Brian Politis.

You can't easily have multiple Netbios Names pointing to the same IP#.
But you can with DNS names.

I don't know how to deal with the existing problem other then to rename the
new server to the same name the old one had,..and it is too late for that
now that they probably have half the documents adjusted by now.

But just don't create the situation in the first place. Create a DNS CNAME
Record called "fileserver" and point it to the Host record for the current
Server. Then use the full DNS Name when linking documents

\\fileserver.mydomain.loc\share1\document1.doc

Then if the server is ever replaced you change the Host Record that the
CNAME Record points to. You might be able to create a second CNAME Record
matching the old server's name and do the same with it,..I don't know, just
a guess,...you can try that and see if it works.

There may be better ways to solve it as well, but that is the most direct
way I can think of off the top of my head.


--
Phillip Windell
www.wandtv.com

The views expressed, are my own and not those of my employer, or Microsoft,
or anyone else associated with me, including my cats.
-----------------------------------------------------

"Brian Politis" <Brian (E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:E3D444A6-BD65-4170-A68B-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have a client that is a marketing company they are migrating to a new
>file
> server this week. They just got me involved in correcting an issue with
> the
> migration.
>
> They have thousands of documents created in Adobe Creative Suite. Each
> one
> of these documents links to dozens or perhaps even hundreds of sub
> documents.
>
> For instance document 1 may have the following links:
> \\server1\share1\document2
> \\server1\share2\document2
> \\server1\share1\document3
>
> etc.
>
> They moved all the documents to the new file server and instructed their
> employees to correct all the broken links in the documents. The employees
> have been busy correcting documents for the past week. So now we have
> many
> good docs, and many more broken docs. This has led to a big issue:
>
> 1. Adobe PhotoSuite appears to be waiting for a TCP timeout on every
> broken
> document link. This is causing PhotoSuite to crash often.
>
> 2. It's ridiculous to fix all these docs. although now since some are
> fixed
> and other docs aren't changing the server name of Server2 to Server1
> really
> won't work either.
>
> To combat issue 1 immediately I have brought the old Server1 back online
> with no shares enabled. This has allowed Adobe to swiftly timeout and not
> crash - but doesn't fix the broken links.
>
> What I'd like to do to fix issue 2 is to map the name Server1 to Server2
> in
> DNS as well. In trying this I've found that SMB file sharing won't work
> in
> this fashion. Even once the name is mapped in DNS I can't browse to the
> server over standard windows file sharing.
>
> What can I do so that I can enable this? I believe W2k3 has some
> authentication\encryption built into SMB, but I'm having trouble finding
> documentation....
>
> It's a low security environment (not a financial company etc) so turning
> off
> the SMB encryption\authentication is a possibility. But even better would
> be
> to simply enable Server2 to be able to repspond as both Server1 and
> Server2
> properly on the network for SMB.
>
> Thanks, Brian Politis.
>
>
>

Actually I shouldn't have used the term NETBIOS. I was thinking of old MS
networking. It's a W2k3 domain and I did setup a CNAME entry in DNS.
HOwever I couldn't access the server this way. I did find technote about
this and making the suggested regedit resolved the problem.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/281308






"Brian Politis" wrote:

> I have a client that is a marketing company they are migrating to a new file
> server this week. They just got me involved in correcting an issue with the
> migration.
>
> They have thousands of documents created in Adobe Creative Suite. Each one
> of these documents links to dozens or perhaps even hundreds of sub documents.
>
> For instance document 1 may have the following links:
> \\server1\share1\document2
> \\server1\share2\document2
> \\server1\share1\document3
>
> etc.
>
> They moved all the documents to the new file server and instructed their
> employees to correct all the broken links in the documents. The employees
> have been busy correcting documents for the past week. So now we have many
> good docs, and many more broken docs. This has led to a big issue:
>
> 1. Adobe PhotoSuite appears to be waiting for a TCP timeout on every broken
> document link. This is causing PhotoSuite to crash often.
>
> 2. It's ridiculous to fix all these docs. although now since some are fixed
> and other docs aren't changing the server name of Server2 to Server1 really
> won't work either.
>
> To combat issue 1 immediately I have brought the old Server1 back online
> with no shares enabled. This has allowed Adobe to swiftly timeout and not
> crash - but doesn't fix the broken links.
>
> What I'd like to do to fix issue 2 is to map the name Server1 to Server2 in
> DNS as well. In trying this I've found that SMB file sharing won't work in
> this fashion. Even once the name is mapped in DNS I can't browse to the
> server over standard windows file sharing.
>
> What can I do so that I can enable this? I believe W2k3 has some
> authentication\encryption built into SMB, but I'm having trouble finding
> documentation....
>
> It's a low security environment (not a financial company etc) so turning off
> the SMB encryption\authentication is a possibility. But even better would be
> to simply enable Server2 to be able to repspond as both Server1 and Server2
> properly on the network for SMB.
>
> Thanks, Brian Politis.
>
>
>

It might have been a try :
copy the files from server 1 to server 2 (including the ntfs / access
rights)
remove serv1 from domain (to get the name free)
bring uo serv2 with the old name into domain
jk