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Howtos - Samba and WINS

Overview

Do you have 3 or more network cards in your ClarkConnect server? Do you have a VPN up and running without a functioning Windows Network Neighborhood? In these two scenarios, you must enable a WINS server in order to browse a Microsoft Network.

We will go through a VPN example to get things going. Our example will take two offices connected over VPN connection. By the end of this Howto, you will be able to create one Windows Network Neighborhood.

What is WINS

Windows machines use broadcast messages to discover other machines on a network. On a single network, PCs will simply just a appear in Network Neighborhood. However, these broadcast messages do not cross over to other networks (e.g. broadcast messages on one end of a VPN network do not go through to the other end of the VPN connection).

WINS -- Windows Internet Name Service -- allows PCs to use Microsoft networking over multiple networks. The architecture for this type of configuration is straightforward:

• You must have one WINS server for your entire network
• All PCs on your network must be configured to use the WINS server

When a PC starts up, the IP address and name are registered with the WINS server. When someone browses the network from this PC, it will use the WINS server to locate other PCs on the entire network (note: this is actually done indirectly).

Make sure your VPN is configured

Before you start with WINS, make sure your VPN is working.

Create a WINS server

Any Windows NT, 2000 and XP machine can be configured to be a WINS server. In our example, however, we are going to use our ClarkConnect machine at the Headquarters. Through the web-based administration, we select Samba/File Sharing in the menu system. We make sure WINS is enabled in our Samba configuration.

Configure DHCP at HQ

We now have a WINS server configured at our Headquarters. We can now add the WINS server to the DHCP server settings on the ClarkConnect machine. All PCs using DHCP will then automatically receive the WINS server settings. We add 192.168.1.1 to the DHCP settings (see screenshot) and select the checkbox. We also stop and start the DHCP server from the Running Services page on the web-based administration tool.

Configure PCs at HQ

We must now configure all of our PCs in the Headquarters to use the WINS server.

If you use static IP addresses for PCs on you network, you must add the WINS server to the network settings (see screenshot for Win 9x). If you use dynamic IP addresses for PCs on your network, you must renew the lease on every PC.

	Warning!

A reboot may not actually renew an IP address (and WINS settings). It is a good idea to force a renewal by using the winipcfg (Windows 9x) or ipconfig (Windows 2000, XP).

Sanity Check: We now have a WINS server and all PCs in our Headquarters using it. We should be able to browse the network from any PC at the Headquarters.

Configure Satellite

Now we are going to work on the other side of the VPN -- the Satellite network @ 192.168.4.x. Every PC and server on the network must use the WINS server at the Headquarters -- this includes ClarkConnect and other Samba servers on your network.

Through the web-based administration on the Satellite ClarkConnect machine, we select Samba/File Sharing in the menu system. We make sure we specify the Headquarters' 192.168.1.1 as our remote WINS server.

Configure DHCP at Satellite

The DHCP server running on the Satellite network should also publish the WINS server. In our example, we are using ClarkConnect for the DHCP server, so we add WINS to the DHCP settings (see screenshot) and select the checkbox. We also stop and start the DHCP server from the Running Services page.

Configure PCs at Satellite

Similar to PCs at Headquarters we configure all the PCs on the Satellite network. The screenshot displays what winipcfg should look like on a Windows 9x PC. Note the Primary WINS server is pointing to the Headquarters machine.

Pat yourself on the back

We are done. We are now able to browse PCs across the VPN connection.

Links

• Samba
• Samba's BROWSING.txt and BROWSING-Config.txt located in /usr/share/doc/samba-version/docs/textdocs on your ClarkConnect server.