14.8 Problems Following DFS Junctions with CIFS in Windows 2000/XP Releases

Clients using Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 and Windows XP Service Pack 2 might have problems following DFS junctions over CIFS because of a defect in Windows. (This problem exhibits itself in a pure Windows environment.) When using DFS with NetWare CIFS, the CIFS server and Windows clients are on different IP subnets. In this case, the client must have a way to resolve the CIFS server name in order for DFS to work. This is a Microsoft/CIFS requirement, not a NetWare CIFS requirement.

NOTE:This problem does not affect Windows clients that use the Novell Client™.

There are multiple ways the client can resolve the CIFS server name:

To modify the lmhosts file on a client:

  1. In a text editor, open the lmhosts file.

    • Windows 2000: c:\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc\lmhosts

    • Windows XP: c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\lmhosts

    If you do not have an lmhosts file, use the lmhosts.sam file as an example.

  2. For each volume the user connects to that has a DFS junction, add a line at the end of the file that identifies the IP address and NetBIOS name of the data server where the volume resides.

    192.168.1.1     servername-W

    Replace 192.168.1.1 with the actual IP address and servername with the host name of your server.

    For example, suppose you have the following server with VOL1 that contains one or more DFS junctions:

    • Server IP address: 10.10.1.1

    • Server name: USERSVR

    • NetBIOS server name: USERSVR-W

    • Volume name: VOL1

    The line you add to the lmhosts file would be:

    
10.10.1.1 USERSVR-W

  3. Save and close the lmhosts file.

  4. If necessary, repeat Step 1 to Step 3 on each client computer, or create an lmhosts file and distribute it to the client machines.

  5. On each client, map a network drive to the user’s data volume.

    Continuing the example above, the user could map to \\10.10.1.1\VOL1 or to \\USERSVR-W\VOL1.

    1. In the Windows Explorer file manager, click Tools > Map Network Drive.

    2. In Folder, type one of the following:

      
\\192.168.1.1\volumename

      
\\servername-W\volumename

      Replace 192.168.1.1 with the actual IP address or servername with the host name of your server.

    3. Select Reconnect at Logon.

    4. Click Finish.