Exchange and WINS problem.....are they related?

[Citimouse]

Hi All,

Ok. I cross post this across several group and I sincerely apologize for
that. Reason is I really do not where is the problem and I would be grateful
if someone could help me.

We have 2 domains, in two different countries. One is a Windows 2003 domain
and the other is a NT4 domain. Both site is connected via VPN.

One day, our site (Windows 2000) crashed and upgraded to the current Windows
2003 domain. The two sites has re-establish the trust and validated ok. Both
side have WINS and add each other as replication partner. However, when we
ping each other, we can only ping by IP but not by hostname.

When the Windows 2003 domain try to browse the NT4 domain using the client,
we get an error

"xxx is not accessible. The list of servers for this workgroup is not
currently available."

When we browse from the Windows 2003 domain controller, we get an error,

"xxx is not accessible. you might not have permission to use this network
resource. Contact the administrator of this sever to find out if you have
access permission. The list of servers for this workgroup is not currently
available."

When we do a search on the computer on the NT4 domain using hostname, it is
not able to find anything. If we search by IP, no problem.

There problems may have indirectly affect our connection to our Exchange
server located in the NT4 domain. Again, in the MS Exchange profile, we can
resolve the Exchange server name using IP, not hostname. when we open up
Outlook client in the Windows 2003 domain, it will prompt us for user ID and
password. However, it will gave us an error eventually. the error message is

"Unable to open your default e-mail folders. The information store could not
be open."

In the event log of the Windows 2003 DC, it has this error,

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Wins
Event Category: None
Event ID: 4102
Date: 15-Jan-04
Time: 11:23:22 AM
User: N/A
Computer: OSAN
Description:
The connection was aborted by the remote WINS. Remote WINS may not be
configured to replicate with the server.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 21 03 00 00 08 00 00 e0 !......à


Event Type: Error
Event Source: Wins
Event Category: None
Event ID: 4294
Date: 15-Jan-04
Time: 11:12:59 AM
User: N/A
Computer: OSAN
Description:
The client application does not have the permissions required to execute the
function.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: a2 02 00 00 05 00 00 00 ¢.......

This is what we have done so far.

1. Clear the WINS on both side so it can rebuilt.
2. Add each other WINS server info into the LMHost file.

I am sorry for his long post. Any help is appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[Alex Jauch]

Yes. This is a WINS issue. If you cannot "Ping" via name, Outlook isn't
going to work. A more reliable method is to download "RPC Ping" from the
reskit. Since Outlook uses RPC, this is more accurate test of connectivity
then using the TCP/IP Ping from the command line.

1) DO NOT use LMHOSTS files on WINS servers.
2) DO configure the WINS servers to use THEMSELVES as both primary and
secondary WINS servers.
3) DO Configure both servers for "PUSH/PULL" replication with each other.

If this doesn't solve your problem, take a look at the reskit or TechNet for
related WINS articles. Resolve your WINS issues first, then focus on
Exchange after.

Alex