[KLUG Members] WINS using old IP address question

[Mike Williams]

>
> From:
> bill <billtron at billtronservices.com>
>
>
>Sometimes when I log in to a network with a computer I get a different
>IP address than I did logging in last time with the same computer.  This
>might happen by logging in wirelessly or logging in remotely with
>OpenVPN.
>
>For example: 
>
>First time:  192.168.0.100
>Second time: 192.168.0.200
>
>The network has a SMB server and a WINS server.
>  
>
OK, but not relevant to IP addresses.  Those are handed out by a dhcp 
server.

>When I do 
>
>smbclient -L mycomputer
>
>it tries to connect to the old IP address, even when the box is on the
>network with a new IP address.
>  
>
The dhcp and DNS server are supposed to be able to talk to each other, 
and the dhcp server will update dynamic DNS records on the DNS server so 
that you can find dynamic IP machines by their name, whatever their 
current IP address is.  The key phrase here is "supposed to", though.  
I've gotten it to work maybe half the time.  I've heard Adam suggest 
that this is much easier and more reliable if done through LDAP.

>Where do I look to find where it is storing this old IP information?
>
>How do I get it to -check first- before it tries to connect to the old
>address?
>
>Is there a way to announce when logging in, "Hey, I'm over here now!"  ?
>
>  
>
Depends a bit on what version of Windows / samba you're using.  Old 
versions of Windows (pre-2000) didn't use DNS much, so they'd look based 
on NetBIOS names (ask the WINS server).  When NetBIOS names are working 
properly, the machine does announce itself when it powers up, but this 
is a very broken system, and you're better off without it.  Windows 2000 
and later, and Linux/samba prefer DNS lookups to NetBIOS broadcasts or 
WINS queries..

The easiest solution would be to give the samba server a static IP 
address.  Either by not using dhcp on that box or setting up a reserved 
address for that machine on the dhcp server.  A reserved address means 
that this the dhcp server will only give this particular IP to this 
particular MAC address.