[AccessD] OT: Wireless network (sort of)

Master Browser is different than DHCP.  It's a "behind
the scenes" thing.

When a computer is added to the network a browser
election is forced, to see who will be the domain's
master browser.  There is a long convoluted formula
that Windows uses to determine this.  It's based on
OS, hardware, anda few other things I disremember at
the moment.

The winner of this election is the one that hands out
the information that you see when you click on Network
Neighborhood.

--- John Colby <jcolby at colbyconsulting.com> wrote:
> Browse master?  What about the DHCP Server, I
> thought that was its purpose.
> My router hands out addresses.
> 
> John W. Colby
> www.colbyconsulting.com
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]On
> Behalf Of Jim Dettman
> Sent: Friday, October 31, 2003 9:53 AM
> To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
> Subject: RE: [AccessD] OT: Wireless network (sort
> of)
> 
> 
> Rocky,
> 
>   Some FYI stuff:
> 
> <<I heard that you can daisy chain hubs off one of
> the ports on your router
> to
> get more ports and that you can go up to 255 devices
> from one router this
> way.  Seems to easy and cheap, though.>>
> 
>   Yes you can do that but you should not go more
> then 3 levels deep.  If you
> do, the latency will become too high (time it takes
> for a packet to flow
> through the network).  In a home network, that would
> never happen, but it
> can in a business and is something you need to watch
> out for, because it can
> happen easily.  Especially with employees who
> install WAP (wireless access
> points) on their own.
> 
> <<I've also found that when creating a new network
> it sometimes takes a few
> minutes for the different shared devices to 'see'
> each other - especially on
> the wireless.  So I'll whang around frustrated
> trying to get the network to
> work and then have the same experience you had -
> after a few minutes,
> suddenly the other machines are in my network
> neighborhood.  Go figure.>>
> 
>  That's because of the way LAN manager and NETBIOS
> works (Win 9x and NT
> networking).  When a PC boots up, it broadcasts it
> workgroup name and
> computer name.  One PC on the network acts as a
> "browse master", which keeps
> a list of what's on the network.  Other PC's then
> need to contact the browse
> master to get the list for network neighborhood. 
> The browse master is
> usually the first PC booted on the network.  If it
> can't see a browse master
> already on the network, then it elects itself to
> becomes one.  Often, this
> causes problem when (for whatever reason) it can now
> talk to another PC
> which thinks it is a browse master.  They have to go
> through an arbitration
> process to figure out who should get the job.  This
> involves a considerable
> amount of overhead.
> 
>   Because of all of the above, the net result is
> that it can take 10 or 15
> minutes for a workgroup or computer to show up in
> network neighborhood.  In
> a large network, it can take even longer (sometimes
> 30 - 45 minutes).
> 
>   You can circumvent all this in a home network if
> you keep one station on
> all the time by setting that PC to always be the
> browse master.  You do that
> through network properties, File and Print sharing
> For Microsoft Networks,
> and changing the Browse  Master setting from
> automatic to enabled or
> disabled as appropriate (only one station should be
> enabled for the entire
> network).
> 
>   Last, you can often clear up problems without
> rebooting by dropping to the
> command prompt and doing: nbtstat -R , which forces
> a reload of the name
> cache.  You can see what's in the current cache by
> doing nbtstat -c.  The
> net view command also shows you the network in a
> non-graphical format
> (Network neighborhood is built on top of that
> command).
> 
> HTH,
> Jim Dettman
> President,
> Online Computer Services of WNY, Inc.
> (315) 699-3443
> jimdettman at earthlink.net
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]On
> Behalf Of Rocky Smolin -
> Beach Access Software
> Sent: Friday, October 31, 2003 8:33 AM
> To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
> Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: Wireless network (sort
> of)
> 
> 
> John:
> 
> I heard that you can daisy chain hubs off one of the
> ports on your router to
> get more ports and that you can go up to 255 devices
> from one router this
> way.  Seems to easy and cheap, though.
> 
> I've also found that when creating a new network it
> sometimes takes a few
> minutes for the different shared devices to 'see'
> each other - especially on
> the wireless.  So I'll whang around frustrated
> trying to get the network to
> work and then have the same experience you had -
> after a few minutes,
> suddenly the other machines are in my network
> neighborhood.  Go figure.
> 
> Rocky
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John Colby" <jcolby at colbyconsulting.com>
> To: "Database Advisors Inc. (Tech)"
> <Dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com>;
> "AccessD" <AccessD at databaseadvisors.com>
> Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 5:39 PM
> Subject: [AccessD] OT: Wireless network (sort of)
> 
> 
> > I ordered a Netgear MR814v2 Wireless router a
> couple of weeks ago.  I
> needed
> > to expand my 4 port router (I had 5 things I kept
> needing to plug in) and
> > the Netgear was on sale at www.Newegg.com at the
> time.  I then tried and
> > failed to install a linksys WPC11v2.5 I had laying
> around, so I ordered a
> > dlink dwl-650 that was on sale (rebate) at
> www.newegg.com.  Long story
> > short, it didn't work.  Long story a little
> longer, a very long call to
> > dlink tech support, did not solve the problem.
> >
> > Or maaaaaybe it did.  After failing to figure
> anything out, they
> recommended
> > that I upgrade my laptop bios.  It's an ancient
> (now) 233mhz PII Toshiba
> > Satellite 4000 that I bought with my first
> paycheck from my trip to work
> for
> > Mr. Breen in Dublin Ireland back in hmmm.....
> November 1997?  Getting a
> bit
> > long in the tooth, truth be told.
> >
> > The bios upgrade and also the old "turn off NAV
> before installing etc.
> And
> > "oh by the way, our card requires at least a 300
> mhz processor.  So I
> > uninstalled, upgraded to the latest bios (May
> 2000?), turned off NAV,
> > reinstalled the drivers and re-installed the card.
>  Still no joy.  The
> site
> > survey showed no transmitters, and dlink tech
> support assured me that if
> > there was a transmitter I would see it regardless.
> >
> > Ignorant liars!
> >
> > Went back in and reconfigured the card in the
> laptop for channel 11 (it
> > defaulted to 3 and the router was on 11), played
> around with a couple of
> > other things and boom, I see a transmitter.  Went
> in to the router config
> 
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