I have a Windows 2003 server with SP2 that is a member server (ServerA) of the only domain on the network. At least one other server, and all of the workstations on the network, can ping Server A and get a response using both hostname and IP address. ServerA cannot ping or be pinged by ServerC and it does not show up in the server list when browsing the network. When I key in \\ServerA in the navigation bar in Windows Explorer on from a worksation I can see all the network shares on the server. When I do the same thing from Server C it times out with a message that server cannot be located on the network. ServerB and ServerC can see and ping each other fine, as can all other servers and workstations on the network. When I do the Windows Explorer search on Server A it says that the domain is not available. But I key in \\ServerB and the shares show up. NetDiag does not detect any issues when I run it on ServerA. No errors are present in the event logs on any of the servers. They are all running Windows 2003 with SP2 and Windows firewall is not running on any of them. There is no port blocking software on any of the machines.

hi frizzb , thank you for posting in windows netwroking forums, After reading the post i understood that issue is accessing the server A from server C , so problem is with server A not accepting any communication. i would like to you to provide the ipadderss configuration of Server A Server C secondly, can you please restart the server A in safe mode with networking and check the connectivity after analyzing the output will further troubleshoot.sainath !analyze

Hi Frizzb, Please also describe the current domain environment and route structure in deails.Meanwhile, we may collect the MPSReport from the Server A for further troubleshooting. 1. Download proper MPS Report tool from the website below. Microsoft Product Support Reportshttp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=CEBF3C7C-7CA5-408F-88B7-F9C79B7306C0&displaylang=en 2. Double-click to run it, if requirement is not met, please follow the wizard to download and install them. After that, click Next, when the "Select the diagnostics you want to run" page appears, select "General", Internet and Networking, Business Networks, Server Components, click Next. 3. After collecting all log files, choose "Save the results", choose a folder to save <Computername>MPSReports.cab file. Please send the files to me directly at tfwst@microsoft.com Thanks, Miles

Thanks for replies! I ran the MPS Report tool and passedalong the cab file results to the email addresss though the output was of significant size. Prior to posting the issue I had rebooted ServerA several times, though not into safe mode with Networking. Network connectivity to and from ServerA is available in terms of pings and responses; the affected server (ServerA) just does not communicate or see ServerC. ServerC is one of our network DCs.

Hi Frizzb, thanks for the info, i have 2 questions , so the issue is that from server A you are unable to access server C a) are you able to access any other server shares from server A by typing \\IPaddress can you check if the port 445 is blocked on server A by performing a telnet localhost 445 , this should not give you any error message b) please check safe mode with networking option c) When you said server C is a DC , does your clients authenticate to the DC , i mean is your server A part of domain ? or workgroup.if it is in domain ,then server A netlogon process should communicate to the server during logon and should be able to access sysvol folder. sainath !analyze

Sainath, Below are the responses to your questions. thanks for your help.a. From Windows Explorer on ServerA when keying a path to the remote machine on the network, for example \\dss-backup\C$ and hitting enter the administrative shares for the remote machine appear. This seems to be successful for several remote machines. When drilling down on My Network Places, Entire Network, Microsoft Windows Network, then on our domain name, the system pauses and after 45-60 seconds a message appears that says: "the domain is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administror of this server to find out if you have access permissions. The list of servers for this workgroup is not currently available." From Windows Explorer on ServerC when keying the path to ServerA (\\ServerA\) the messaage appears that "Windws cannot find \\ServerA, Check the spelling and try again, or try searching for the item by clicking the Start button and then clicking search." From Windows Explorer on ServerB when keying the path to ServerA (\\ServerA\) the shares appear. b. Restarting ServerA in Safe Mode with networking results in no change in behavior. c. ServerA is a member server in the domain of which ServerC is the domain controller. Below is the ipconfig information for both ServerA and ServerC: The IPConfig /All information is below. ServerC ipconfig /all Windows IP Configuration Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : ServerCPrimary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : Datxsuportx.comNode Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : HybridIP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : NoWINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : NoDNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : Datxsuportx.com Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom BCM5708C NetXtreme II GigE (NDISVBD Client)Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-16-8C-33-F0-39DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : NoIP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 111.111.111.40Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 111.111.111.45DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 111.111.111.194111.111.111.40Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 111.111.111.194 ServerA Windows IP Configuration Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : ServerAPrimary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : Datxsuportx.comNode Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : HybridIP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : NoWINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : NoDNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : Datxsuportx.com Ethernet adapter Internal NIC: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Datxsuportx.comDescription . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom BCM5708C NetXtreme II GigE (NDISVBD Client)Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-17-8F-39-9K-B5DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : NoIP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 111.111.111.30Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 111.111.111.194111.111.111.40Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 111.111.111.194 Ethernet adapter External NIC: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom BCM5708C NetXtreme II GigE (NDISVBD Client) #2Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-17-8F-39-9K-B5DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : NoIP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 96.128.201.134Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.240Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 96.128.201.129DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 96.128.201.131 Results of ping attempts from ServerA to ServerB and ServerC: C:\Documents and Settings\administrator.>ping 111.111.111.40 (ServerC)Pinging 111.111.111.40 with 32 bytes of data:Request timed out.Request timed out.Request timed out.Request timed out.Ping statistics for 111.111.111.40: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),C:\Documents and Settings\administrator.>ping ServerCPinging dss-admin1.datasupport.com [111.111.111.40] with 32 bytes of data:Request timed out.Request timed out.Request timed out.Request timed out.Ping statistics for 111.111.111.40: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss), C:\Documents and Settings\administrator.>Ping ServerBPinging dss-w2kadmin.Datasupport.com [111.111.111.194] with 32 bytes of data:Reply from 111.111.111.194: bytes=32 time=13ms TTL=128Reply from 111.111.111.194: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128Reply from 111.111.111.194: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128Reply from 111.111.111.194: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128Ping statistics for 111.111.111.194: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds: Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 13ms, Average = 3ms

Hi there, i was going through the ipconfig result and i found the folloiwing Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Datxsuportx.comDescription . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom BCM5708C NetXtreme II GigE (NDISVBD Client)Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-17-8F-39-9K-B5DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : NoIP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 111.111.111.30Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 111.111.111.194111.111.111.40Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 111.111.111.194there is no Default gateway address for this NIC , can you please confirm if you have observed earliersainath !analyze

Sainath, Yes, you are correct; the internal NIC does not have a default gateway assigned. The external NIC has one and since the 2 NICs are on different subnets they cannot have default gateways on different subnets without causing an issue. That was a observant catch, but this setup has been working well for 3+ years. The issue only recently (3-4 days) appeared. There have been no changes in the network configuration, domain membership, or DNS entries.

hi frizzb, Thanks for the info, You have to correct this setup , you need to provide appropriate DG for the NIC , i am afraid the PC's are communicating with the help of ARP cache.how does these systems communicating without DG ? can you issue arp-d command on the server A and check the ping status. ( arp -d will clear the cache ) checks--------a) Need of 2nd NIC ( 92.xxx.xxx.xxx) b) DG information and assignment c) you need to review the architecture of your domain / subnetsainath !analyze

Sainath, I understand what you're referring to, but this server has been multi-homed (with an internal and external nic) since the server was built and added to the domain several years ago. I cleared the cache using arp -d on ServerA, and re-pinged: no change.Responses to your checks:a. Second NIC is needed as ServerA is the domain mail server and this second NIC communicates to our external SMTP server. b. DG information and assignment on the server has not changed since the server was commissioned.c. While the architecture of the domain is not what I would have implemented had I a built it from scratch, it has been functioning without this issue until 3-4 days ago. I am open to re-designing it in the near future but would like to resolve this new issue prior to making any large scale changes.

Hi frizz, ideal suggestion is to have single DG for a multihomed NIC, but if you need to add any of the gateway address, then you do it using command line ( ROUTE ADD) . So keeping this in mind that you have appropriate route for all the interfaces ( you could check this using ROUTE PRINT ) , i will deviate from this and move on to different thinking. When drilling down on My Network Places, Entire Network, Microsoft Windows Network, then on our domain name, the system pauses and after 45-60 seconds a message appears that says: "the domain is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administror of this server to find out if you have access permissions. The list of servers for this workgroup is not currently available." i was reading these lines and while you are trying to browse you are receiving domain not accessible which is interesting , usually browsing a host requires computer browser service to be running. I would like to perform a small test , is it possible for you to disjoin and re-join the server A into domain ?sainath !analyze

Sainath, It is possible for me to remove ServerA from the domain and re-add it, though I will likely need to wait until after hours Friday to do this as ServerA is our production mail server and currently mail is being delivered without issue and I do not want to risk mail going down tonight and it not being available Friday. I know the likelihood of an issue that impacts mail is low, but then so are the odds of having an issue where 2 servers in the same rack that have been communicating for years all of the sudden stop being able to see each other. As my luck would have it I would remove ServerA from the domain and I would lose mail functionality. I can risk that on Friday night as I would have all weekend to restore it.

Hi frizzb, I understand, the suggestion of disjoining and rejoining was only to make sure the secure channel is good between the DC and the Client and as of now i do not suggest / recommend you to restart the server which will have high impact on the mail server.Anyways we can park that idea aside , and can you please let me know the event id getting logged on the server A ?from server A try mapping a drive on to the server C and get the error message ( if an) It might be funny but can you have a complete system scan for virus. from server A what are the message you receive when you do the below start --> run -> \\IPaddress (server C) \\netbios name of server c \\FQDN of server c can you ping FQDN of serverC from server A ?sainath !analyze

Hi frizzb, good day..thought of asking if were able to fix the problem ? , if so please do let us know the resolution.sainath !analyze

Hi, If there is any update on this issue, please feel free to let me know. We are looking forward to your reply.