This question
should be used to address the skills of an intermediate
level NT Administrator. Any NT Administrator with 2-3 years
of experience should be expected to successfully answer
this question. To answer this question successfully, the
candidate needs to understand basic NT Domain structure,
how the PDC functions, and what part WINS and DNS play in
name resolution.
You
have decided to add an additional backbone to your server
farm to be used strictly for backups. Your network consists
of an NT4 PDC, BDC and WINS server, and a Windows 2000 DNS
server, Exchange 5.5 server and SQL 2000 server. Shortly
after you take your new network live, you encounter problems
with some client PCs being unable to see some of the servers.
What is the problem?
The PDC is adding
backup subnet addresses into the browse list.
The normal function
of the PDC is to create a single domain-wide browse list.
When a PDC is multihomed, it has problems distinguishing
the servers it finds on its separate interfaces. If one
of the networks is private, and it includes that address
into the browse list, client computers will not be able
to see that server. PDCs should not be multihomed for this
reason.
Some other possible answers:
-You must disable
NetBEUI on all servers before making them multihomed.
This is partially correct. If you are using the NetBEUI protocol, and the two networks will communicate with each other, then
NetBEUI must be disabled on one of the two interfaces to
prevent duplicate name conflicts.
Any answers that
suggest the problem lies with WINS or DNS are incorrect.
Both of these technologies can work well multihomed.
About the author
Glenn Basden is an MCSE and systems engineer for SAIC in
sunny California. He shares responsibility for supporting
the servers of a major energy supplier. Glenn has 10+ years
in the IT field, and is currently working on his Citrix
certification.
