IPX Clients Fail to Obtain A Sponsor Connection

• Microsoft SNA Server, versions 3.0, 3.0SP1, 3.0SP2

SYMPTOMS

After upgrading an SNA Server 2.11 Windows NT or Windows 95 client workstation (attached via Netware IPX/SPX) to SNA Server 3.0, 3.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1) or SP2, the workstation may fail to obtain a sponsor connection to an SNA Server.

CAUSE

An SNA Server 3.0 Windows NT or Windows 95 client may issue a Get General Server query in an attempt to locate a sponsor SNA server. When the client workstation receives the query reply, it will attempt to contact the first server in the list that is provided. The client will then create an IPX connection to the remote server and query the bindery for the address of the sponsor server. In certain situations, possibly due to SAP filtering strategies, the remote bindery based server will not have the IPX address and SAP type (0x444) registered for the intended SNA Server and the connection attempt will fail.

STATUS

A correction has been made to the SNA Server client IPX interface (SNANCP.DLL) which forces the SNA IPX client to query with a Get Nearest Server request first before attempting to use a Get General Server query.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in SNA Server versions 3.0, 3.0 SP1, and 3.0 SP2.

A supported fix is now available for SNA 3.0, but has not been fully regression tested and should be applied only to systems experiencing this specific problem. Unless you are severely impacted by this specific problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Service Pack that contains this fix. Contact Microsoft Product Support Services for more information.

This problem is fixed in the original retail release of SNA Server 4.0.

MORE INFORMATION

With this SNA Server client update applied, the following registry entry can be used to force the client to use only Get General Server queries if required. It also works with SNA Server version 4.0.

For Windows NT Clients

 Subtree:   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
 Key:       \SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SnaBase\Parameters\SnaSpx
 Type:      REG_SZ
 Value:     UseGeneralQuery=YES

 Subtree:   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
 Key:       \SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SnaBase\Parameters\SnaSpx
 Type:      REG_SZ
 Value:     UseGeneralQuery=YES

Keywords          : kbbug3.00 kbbug3.00.sp1 prodsna snabaseservice snawin95 snawinnt kbbug3.00.sp2 kbbuglist
Version           : WINDOWS:3.0,3.0SP1,3.0SP2
Platform          : WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbbug
Solution Type     : kbfix