Multihomed SNA NT Client Can't Find Local Server over IP

ID: Q214430

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft SNA Server, versions 4.0, 4.0SP1

SYMPTOMS

If an SNA Server Windows NT client is configured to use the TCP/IP transport to communicate with a "local" SNA Server (that is, if the SNA client "locates" servers in an SNA Server subdomain), the SnaBase service may fail to start, and displays the following error message:

SNA Server - ERROR # 1004
SnaBase didn't find any SNA Servers in your domain

This problem can occur if the Windows NT computer is multihomed (that is, is configured with more than one IP address), where the first client IP address is not on the same IP network as an SNA Server.

NOTE: The above error can also occur if the client is separated from the server by an IP router. To solve that problem, configure the SNA Windows NT client as "remote" (that is, "Client locates server by name").

CAUSE

When configured to connect to a local SNA Server over TCP/IP, the SNA Windows NT client sends out its first client IP address. If the server or servers are located on a different IP network, the client fails to receive the server's response.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for SNA Server version 4.0. For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q215838 How to Obtain the Latest SNA Server Version 4.0 Service Pack

WORKAROUND

If Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4 is being used, the following articles may help work around the problem by forcing TCP/IP to return a specific IP address to SNA Server:

Q171320 How to Change the IP Address List Order Returned

Q164023 Fix for Gethostbyname() IP Address Order on Local Multihomed Mac

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft SNA Server. This problem was first corrected in SNA Server version 4.0 Service Pack 3.

Additional query words:

Keywords : sna4sp3fea sna4sp3fix
Version : WINDOWS:4.0,4.0SP1
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbbug