Delays Connecting to NetWare Servers in Mixed Network

ID: Q194827

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 98
Microsoft Windows 95

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.

SYMPTOMS

When you are working in a mixed network server environment, connecting to Novell NetWare servers (using Novell's IntraNetWare Client [Client32] version 2.2) and to Microsoft Windows NT and other SMB-based servers (using Microsoft's Client for Microsoft Networks), connecting to a NetWare server may sometimes take a long time.

CAUSE

This problem can occur if all of the following conditions exist:

TCP/IP is used to connect to Microsoft Network servers.

The IPX/SPX-compatible protocol and Novell's IntraNetWare Client 2.2 are used to connect to NetWare servers.

Domain Name Service (DNS) is used to resolve TCP/IP network names.

The NetWare server is running TCP/IP in addition to the IPX/SPX- compatible protocol.

The NetWare server's TCP/IP address is registered with the DNS server, with a DNS name identical to the NetWare server name.

Under these conditions, Windows attempts to resolve the server name first using the NetWare network client, then using the Microsoft Networking client. When the NetWare server does not respond to the request to resolve the server name using Service Advertising Protocol (SAP), the Microsoft Networking client attempts to resolve the name using DNS. Because the NetWare server is registered with the DNS server, the DNS server may be able to resolve the NetWare server name sooner than the NetWare server itself can respond to the SAP request.

If this behavior occurs when the conditions listed above exist, the NetWare server name may be incorrectly marked as a Microsoft (SMB-based) server name when it is saved in the local registry. Subsequently, attempts to connect to that server name refer to the information stored in the registry and use the Microsoft Networking client first, and try to connect using the NetWare client only after the first attempt times out. Because of the length of the time-outs specified for DNS name resolution and TCP/IP connection operations, it may take one minute or more for the first attempt to connect to the NetWare server to time out, after which Windows tries to connect using the NetWare client.

RESOLUTION

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys and Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it. If you are running Windows NT, you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).

You can work around this issue by using any of the following methods:

Use the Microsoft Client for NetWare Networks to connect to NetWare servers, instead of the Novell IntraNetWare Client. (Upgrading the Novell IntraNetWare Client may also resolve the problem causing slow responses to SAP requests.)

Do not register the NetWare server with DNS with a DNS name identical to the NetWare server name.

Edit the registry value for the incorrectly cached server name entry so that it is correctly recognized as a NetWare server instead of a Microsoft Networking (SMB-based) server.

These values are located under the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\VCACHE\Lookup\ServerNameCache
This key contains a number of values with names of the form "Key<####>" where <####> is a number from 0000 through the maximum number of cached server names.
1. In Registry Editor, locate this key and these values, double-click each value in turn, and examine the value data. Do not make any changes to the value data.
2. When you identify the value containing the name of the server that you are having trouble connecting to, note the numeric portion of the value name (Key<####>).
3. In the same registry key, locate the value with a name of the form "Data<####>" where <####> is the numeric portion of the Key<####> value from step 2 above. Each of these values contain four bytes of data, represented as four pairs of hexadecimal digits. Note the value of the third of these four pairs. The value of this byte indicates which networking client is associated with this server name. A value of 02 indicates a Microsoft Networking server. A value of 03 indicates a Novell NetWare server.
4. If the server type in the Data<####> value is incorrect (02 instead of 03 for a NetWare server), double-click the Data<####> value to edit its value data. Double-click the third pair of digits to select it, type 03, and then click OK.
5. Quit Registry Editor and restart Windows for the change to take effect.
Once a server name is cached correctly, it will not normally change to an incorrect value.

A supported fix for Windows 95 and Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2, 2.1, and 2.5 that corrects this problem is now available from Microsoft, but has not been fully regression tested and should be applied only to computers experiencing this specific problem. To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Technical Support to obtain the fix.

This fix for Windows 95 (retail release) should have the following file attributes (or later):
```
      File name    Version    Date       Time     Size
      --------------------------------------------------------
      Vcache.vxd   4.00.950   11/18/97   7:58pm   19,590 bytes 
```
This fix for Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2, 2.1, and 2.5 should have the following file attributes (or later):
```
      File name    Version     Date       Time     Size
      ---------------------------------------------------------
      Vcache.vxd   4.00.1111   10/31/97   4:09pm   41,752 bytes 
```
This fix allows the Server Name cache to be disabled entirely, if the following registry value is set to a data value of zero:
```
      Key:   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\ 
                VCACHE\Lookup\ServerNameCache
      Value: MaxElements
      Data:  00 00 00 00   (to disable Server Name Cache) 
```
The package that installs this hotfix automatically sets this registry value to zero to disable the Server Name cache.

With this value set to zero, the Server Name cache is not used when resolving network server names, and new entries are not added to the Server Name cache as server names are resolved.

This functionality is included in Microsoft Windows 98, and can be enabled by setting the "MaxElements" registry value to zero, as documented above.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Windows 95 and OEM Service Release 2 (OSR2).

MORE INFORMATION

This issue is documented in the Novell Knowledge Base as document 2929988, "Slow Client Performance Due to DNS Query." The Novell Knowledge Base can be accessed from the following Internet location:

http://support.novell.com

The third-party contact information included in this article is provided to help you find the technical support you need. This contact information is subject to change without notice. Microsoft in no way guarantees the accuracy of this third-party contact information.

For additional information about Windows 95 updates, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

ARTICLE-ID: Q161020
TITLE : Implementing Windows 95 Updates

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbnetwork 3rdpartynet win95 win98
Version : WINDOWS:95
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbprb