At work we have a network of about 500 PCs. We have them divided into
five subnets on cisco layer three switches. If we add IPX type 20 to
the switches we can see all of the PCs in the other subnets provided
IPX type 20 is running on that subnet. Is there anyway we can make it
so we dont have to use IPX type 20 and see all of our PCs on our
workgroup/domain? I don't see why we would have to use this
considering all of the PCs also use IP. I know NetBEUI wont pass
through routers, but we should still be able to see computers in other
subnets without IPX type 20 on.

This is my first time using Google answers and I just want to see how
well it works so I picked this as my first question to ask. Thanks

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Request for Question Clarification by cerebrate-ga on 11 Feb 2003 10:14 PST

Dear brodel-ga,

Thank you for your interest in Google Answers; I hope you'll be
pleased with the service.

I just need to ask a couple of questions about your setup to determine
the best solution for you. First, could you tell me which operating
system version(s) you're running on the PCs in question? And second,
could you tell me if you have DNS, WINS, or both set up and running on
your network?

Thanks,

cerebrate-ga

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Clarification of Question by brodel-ga on 11 Feb 2003 11:24 PST

Thanks for your quick response. The PCs in question are mostly Windows
NT machines and a very small precentage are Windows 2000. We have DNS
and WINS servers at another site that all of our computers here use.
The DNS and WINS info is distributed through DHCP to all of our PCs
here.

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Clarification of Question by brodel-ga on 14 Feb 2003 07:01 PST

We have the ip helper on each subnet pointing to our DNS\DHCP server.

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Clarification of Question by brodel-ga on 14 Feb 2003 07:04 PST

We have the ip helper address on each subnet pointing to our DNS/DHCP
server.

Memo below is a sample of our configuration. I have changed the
passwords and some IP addresses for security reasons, but it's the
same. It's a 6509 series switch. We do have routers, but with what we
are having problems with we are only concerned with the PCs that are
connected to this switch at the moment.

CONFIG:

MSFC1#sh runn 
Building configuration... 
  
Current configuration : 5347 bytes 
! 
! Last configuration change at 08:04:04 EST Thu Jan 9 2003 
! NVRAM config last updated at 08:04:17 EST Thu Jan 9 2003 
! 
version 12.1 
service timestamps debug datetime localtime 
service timestamps log datetime localtime 
! 
hostname MSFC1 
! 
boot system bootflash:c6msfc2-dsv-mz.26-8b.E7 
boot bootldr bootflash:c6msfc2-boot-mz.26-8a.E3 
logging trap notifications 
logging 10.26.1.1 
! 
clock timezone EST -5 
clock summer-time EDT recurring 
ip subnet-zero 
! 
! 
no ip domain-lookup 
! 
ip multicast-routing 
ipx routing 0001.0001.0001 
! 
! 
interface Vlan1 
 ip address 10.26.1.251 255.255.255.0 
 no ip redirects 
 standby 1 priority 200 preempt 
 standby 1 ip 10.26.1.250 
! 
interface Vlan2 
 ip address 10.26.2.251 255.255.255.0 
 no ip redirects 
 ipx network A7902C80 encapsulation SAP 
 standby 2 priority 200 preempt 
 standby 2 ip 10.26.2.250 
! 
interface Vlan3 
 ip address 10.26.3.251 255.255.255.0 
 no ip redirects 
 ip directed-broadcast 
 ip pim sparse-dense-mode 
 ipx network A7903C80 encapsulation SAP 
 standby 3 priority 200 preempt 
 standby 3 ip 10.26.3.250 
! 
interface Vlan4 
 ip address 10.26.4.251 255.255.255.0 
 no ip redirects 
 ip directed-broadcast 
 ip pim sparse-dense-mode 
 ipx network A7904C80 encapsulation SAP 
 standby 4 priority 200 preempt 
 standby 4 ip 10.26.4.250 
! 
interface Vlan10 
 ip address 10.26.10.251 255.255.255.0 
 ip helper-address 10.26.3.10 
 no ip redirects 
 ip directed-broadcast 
 ip pim sparse-dense-mode 
 ip cgmp 
 ipx network A790AC80 encapsulation SAP 
 ipx type-20-propagation 
 standby 10 priority 200 preempt 
 standby 10 ip 10.26.10.250 
! 
interface Vlan20 
 ip address 10.26.20.251 255.255.255.0 
 ip helper-address 10.26.3.10 
 no ip redirects 
 ip directed-broadcast 
 ip pim sparse-dense-mode 
 ip cgmp 
 ipx network A7914C80 encapsulation SAP 
 ipx type-20-propagation 
 standby 20 priority 200 preempt 
 standby 20 ip 10.26.20.250 
! 
interface Vlan25 
 ip address 10.26.25.251 255.255.255.0 
 ip helper-address 10.26.3.10 
 no ip redirects 
 ip directed-broadcast 
 ip pim sparse-dense-mode 
 ip cgmp 
 ipx network A7919C80 encapsulation SAP 
 ipx type-20-propagation 
 standby 25 priority 200 preempt 
 standby 25 ip 10.26.25.250 
! 
router eigrp 1 
 network 10.26.0.0 0.0.255.255 
 no auto-summary 
 no eigrp log-neighbor-changes 
! 
ip classless 
ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 10.26.2.254 
ip route 10.215.75.0 255.255.255.0 10.26.215.5 
ip route 10.215.76.0 255.255.255.0 10.26.215.5 
ip http server 
! 
access-list 99 permit 10.26.1.0 0.0.0.255 
access-list 99 permit 10.26.10.0 0.0.0.255 
! 
! 
! 
^C 
alias exec si show ip int brief 
! 
line con 0 
 exec-timeout 0 0 
line vty 0 4 
 access-class 99 in 
 password 
 login 
! 
ntp master 4 
ntp peer 10.26.1.252 
end

Use the IP Helper address in the cisco routers. basically one PC in
each subnet must be the master browser.( list of PCs in that subnet),
and the ip helper say all the broadcast type pf messages pass it to
this PC,( the browser).

I am not sure how this would be done. To my knowledge the master
browser is elected within the windows OS itself and requires no
settings from any administrators or users. (If there are ways to
change these settings please let me know.) I don't have much knowledge
in cisco yet so I am not sure even how I would go about using this IP
helper address.
Anyone have anymore information on this method?

If you reset the subnet mask on all machines to the same in the
network options it should work, i had the same prob.

Do you have any routers in your network or only have a switch. This
switch has  VLAN's. Because, if you have Vlan's you need a
interconnect these Vlan's.
PLease, let me see your information.

Hi Brodel,
You do not need IPX. If you do not need it for other purposes, please
remove all IPX lines from your configuration and from all your devices
(PCs, Net printers, routers). It is just waste your bandwidth and CPU
time of your computers.

This is about browsing mechanism. Browsing is a different subject than
the name resolution but has relations.

First of all, you should check following links to better understanding
the browsing problems.
 
117633 - How Browsing a Wide Area Network Works
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;117633

120151 - Browsing a Wide Area Network with WINS
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;120151

136712 - Common Questions About Browsing with Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;136712

for other articles search Microsoft knowledge base
keywords: NT browsing

You can use Browser Monitor (browmon.exe) from NT resource kit to see
your current browsers, but it will not help too much to fix your
problem.
You also need to see WINS database (it is more important than browser
monitor) by WINS Manager.

IP helper lines on your configuration required for DHCP. Your client
makes broadcasts for searching DHCP servers and your gateway redirect
this broadcast to DHCP server. Keep those lines.

If you cannot solve your problem please explain your domain
structure(if it is not a single domain) and WINS Structure (if your
network has more than one WINS Server). Output of ipconfig /all
command on any client also will be helpful for all researchers. Of
course you can change IP addresses and domain names.

Short notice to memo_arg the configuration written above is
configuration of Multilayer Switch Feature Card (some kind of built-in
router within switch like RSM).