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Q137066: Local Netware Connections may be Dropped

Article: Q137066
Product(s): Microsoft Windows NT
Version(s): 3.5 3.51 4.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbnetwork
Last Modified: 02-FEB-2002

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation versions 3.5, 3.51, 4.0 
- Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.5, 3.51, 4.0 
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SYMPTOM
-------

On your computer running Windows NT, your local network connections to
NetWare servers are disconnected without warning when you connect to a
remote NetWare Server.

This problem occurs if your Windows NT client uses the Windows NT Gateway
Services for NetWare (GSNW) to connect to a preferred NetWare server that
is across a router and the router is configured to forward SAP packets only
in the direction from the remote network to the local network, but not vice
versa.

CAUSE
=====

Because the router is configured to forward SAP packets only in one direction,
the remote NetWare server is disjointed from your local LAN. Therefore, it
cannot learn about the presence of your local NetWare servers and store that
information in its bindery for your computer's future use.

Just like all Novell NetWare redirectors, the Microsoft GSNW is not capable of
connecting to disjointed NetWare networks simultaneously, because it relies on
the bindery of a single NetWare server to obtain the list of available NetWare
servers. This is a design limitation of the IPX/SPX protocol.

RESOLUTION
==========

There are three possible resolutions to this problem:

- On the Windows NT server, set up a local persistent share that points to the
  local NetWare server and ask the local users connect to the Windows NT shares
  before they access the remote NetWare server.

  -or-

- Set the preferred NetWare servers to a NetWare server on the same subnet as
  the Windows NT server and establish a persistent connection.

  -or-

- Configure the router to forward SAPs in both directions.

Additional query words: prodnt

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Keywords          : kbnetwork 
Technology        : kbWinNTsearch kbWinNTWsearch kbWinNTW400 kbWinNTW400search kbWinNT351search kbWinNT350search kbWinNT400search kbWinNTW350 kbWinNTW350search kbWinNTW351search kbWinNTW351 kbWinNTSsearch kbWinNTS400search kbWinNTS400 kbWinNTS351 kbWinNTS350 kbWinNTS351search kbWinNTS350search
Version           : 3.5 3.51 4.0

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