Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!uunet!microsoft!dannygl
From: dannygl@microsoft.UUCP (Danny GLASSER)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans
Subject: Re: LAN Manager Server syncs?
Message-ID: <58935@microsoft.UUCP>
Date: 9 Nov 90 00:53:57 GMT
References: <38470005@hpindwa.cup.hp.com>
Reply-To: dannygl@microsoft.UUCP (Danny GLASSER)
Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA
Lines: 26

In article <38470005@hpindwa.cup.hp.com> raj@hpindwa.cup.hp.com (Rick Jones) writes:
>
>I am told that the periodic server name broadcasts of LAN Manager RFC
>NetBIOS will tend to sync-up over time. Aparently, if one server sees
>a name packet from another server, it will immediately send-out its
>name, and reset its name-send timer.
>
>Is this really true??? Assuming it is, what would people say should be
>the maximum number of servers on a logical segment?

    I'm not clear exactly what you're referring to, but if you're talking
about LANMAN server announcements (which are sent out via NetBIOS datagrams),
the answer is that they should not sync up.

    For one thing, a server will not immediately send out its announcement
when it receives an announcement from another server.  (It will respond
immediately if it receives an announcement *request*, however.)

    Secondly, there is a randomizing factor built into each server
announcement which is designed to avoid the broadcast synchronization you
describe.  This factor is in fact configurable, by modifying the 
"srvanndelta" parameter in the [server] section of the LANMAN.INI file.
(The server chooses a pseudo-random number in the [0,srvanndelta-1] range
and sleeps for that number of milliseconds before sending the announcement.)

			    -- Danny Glasser