Shared Network random blocks

Norton Security | Norton Internet Security
1

Hello,

 

I been using NIS 2010 for about 4 weeks.  I'm running a server computer with XP pro sp3 with 3 workstation computers connected to it, also running XP pro sp3.   The workstations desktop and My Documents folders are all  being shared form the server.

 

When I first Installed NIS there was some minor issues with the sharing from the Server being blocked. I went into the Trust Control and set all workstations computers to full trust and set the server computer to full trust; along with setting the network to full trust.  After a few reboots everything started working with the workstations.

 

Now here's my problem; every once in a while the workstation will randomly be blocked from the server.  Now here's the weird part some times we can go days with out this problem accruing; then on some random day it will start back up.  The only way I found to fix this is to reboot the Server after rebooting all workstations will connect to server.

 

Thanks for you time,

Nathaniel

2

Hi Nathaniel

 

Welcome to the Norton Forum

 

Perhaps your ISP is trying to stop you from having a server if your account with them is a residential one?

3

The server is local.  Also this showed up only after installing NIS 

 

Thanks 

Nathaniel

4

Have you looked at the ‘Internet’ related logs in Security history to see if any issues are being noted such as an Intrusion Prevention detection?

5

Reese,

 

I checked the logs and I'm not seeing anything strange.

 

 

Thanks

Nathaniel.

 

6

Hi Nathaniel,

 

Are you able to access the server computer after disabling/turning off the firewall in NIS 2010?

 

If you are able to do so, then try creating a firewall rule to allow all communications from your computer to the server(use the server IP address, 2 way communication). Refer to the instructions in the following Symantec Support Article:

http://www.symantec.com/norton/support/kb/web_view.jsp?wv_type=public_web&docurl=20090630152910EN

 

If you are still unable to access the server computer even after disabling the firewall, then check the security settings in the server computer(Firewall, Antivirus etc) as sometimes it may be blocked from the server.

 

Yogesh

 

 

7

If you still can’t access the server after disabling the firewall, can you disable the network controller and re-enable and then test if you can access the server?

8

I'm back from trying different things.  First I set all the computers up with there own set IP settings; this way there not always changing on me.  Then I adding the following Firewall rules. Rule # 1 "allow connections to and from other computers; any computer in the local subnet ; allowing all ports" Rule # 2 "allow connections to and from other computers; only computers listed below; using a network address" I used the Default Gateway address for this and the Subnet Mask address I set up.

 

 

 

This above seen to work fine for a couple weeks that was until today; one computer lost the Network then the other two computer lost the Network. This happened twice today. Seems that when one computer loses the Network they all follow suit.  When I restart the Server all computers then are able to connect to the Network.

 

 

One thing I have noticed is that when we are in the middle of restoring a QuickBooks file from backup; from a workstation to the server is when we are likely to lose the Network, but not all of the time. I do believe that both times that we lost the Network; we were in the middle of restoring a QuickBooks file. QuickBooks will get about half way through restoring the file to the server before it bombs.  Note: the are usually two other users working in Company files in QuickBooks which are all located on the server;if this helps any.

 

 

 

I have not tried to disable the network controller and re-enable it; as I haven't seen this problem in a while to test this,and today a quick reboot of the server got everything working.  I will be in the office in about 7 hours to look more into this.

 

Thanks for the replys,

Nathaniel

Message Edited by Nathaniel on 11-12-2009 02:41 AM
9

Hi Nathaniel

 

Perhaps something on this site will help in this situation.

 

http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/pages/knowledgebasearticles/829e206e

10

Thanks for the info, but this isn't a solo QuickBooks issue.  NIS is playing a part in this; we have been running QuickBooks for over 7 years without this, also when we lose the Network the whole computer is blocked just not QuickBooks.  One more thing; when ever we lose Network on one computer the other computers will too.

 

 

Thanks,

 

Nathaniel

Message Edited by Nathaniel on 11-12-2009 12:48 PM
11
Nathaniel wrote:

Thanks for the info, but this isn't a solo QuickBooks issue.  NIS is playing a part in this; we have been running QuickBooks for over 7 years without this, also when we lose the Network the whole computer is blocked just not QuickBooks.  One more thing; when ever we lose Network on one computer the other computers will too.

 

 

Thanks,

 

Nathaniel

Message Edited by Nathaniel on 11-12-2009 12:48 PM

 

Hi Nathaniel

 

Have you ruled out Network hardware - Router/switch/hub - or the NIC in your Server? It seems so intermittent that it could well be comms hardware.

 

Just an idle thought!!

12

After weeks of troubleshooting I was finally able to duplicate this problem.  The problem occurs when a user on a workstation computer downloads a from the internet and saves it to a place on the server computer. The save dialog box will hang at 99% for a good 20 to 30 seconds then finish.  Once the user tries to open this file; this is where the lock down occurs. 

 

NOTE: if I go into internet options and add the dot com link to the trusted sites the download will work fine and access to the file is fine. While this does fix the issue it's not convienent have to add the dot com to the trusted sites each time you have to download a file.  I have tried lowering the security levels, but this does not fix the issue.

 

 

Thanks

Nathaniel

13

Nathaniel, thanks for the research! Just to be clear, what OS is the server using and what OS is the client using? What Norton product is on each machine? How do the user accounts have the same name and password on both machines?

 

14

Reese,

 

Both the server and the clients are running XP Pro with sp3; with all of them running Norton Internet Security 10

 

Your last questions has me lost, can you explain that one please

 

 

Thanks,

 Nathaniel

15
Nathaniel wrote:
 

Your last questions has me lost, can you explain that one please

 


 

I'm sorry, that was my fault. Remove the word "how" and it makes a bit more sense, do the user accounts have the same name and password on both machines? I ask this because when you are logged into, say, machine A and then try to connect to a share on, say, machine B it will sometimes try to use the user name and password from machine A for the connection. As an aside, I've seen cases in the past where only the password was different and machine A retried the connection automatically multiple times ultimately causing the account on machine B to locked out.

Message Edited by reese_anschultz on 12-14-2009 10:23 AM
16

Reese,

 

The workstations do have a different user name the what's on the server. I will set them the same and then try to download again to the sever and see what happens.

 

Thanks,

Nathaniel

 

Message Edited by Nathaniel on 12-14-2009 03:00 PM
17

Reese,

 

Changing the user names and passwords to match the server had no effect. The download still hangs at 99% for about 30 seconds and then saves; once we try to access the file the connection to the sever locks down.

 

Thanks,

 

Nathaniel