Network Problem - WS Finfing Host

[Ruger77]

We have had a problem with workstations unable to find the host computer for several years. Tech support blames the network, and i don't disagree. The thing that I don't understand is that if you ping the host computers IP address, it finds it just fine, however it will not find it by the computers name, which is what Mitchell uses. I can't imagine how many hours wasted over the years I have wasted battling this problem. Does anyone have any tips that might be helpful? I have a workstation right now that is down after I had to turn off the router and turn it back on. All others work fine, and it finds the host IP, just not by name, therefore no Mitchell. Tomorrow it will probably work fine. I have shut everything off and restarted, didn't help.

[Silky7]

Hello,

When WINS/DNS resolution is failing, it is definitely a pain. One of the simpler things to do is start with the router. Most routers have an option to use DHCP or static IPs. Setting up static IPs would probably be best if you have a router that doesn't offer DHCP reservation. This would mean that host IP never changes, and therefore once you connect a station by the IP, it should stay connected. The best option is to leave DHCP on, but use reserved assignment. The benefit there being if you added a new machine, the router would recognize and assign it an address, instead of you having to remember to add it in the router.

Once you're set with a permanent (reserved) IP for the host, a station could have a host file setup to translate the name correctly if needed as well.

If this is beyond your comfort level technically-speaking, it sounds like it would be worth paying a network professional to come in and get this setup once and for all.

[Ruger77]

Thank you, that is very helpful. I have had a professional look at it, I'm not exactly sure how much of this they did, but their solution did not fix the problem permanently. I am also in the process of replacing the host computer, so hopefully the combination of the two will solve this problem. This issue has been my main complaint with Mitchell, and it's not their fault. Gotta blame somebody!

[Pauls Automotive]

I do as Silky has suggested and I also lock/bind the ip addresses to the individual computer/tablets and it really relieves a lot of ip conflict issues.