0

Our customer is requesting that we change the name of their new SBS 2011 server. Obviously this is not possible, or at least not recommended. I've told them that it would not be worth the effort to change the name, but I'm wondering if there is another possible solution. Their main concern is with accessing file shares (and mapped drives).

My thought was to create a second DNS name and update the mapped drives to use that name. Any other suggestions?

Improve this question

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1

Just create a CNAME in DNS Server: it's how "companyweb" is setup to be a more convenient/descriptive DNS name for SharePoint than "somesbsserver".

Make sure that, if you're changing the drive mappings, use the fully-qualified domain name not the NetBIOS name (i.e. mynewconvenientname.mydomain.local).

I disable NetBIOS on my networks, but you should be able to edit the registry an add a NetBIOS alias if you really need it like so (haven't tried it yet though; use at your own risk, etc.):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\LanmanServer\Parameters and add an OptionalNames string value.

Improve this answer
4
  • I tried the CNAME solution, however, users were prompted for credentials when attempting to map a drive to the share using the CNAME.
    – pat o.
    Dec 29, 2011 at 14:03
  • what did you add as your CNAME entry?
    – gravyface
    Dec 30, 2011 at 17:00
  • If the server name was: sbs2011.domain.local, I added bsb2011 as the name and the FQDN was sbs2011.domain.local. The name worked fine as an administrative user but standard users were prompted for a password.
    – pat o.
    Dec 30, 2011 at 20:32
  • Use bsb2011.domain.local, or add a NetBIOS entry if you want just the hostname to resolve.
    – gravyface
    Dec 30, 2011 at 20:38
1

I'm not sure about SBS, but there are security settings in 2003 and 2008 standard that stop access attempts that aren't directed to the actual host name, something about duplicate names on the network. There was a way around this via group policy when I had to do this for 2003.

If you have your systems in a domain environment why not use group policy preferences and automatically map out your shares?

Improve this answer
1
  • This would be another potential option.
    – pat o.
    Dec 28, 2011 at 17:05

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .