Computer Management - Sessions - Computer names / IP addresses?

[Ryan]

Hi all,

 

Non-critical, but was wondering...

 

On our DC, in Computer Management > Shared Folders > Sessions, all current sessions are reported as a mixture of IP address and computer names, mostly IPs - why is this? Ideally, i'd like this to be populated with the computer name, as it obviously makes more sense to us humans.

 

Anyone know how to remedy this, or at least troubleshoot further?

[cookie_monster]

This happens quite often i think it's when the server hasn't received the NetBIOS name of the connected client. Not sure you can do much about it.

[DMcCoy]

It's dependant on the day, time, poultry sacrifices and some random number.

 

I've seen it list every single one as a name, perhaps twice in the last 3 years.

 

Why it does or doesn't, I have no idea. This behaviour has been consistent on every windows domain I've set up so I don't worry

[Geoff]

It's a bit of a lame way to fix it, but you can sort this by installing, configuring and using a WINS server.

[mrforgetful]

This has always annoyed me. I found changing the DHCP lease to a shorter time helped a little, but the problem does still remain.

[Ryan]

Ah. Thanks lads, i won't worry about it too much then (it's not a bug, it's a "design feature" evidently...)

 

WINS is installed, but as for configuration of it... Think i'll just leave it

 

 

Which then leads me to my next question:

I have been using this information to see who is currently logged on - what nice little bit of software should i be using to get a realtime snapshot of who's logged on and where?

[mrforgetful]

I use it for that too.

 

Some people on here use a script to write logons to a file.

[Ryan]

Yep, i have a logon script for both staff and young 'uns (writing to two files). Was looking for a more useful way of seeing who's doing what and where

[renegade]

Have you thought of using something like Impero? It cost us about £3000 in total but the benefits have far outweighed the cost. It will log any application used (and can prevent their use) any webpage visited (and obv block them or the full site) and also takes a screenshot of any violation for proof later. This includes a keylogger that takes a snapshot of any words that you have in your banned list if they are typed of listed on a website. This has reduced Ebullying, inapproriate content, proxies,games etc by 99.5%. There is always the few thickies that re-offend when the are allowed back on internet but you can monitor and record their screens so you have the evidence to have them removed once more. There is a 30 day demo, give it a go then push it to your SLT, they paid for ours!!

[cookie_monster]

Sorry to jump in here @ renegade, does Impero work on all PCs all of the time like Ranger or is it more of a Net Support style management so you can only monitior while connected to a client?

 

Cheers.

[Ryan]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but i found a little solution to this so thought i'd post for future reference in case it's useful for anyone.

 

Problem: IPs shown in Computer Management "Sessions" folder, computer names shown occasionally, and intermittently.

 

Solution: In Computer Management, open "Services and Applications > DHCP > Address Leases". Then look back in Sessions.

 

I found this by accident, but once you look in the above, it seems to resolve all the IPs in Comp Mgmt > Sessions.

[ddcmp]

Ryan, this works a treat...your a star!

[srochford]

The other quick and dirty trick is "ping -a a.b.c.d" which should give you the name of the machine you're pinging (although it does rely on your reverse lookup working in DNS)

[mac_shinobi]

The other quick and dirty trick is "ping -a a.b.c.d" which should give you the name of the machine you're pinging (although it does rely on your reverse lookup working in DNS)

 

If its coming up with a mix of ip addresses and netbios names could that point at a DNS issue as well or not ?