Slow logins; workstation resolving for SPECIAL

The workstation takes a very long time to login.
Looking at LAN traces reveals that the workstation is trying to resolve for SPECIAL.
The client workstation is trying to resolve for the name SPECIAL on the wire.
There are no network resources by the name of SPECIAL on the network.

Computer Associates InoculateIT version 7.1 is configured to scan files on network drives, in addition to scanning files on the local workstation.  A change was made to InoculateIT to not scan network drives.  Once InoculateIT was changed to not scan network drives, the workstation no longer tried to resolve for SPECIAL.

WORKAROUNDS:

1.)  Enable the Bad Server Name Cache on the workstation.  By default, this setting is "On" or enabled.  If this has been turned off, please turn it back on.  To turn Bad Server Name Cache on, please do the following steps:

a.)  Right click on the red N in your system tray.  Select "Novell Client Properties..."
b.)  Click on the "Advanced Settings" tab.  Scroll to"Bad Server Name Cache Enabled" and make sure it is set to"On".
c.)  Scroll to the "Bad Server Name Cache Timeout" and make sure that it is set to 300 (default value).
d.)  Reboot your workstation.

2.)  Enable the Bad Server Name Cache, set the timeout to 0, and put in an entry for the BadServer into the registry.  What this will do is enable the Bad Name Cache, but it will not add any dynamic entries as they are encountered during the day.  It will only process those entries found in the BadServer registry key.  For details on how to enable the BadServer registry entry, please see https://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/appnote/620.html#badserver .  For documentation purposes, this TID will also document what is found in the AppNote above.

a.)  Right click on the red N in your system tray.  Select "Novell Client Properties..."
b.)  Click on the "Advanced Settings" tab.  Scroll to"Bad Server Name Cache Enabled" and make sure that it is set to"On".
c.)  Scroll to the "Bad Server Name Cache Timeout" and set it to 0.
d.)  Click OK and save your changes.
e.)  Go to Start | Run | Regedit.  Go to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetwareWorkstation\Paramters .  On the right side, right click and select "New" |"Multi-String Value".  The new registry key name will be BadServer.
f.)  Double click on the BadServer key.  Enter in SPECIAL (or however the name shows up in LAN traces).  If you have multiple entries, make sure they are separated by a carriage return, otherwise known as the "Enter" key.
g.)  Click on the OK button to save your changes.
h.)  Reboot your workstation.

NOTE:  Please see the above AppNote ( https://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/appnote/620.html#badserver ) for full details of what Bad Server Cache does.

TROUBLESHOOTING:

By default, the Novell client does not resolve for SPECIAL.  The Novell client is a network provider, and it only looks for things that are asked of it by applications and the operating system.  Essentially, there are two ways to troubleshoot a problem of this nature.  They are as follows:

1.)  Take a workstation that is exhibiting the problem and make an image of the workstation.  Then FDISK the workstation and intall an operating system from CD.  DO NOT USE AN IMAGE.  Once the base operating system is installed, install the Novell client with just basic support.  Do not add any printer or ZEN support.  The resultant workstation should have just the operating system and the Novell client with nothing else, not even a virus scanner.  Login to your network and take a LAN trace.  Make sure that SPECIAL is not being resolved.  Now add one application, reboot your workstation, and take a LAN trace.  Repeat the process of adding one application at a time, rebooting and taking a LAN trace until you find the offending application.

2.)  Take a workstation that is exhibiting the problem and make an image of the workstation.  Then start removing applications from the workstation.  Start by removing one application, reboot, take a LAN trace and look for SPECIAL.  If it shows up, continue to remove applications one at a time, rebooting and taking LAN traces.  Once SPECIAL is no longer found on the wire, then you have located the offending application.  At that point restore your image, take a LAN trace, remove the offending application, reboot, and verify that SPECIAL does go away.

Please note that this method of troubleshooting can be very tedious and time consuming.  You are looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack.  It may be easier to use one of the workarounds indicated above than it would be to look for the offending application.