"System Error 53 Has Occurred" using Windows NT Load Balancing service (192466)

SYMPTOMS

When using WLBS' NBT support to scale the performance of Windows NT read-only file access and printing, attempts to use the Microsoft network commands, such as net view and net use, fail with the following error:

System error 53 has occurred. The network path was not found.

CAUSE

This error can be caused by one of the following:

The cluster's system name was not resolved to an IP address. -or-
The cluster IP address is not the NIC's first IP address listed in the TCP/IP configuration.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, do one of the following according to which of the above causes is relevant:

Be sure to create the appropriate static WINS, DNS, or LMHOSTS file entry. -or-
Use multiple NICs and be sure that the cluster's primary IP address is listed first in the TCP/IP configuration for the cluster NIC.

NOTE: If the client is a Windows 2000-based computer, the preceding steps will not work. The workaround is to connect to the cluster by using the Virtual IP Address (VIP) such as "net use * \\<ipaddress>\ShareName".
Another reference for Windows 2000 hosts is
281308 Connecting to SMB share on a Windows 2000-based server may not work with an alias name

MORE INFORMATION

The cluster's system name, which is the first portion of the full Internet name, must be a known NetBIOS computer name for NetBIOS to resolve it into an IP address.

Because NetBIOS uses only the first IP address, the cluster IP address must be listed first. Note that WLBS' NBT support cannot be used in single NIC configurations because the dedicated IP address is always listed first when a single NIC is used.