Broadcast Repeater utility (dbns11)

Allows SQL Anywhere clients to find SQL Anywhere database servers running on other subnets and through firewalls where UDP broadcasts normally do not reach.

Syntax
dbns11 [ options ] [ address ... ]
Options
Option Description
@data

Use this option to read in options from the specified environment variable or configuration file. See Using configuration files.

If you want to protect passwords or other information in the configuration file, you can use the File Hiding utility to obfuscate the contents of the configuration file. See File Hiding utility (dbfhide).

-ap port Specify the port number used by the database server. The default port number is 2638.
-m ip Specify the IP address of the computer the DBNS process is running on. This parameter is required for computers with more than one IP address. This address must be an IPv4 address.
-o file Write the output that appears in the Broadcast Repeater Messages window to the named file.
-p port Use this option to specify the port number used by the DBNS Broadcast repeater. The default is 3968. If there is a firewall between the subnets, then you must open the port number used by the Broadcast Repeater utility for TCP connections between DBNS processes, in addition to opening port 2638 for standard client-server communications.
-q Run in quiet mode—messages are not displayed.
-s When you start the Broadcast Repeater with this option specified, the new DBNS process checks if another DBNS process is already running on that subnet, and returns an error before shutting down if another DBNS process is found.
-x host Specify this option to shut down the DBNS process running on specified host. You can specify an IP address or host name.
-z When running in debug mode, a line appears in the Broadcast Repeater messages window for each SQL Anywhere broadcast packet that is received or forwarded. Debug mode should only be used when there are connectivity problems because of the verbosity of the debugging output.
address Use this option to specify the IP address or host name of other computers that are, or will be, running DBNS processes. This allows the DBNS processes to detect each other and exchange information about known database servers and other DBNS processes.
Remarks

The Broadcast Repeater allows SQL Anywhere clients to find SQL Anywhere database servers running on other subnets and through firewalls where UDP broadcasts normally do not reach, without using the HOST connection parameter or LDAP.

The address can be either an IP address or a computer name. Use spaces to separate multiple addresses.

This utility is available on all 32-bit and 64-bit Windows platforms, as well as all supported Unix platforms.

The clients and database server must be running SQL Anywhere 9.0.2 or later to use the Broadcast Repeater.

Caution

It is recommended that you do not run the dbns11 utility on the same computer as a SQL Anywhere database server because it is possible that dbns11 or the database server may not receive UDP broadcasts.

See also
Example

Suppose you want to allow computers on the subnets 10.50.83.255 and 10.50.125.255 to connect using broadcasts. You need to a computer on the 10.50.83.255 subnet (Computer A at 10.50.83.114) and one computer on the 10.50.125.255 subnet (Computer B at 10.50.125.103).

On each of these two computers, run dbns11, passing the IP address of the other computer. Execute the following command on Computer A:

dbns11 10.50.125.103

On Computer B, execute the following command:

dbns11 10.50.83.114

If either computer has more than one IP address, you must also specify the local IP address using the -m option. For example, on Computer A, you would use the following command:

dbns11 -m 10.50.83.114  10.50.125.103