Can connect via IP address but not via hostname

[Alice]

I tried to find help in my other topic here: viewtopic.php?f=21&t=12854. But there was no satisfactory explanation - also I am not sure which category this topic should appear in:

I have one nas4free server which is now working satisfactorily on the network - it is visible on it
and users connect to shares via UNC paths - no problem.

I set up another nas4free server - it does show up in the network list, but I cannot connect to its share -
it tells me that network path was not found. But I can connect to the share via the Ip address.
Could someone explain to me why this should be happening? The first server is set up with 11.0.04, revision 4528.
The second one is set up with 11.0.04, revision 4619. But I don't think this plays any role in this
situation.

The router is managing the IP addresses and is also the DNS server.

I have two nas4free servers set up in another location and they work there - no problem.
Hope you can shed light on this. There have been similar questions elsewhere but as far as I can tell
there has not been an answer.

[Alice]

I switched on this server the next day and it works as expected. I take it that no-one will explain why
it didn't work the day before.

[mooblie]

Maybe, the previous day, there was no Master Browser (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Master_Browser) active or available on your Windows network, and now there is?

The Master Browser resolves network names into numerical IP addresses on a local network. It's not always clear which computer on a local network is performing this function - and I believe it can move from PC to PC without users realising it. (Reached the limit of my very imperfect knowledge now, so I'll stop going on!)

[Alice]

mooblie, this is a great explanation. You are too modest - your knowledge is far from imperfect - you are the only one who diagnosed this issue correctly. On the day when I could not connect via hostname I studied the logs and there was a reference to the non-availability of a master browser. I wondered about that but then forgot all about it.
I will now do some research on the subject of "master browser".
Many thanks for responding to my question.

[mooblie]

OK - glad to have helped! Thanks for your thanks.

[FEAR-40]

Well an other problem , could be that the DNS servers are not configured correctly even with out the Master Browser ,
Once I had this problem my self. But the Master Browser seems as the Right fix.

[Alice]

Thanks. In my case it was the master browser - there was no problem with DNS servers.