nmbd

Name

nmbd — NetBIOS name server to provide NetBIOS - over IP naming services to clients

Synopsis

nmbd [-D] [-F] [-S] [-a] [-i] [-o] [-h] [-V] [-d <debug level>] [-H <lmhosts file>] [-l <log directory>] [-n <primary netbios name>] [-p <port number>] [-s <configuration file>]

DESCRIPTION

This program is part of the Samba(7) suite.

nmbd is a server that understands - and can reply to NetBIOS over IP name service requests, like - those produced by SMB/CIFS clients such as Windows 95/98/ME, - Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP and LanManager clients. It also - participates in the browsing protocols which make up the - Windows "Network Neighborhood" view.

SMB/CIFS clients, when they start up, may wish to - locate an SMB/CIFS server. That is, they wish to know what - IP number a specified host is using.

Amongst other services, nmbd will - listen for such requests, and if its own NetBIOS name is - specified it will respond with the IP number of the host it - is running on. Its "own NetBIOS name" is by - default the primary DNS name of the host it is running on, - but this can be overridden with the -n - option (see OPTIONS below). Thus nmbd will - reply to broadcast queries for its own name(s). Additional - names for nmbd to respond on can be set - via parameters in the smb.conf(5) configuration file.

nmbd can also be used as a WINS - (Windows Internet Name Server) server. What this basically means - is that it will act as a WINS database server, creating a - database from name registration requests that it receives and - replying to queries from clients for these names.

In addition, nmbd can act as a WINS - proxy, relaying broadcast queries from clients that do - not understand how to talk the WINS protocol to a WINS - server.

OPTIONS

-D

If specified, this parameter causes - nmbd to operate as a daemon. That is, - it detaches itself and runs in the background, fielding - requests on the appropriate port. By default, nmbd - will operate as a daemon if launched from a command shell. - nmbd can also be operated from the inetd - meta-daemon, although this is not recommended. -

-F

If specified, this parameter causes - the main nmbd process to not daemonize, - i.e. double-fork and disassociate with the terminal. - Child processes are still created as normal to service - each connection request, but the main process does not - exit. This operation mode is suitable for running - nmbd under process supervisors such - as supervise and svscan - from Daniel J. Bernstein's daemontools - package, or the AIX process monitor. -

-S

If specified, this parameter causes - nmbd to log to standard output rather - than a file.

-i

If this parameter is specified it causes the - server to run "interactively", not as a daemon, even if the - server is executed on the command line of a shell. Setting this - parameter negates the implicit daemon mode when run from the - command line. nmbd also logs to standard - output, as if the -S parameter had been - given.

-h|--help

Print a summary of command line options. -

-H <filename>

NetBIOS lmhosts file. The lmhosts - file is a list of NetBIOS names to IP addresses that - is loaded by the nmbd server and used via the name - resolution mechanism name resolve order described in smb.conf(5) to resolve any - NetBIOS name queries needed by the server. Note - that the contents of this file are NOT - used by nmbd to answer any name queries. - Adding a line to this file affects name NetBIOS resolution - from this host ONLY.

The default path to this file is compiled into - Samba as part of the build process. Common defaults - are /usr/local/samba/lib/lmhosts, - /usr/samba/lib/lmhosts or - /etc/samba/lmhosts. See the lmhosts(5) man page for details on the contents of this file.

-V

Prints the program version number. -

-s <configuration file>

The file specified contains the -configuration details required by the server. The -information in this file includes server-specific -information such as what printcap file to use, as well -as descriptions of all the services that the server is -to provide. See smb.conf for more information. -The default configuration file name is determined at -compile time.

-d|--debug=debuglevel

debuglevel is an integer -from 0 to 10. The default value if this parameter is -not specified is zero.

The higher this value, the more detail will be -logged to the log files about the activities of the -server. At level 0, only critical errors and serious -warnings will be logged. Level 1 is a reasonable level for -day-to-day running - it generates a small amount of -information about operations carried out.

Levels above 1 will generate considerable -amounts of log data, and should only be used when -investigating a problem. Levels above 3 are designed for -use only by developers and generate HUGE amounts of log -data, most of which is extremely cryptic.

Note that specifying this parameter here will -override the log level parameter -in the smb.conf file.

-l|--logfile=logbasename

File name for log/debug files. The extension -".client" will be appended. The log file is -never removed by the client. -

-p <UDP port number>

UDP port number is a positive integer value. - This option changes the default UDP port number (normally 137) - that nmbd responds to name queries on. Don't - use this option unless you are an expert, in which case you - won't need help!

FILES

/etc/inetd.conf

If the server is to be run by the - inetd meta-daemon, this file - must contain suitable startup information for the - meta-daemon. -

/etc/rc

or whatever initialization script your - system uses).

If running the server as a daemon at startup, - this file will need to contain an appropriate startup - sequence for the server.

/etc/services

If running the server via the - meta-daemon inetd, this file - must contain a mapping of service name (e.g., netbios-ssn) - to service port (e.g., 139) and protocol type (e.g., tcp). -

/usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf

This is the default location of - the smb.conf(5) server - configuration file. Other common places that systems - install this file are /usr/samba/lib/smb.conf - and /etc/samba/smb.conf.

When run as a WINS server (see the - wins support - parameter in the smb.conf(5) man page), - nmbd - will store the WINS database in the file wins.dat - in the var/locks directory configured under - wherever Samba was configured to install itself.

If nmbd is acting as a - browse master (see the local master - parameter in the smb.conf(5) man page, nmbd - will store the browsing database in the file browse.dat - in the var/locks directory - configured under wherever Samba was configured to install itself. -

SIGNALS

To shut down an nmbd process it is recommended - that SIGKILL (-9) NOT be used, except as a last - resort, as this may leave the name database in an inconsistent state. - The correct way to terminate nmbd is to send it - a SIGTERM (-15) signal and wait for it to die on its own.

nmbd will accept SIGHUP, which will cause - it to dump out its namelists into the file namelist.debug - in the /usr/local/samba/var/locks - directory (or the var/locks directory configured - under wherever Samba was configured to install itself). This will also - cause nmbd to dump out its server database in - the log.nmb file.

The debug log level of nmbd may be raised or lowered - using smbcontrol(1) (SIGUSR[1|2] signals - are no longer used since Samba 2.2). This is to allow - transient problems to be diagnosed, whilst still running - at a normally low log level.

VERSION

This man page is correct for version 3.0 of - the Samba suite.

AUTHOR

The original Samba software and related utilities - were created by Andrew Tridgell. Samba is now developed - by the Samba Team as an Open Source project similar - to the way the Linux kernel is developed.

The original Samba man pages were written by Karl Auer. - The man page sources were converted to YODL format (another - excellent piece of Open Source software, available at - ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/) and updated for the Samba 2.0 - release by Jeremy Allison. The conversion to DocBook for - Samba 2.2 was done by Gerald Carter. The conversion to DocBook - XML 4.2 for Samba 3.0 was done by Alexander Bokovoy.