&author.tridge;
&author.jelmer;
&author.danshearer;
Wed Jan 15The Samba ChecklistIntroductionvalidate
This file contains a list of tests you can perform to validate your
Samba server. It also tells you what the likely cause of the problem
is if it fails any one of these steps. If it passes all these tests,
then it is probably working fine.
You should do all the tests in the order shown. We have tried to
carefully choose them so later tests only use capabilities verified in
the earlier tests. However, do not stop at the first error: there
have been some instances when continuing with the tests has helped
to solve a problem.
If you send one of the Samba mailing lists an email saying, It does not work,
and you have not followed this test procedure, you should not be surprised
if your email is ignored.
Assumptions
In all of the tests, it is assumed you have a Samba server called
BIGSERVER and a PC called ACLIENT, both in workgroup TESTGROUP.
The procedure is similar for other types of clients.
It is also assumed you know the name of an available share in your
&smb.conf;. I for our examples this share is called .
You can add a share like this by adding the
lines shown in the next example.
smb.conf with [tmp] Sharetemporary files /tmpyes
These tests assume version 3.0.0 or later of the Samba suite.
Some commands shown did not exist in earlier versions.
error messagesname resolution/etc/resolv.conf
Please pay attention to the error messages you receive. If any error message
reports that your server is being unfriendly, you should first check that your
IP name resolution is correctly set up. Make sure your /etc/resolv.conf
file points to name servers that really do exist.
DNS server accessname resolutiondns proxytestparm
Also, if you do not have DNS server access for name resolution, please check
that the settings for your &smb.conf; file results in dns proxy = no. The
best way to check this is with testparm smb.conf.
log filestail/usr/local/samba/var/var/log/sambalog filesmonitoring
It is helpful to monitor the log files during testing by using the
tail -F log_file_name in a separate
terminal console (use ctrl-alt-F1 through F6 or multiple terminals in X).
Relevant log files can be found (for default installations) in
/usr/local/samba/var. Also, connection logs from
machines can be found here or possibly in /var/log/samba,
depending on how or if you specified logging in your &smb.conf; file.
If you make changes to your &smb.conf; file while going through these test,
remember to restart &smbd; and &nmbd;.
The TestsDiagnosing Your Samba Servertestparm
In the directory in which you store your &smb.conf; file, run the command
testparm smb.conf. If it reports any errors, then your &smb.conf;
configuration file is faulty.
/etc/samba/usr/local/samba/lib
Your &smb.conf; file may be located in /etc/samba
or in /usr/local/samba/lib.
ping
Run the command ping BIGSERVER from the PC and
ping ACLIENT from the UNIX box. If you do not get a valid response,
then your TCP/IP software is not correctly installed.
You will need to start a DOS prompt window on the PC to run ping.
/etc/hostsDNS/etc/resolv.conf
If you get a message saying host not found or a similar message, then
your DNS software or /etc/hosts file is not correctly set up. If using DNS, check that
the /etc/resolv.conf has correct, current, entries in it. It is possible to run
Samba without DNS entries for the server and client, but it is assumed you do have correct entries for the
remainder of these tests.
firewalliptablesipchains
Another reason why ping might fail is if your host is running firewall
software. You will need to relax the rules to let in the workstation
in question, perhaps by allowing access from another subnet (on Linux
this is done via the appropriate firewall maintenance commands ipchains
or iptables).
Modern Linux distributions install ipchains/iptables by default.
This is a common problem that is often overlooked.
iptablesipchains
If you wish to check what firewall rules may be present in a system under test, simply run
iptables -L -v, or if ipchains-based firewall rules are in use,
ipchains -L -v.
Here is a sample listing from a system that has an external Ethernet interface (eth1) on which Samba
is not active and an internal (private network) interface (eth0) on which Samba is active:
frodo:~ # iptables -L -v
Chain INPUT (policy DROP 98496 packets, 12M bytes)
pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination
187K 109M ACCEPT all -- lo any anywhere anywhere
892K 125M ACCEPT all -- eth0 any anywhere anywhere
1399K 1380M ACCEPT all -- eth1 any anywhere anywhere \
state RELATED,ESTABLISHED
Chain FORWARD (policy DROP 0 packets, 0 bytes)
pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination
978K 1177M ACCEPT all -- eth1 eth0 anywhere anywhere \
state RELATED,ESTABLISHED
658K 40M ACCEPT all -- eth0 eth1 anywhere anywhere
0 0 LOG all -- any any anywhere anywhere \
LOG level warning
Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT 2875K packets, 1508M bytes)
pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination
Chain reject_func (0 references)
pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination
Run the command smbclient -L BIGSERVER
on the UNIX box. You should get back a list of available shares.
bad passwordhosts allowhosts denyvalid usersguest accountinvalid users
If you get an error message containing the string bad password, then
you probably have either an incorrect hosts allow,
hosts deny, or valid users line in your
&smb.conf;, or your guest account is not valid. Check what your guest account is using &testparm; and
temporarily remove any hosts allow, hosts deny,
valid users, or invalid users lines.
inetd.conf
If you get a message connection refused response, then the smbd server may
not be running. If you installed it in inetd.conf, then you probably edited
that file incorrectly. If you installed it as a daemon, then check that
it is running and check that the netbios-ssn port is in a LISTEN
state using netstat -a.
inetdxinetdinetd
Some UNIX/Linux systems use xinetd in place of
inetd. Check your system documentation for the location
of the control files for your particular system implementation of
the network super daemon.
If you get a message saying session request failed, the server refused the
connection. If it says Your server software is being unfriendly, then
it's probably because you have invalid command line parameters to &smbd;,
or a similar fatal problem with the initial startup of &smbd;. Also
check your config file (&smb.conf;) for syntax errors with &testparm;
and that the various directories where Samba keeps its log and lock
files exist.
There are a number of reasons for which smbd may refuse or decline
a session request. The most common of these involve one or more of
the &smb.conf; file entries as shown in the next example.
Configuration for Allowing Connections Only from a Certain SubnetALLxxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/yyeth0Yesloopback adapter
In Configuration for Allowing Connections Only from a Certain Subnet, no
allowance has been made for any session requests that will automatically translate to the loopback adapter
address 127.0.0.1. To solve this problem, change these lines as shown in the following
example.
Configuration for Allowing Connections from a Certain Subnet and localhostALLxxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/yy 127.eth0 loinetdsmbclient
Another common cause of these two errors is having something already running on port 139,
such as Samba (&smbd; is running from inetd already) or Digital's Pathworks. Check
your inetd.conf file before trying to start &smbd; as a daemon &smbmdash; it can avoid a
lot of frustration!
subnet maskbroadcast addresslog.nmbdnetwork interfaceIP address
And yet another possible cause for failure of this test is when the subnet mask and/or broadcast address
settings are incorrect. Please check that the network interface IP address/broadcast address/subnet mask
settings are correct and that Samba has correctly noted these in the log.nmbd file.
nmblookup
Run the command nmblookup -B BIGSERVER __SAMBA__.
You should get back the IP address of your Samba server.
inetd.confnmbdport 137
If you do not, then &nmbd; is incorrectly installed. Check your inetd.conf
if you run it from there, or that the daemon is running and listening to UDP port 137.
One common problem is that many inetd implementations can't take many
parameters on the command line. If this is the case, then create a
one-line script that contains the right parameters and run that from
inetd.
nmblookup
Run the command nmblookup -B ACLIENT `*'.
You should get the PC's IP address back. If you do not, then the client
software on the PC isn't installed correctly, or isn't started, or you
got the name of the PC wrong.
If ACLIENT does not resolve via DNS, then use the IP address of the
client in the above test.
Run the command nmblookup -d 2 `*'.
This time we are trying the same as the previous test but are trying
it via a broadcast to the default broadcast address. A number of
NetBIOS/TCP/IP hosts on the network should respond, although Samba may
not catch all of the responses in the short time it listens. You
should see the got a positive name query response
messages from several hosts.
nmblookup
If this does not give a result similar to the previous test, then nmblookup isn't correctly getting your
broadcast address through its automatic mechanism. In this case you should experiment with the option in &smb.conf; to manually configure your IP address, broadcast, and netmask.
If your PC and server aren't on the same subnet, then you will need to use the
option to set the broadcast address to that of the PC's subnet.
This test will probably fail if your subnet mask and broadcast address are
not correct. (Refer to test 3 notes above).
smbclient
Run the command smbclient //BIGSERVER/TMP. You should
then be prompted for a password. You should use the password of the account
with which you are logged into the UNIX box. If you want to test with
another account, then add the option to the end of
the command line &smbmdash; for example, smbclient //bigserver/tmp -Ujohndoe.
It is possible to specify the password along with the username as follows:
smbclient //bigserver/tmp -Ujohndoe%secret.
Once you enter the password, you should get the smb> prompt. If you
do not, then look at the error message. If it says invalid network
name, then the service is not correctly set up in your &smb.conf;.
If it says bad password, then the likely causes are:
You have shadow passwords (or some other password system) but didn't
compile in support for them in &smbd;.
Your configuration is incorrect.
You have a mixed-case password and you haven't enabled the option at a high enough level.
The line in &smb.conf; is incorrect. Check it with &testparm;.
You enabled password encryption but didn't map UNIX to Samba users. Run
smbpasswd -a usernamedirgetputhelp command
Once connected, you should be able to use the commands dir, get,
put, and so on. Type help command for instructions. You should
especially check that the amount of free disk space shown is correct when you type dir.
net view
On the PC, type the command net view \\BIGSERVER. You will
need to do this from within a DOS prompt window. You should get back a
list of shares available on the server.
nmbd
If you get a message network name not found or similar error, then NetBIOS
name resolution is not working. This is usually caused by a problem in nmbd.
To overcome it, you could do one of the following (you only need to choose one of them):
Fix the &nmbd; installation.
Add the IP address of BIGSERVER to the wins server box in the
advanced TCP/IP setup on the PC.
Enable Windows name resolution via DNS in the advanced section of the TCP/IP setup.
Add BIGSERVER to your lmhosts file on the PC.
If you get a message invalid network name or
bad password error, then apply the
same fixes as for the smbclient -L test. In
particular, make sure your hosts allow line is correct (see the man pages).
Also, do not overlook that fact that when the workstation requests the
connection to the Samba server, it will attempt to connect using the
name with which you logged onto your Windows machine. You need to make
sure that an account exists on your Samba server with that exact same
name and password.
If you get a message specified computer is not receiving requests or similar error,
it probably means that the host is not contactable via TCP services.
Check to see if the host is running TCP wrappers, and if so, add an entry in
the hosts.allow file for your client (or subnet, and so on.)
Run the command net use x: \\BIGSERVER\TMP. You should
be prompted for a password, then you should get a command completed
successfully message. If not, then your PC software is incorrectly
installed or your &smb.conf; is incorrect. Make sure your hosts allow
and other config lines in &smb.conf; are correct.
It's also possible that the server can't work out what username to connect you as.
To see if this is the problem, add the line
username to the
section of
&smb.conf; where username is the
username corresponding to the password you typed. If you find this
fixes things, you may need the username mapping option.
It might also be the case that your client only sends encrypted passwords
and you have no in &smb.conf;.
Change this setting to `yes' to fix this.
Run the command nmblookup -M testgroup where
testgroup is the name of the workgroup that your Samba server and
Windows PCs belong to. You should get back the IP address of the
master browser for that workgroup.
If you do not, then the election process has failed. Wait a minute to
see if it is just being slow, then try again. If it still fails after
that, then look at the browsing options you have set in &smb.conf;. Make
sure you have yes to ensure that
an election is held at startup.
From file manager, try to browse the server. Your Samba server should
appear in the browse list of your local workgroup (or the one you
specified in &smb.conf;). You should be able to double-click on the name
of the server and get a list of shares. If you get the error message invalid password,
you are probably running Windows NT and it
is refusing to browse a server that has no encrypted password
capability and is in user-level security mode. In this case, either set
server and
Windows_NT_Machine in your
&smb.conf; file or make sure is
set to yes.