path: root/docs/textdocs/DIAGNOSIS.txt

Contributor:	Andrew Tridgell
Updated:	June 27, 1997

Subject:	DIAGNOSING YOUR SAMBA SERVER
===========================================================================

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. I have tried to
carefully choose them so later tests only use capabilities verified in
the earlier tests.

I would welcome additions to this set of tests. Please mail them to
samba-bugs@samba.anu.edu.au

If you send me an email saying "it doesn't work" and you have not
followed this test procedure then you should not be surprised if I
ignore your email.


ASSUMPTIONS
-----------

In all of the tests I assume you have a Samba server called BIGSERVER
and a PC called ACLIENT. I also assume the PC is running windows for
workgroups with a recent copy of the microsoft tcp/ip stack. Alternatively,
your PC may be running Windows 95 or Windows NT (Workstation or Server).

The procedure is similar for other types of clients.

I also assume you know the name of an available share in your
smb.conf. I will assume this share is called "tmp". You can add a
"tmp" share like by adding the following to smb.conf:

[tmp]
 comment = temporary files 
 path = /tmp
 read only = yes


THESE TESTS ASSUME VERSION 1.9.16 OR LATER OF THE SAMBA SUITE. SOME
COMMANDS SHOWN DID NOT EXIST IN EARLIER VERSIONS


TEST 1:
-------

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.

Note:	Your smb.conf file may be located in: /etc
	or in:   /usr/local/samba/lib


TEST 2:
-------

run the command "ping BIGSERVER" from the PC and "ping ACLIENT" from
the unix box. If you don't get a valid response then your TCP/IP
software is not correctly installed. 

Note that you will need to start a "dos prompt" window on the PC to
run ping.

If you get a message saying "host not found" or similar then your DNS
software or /etc/hosts file is not correctly setup. It is possible to
run samba without DNS entries for the server and client, but I assume
you do have correct entries for the remainder of these tests. 

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 ipfwadm program.)


TEST 3:
-------

Run the command "smbclient -L BIGSERVER" on the unix box. You
should get a list of available shares back. 

If you get a 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.

If you get a "connection refused" response then the smbd server could
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".

If you get a "session request failed" then the server refused the
connection. If it says "your server software is being unfriendly" then
its 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.

Another common cause of these two errors is having something already running 
on port 139, such as Samba (ie: smbd is running from inetd already) or
something like Digital's Pathworks. Check your inetd.conf file before trying
to start smbd as a daemon, it can avoid a lot of frustration!


TEST 4:
-------

Run the command "nmblookup -B BIGSERVER __SAMBA__". You should get the
IP address of your Samba server back.

If you don't 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.


TEST 5:
-------

run the command "nmblookup -B ACLIENT '*'"

You should get the PCs IP address back. If you don't then the client
software on the PC isn't installed correctly, or isn't started, or you
got the name of the PC wrong. 


TEST 6:
-------

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/TCPIP hosts on the network should respond, although Samba may
not catch all of the responses in the short time it listens. You
should see "got a positive name query response" messages from several
hosts. 

If this doesn't give a similar result to the previous test then
nmblookup isn't correctly getting your broadcast address through its
automatic mechanism. In this case you should experiment use the
"interfaces" 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 -B option to set the broadcast address to the that of the PCs
subnet.


TEST 7:
-------

Run the command "smbclient '\\BIGSERVER\TMP'". You should then be
prompted for a password. You should use the password of the account
you are logged into the unix box with. If you want to test with
another account then add the -U <accountname> option to the command
line. 

Once you enter the password you should get the "smb>" prompt. If you
don't then look at the error message. If it says "invalid network
name" then the service "tmp" is not correctly setup in your smb.conf.

If it says "bad password" then the likely causes are:

- you have shadow passords (or some other password system) but didn't
compile in support for them in smbd
- your "valid users" configuration is incorrect
- you have a mixed case password and you haven't enabled the "password
level" option at a high enough level
- the "path =" line in smb.conf is incorrect. Check it with testparm
- you enabled password encryption but didn't create the SMB encrypted
password file

Once connected you should be able to use the commands "dir" "get"
"put" etc. Type "help <command>" for instructions. You should
especially check that the amount of free disk space shown is correct
when you type "dir".


TEST 8:
-------

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
available shares on the server.

If you get a "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):

- fixup 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 "invalid network name" or "bad password error" then the
same fixes apply as they did for the "smbclient -L" test above. In
particular, make sure your "hosts allow" line is correct (see the man
pages)

If you get "specified computer is not receiving requests" or similar
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, etc.)


TEST 9:
--------

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 user name to
connect you as. To see if this is the problem add the line "user =
USERNAME" to the [tmp] 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.


TEST 10:
--------

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 a "invalid
password" error when you do then you are probably running WinNT 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
"security = server" AND "password server = Windows_NT_Machine" in your
smb.conf file, or enable encrypted passwords AFTER compiling in support
for encrypted passwords (refer to the Makefile).


Still having troubles?
----------------------

Try the mailing list or newsgroup, or use the tcpdump-smb utility to
sniff the problem.

Also look at the other docs in the Samba package!