NMBD(8) UNIX System V (19 November 2002) NMBD(8)
NAME [Toc] [Back]
nmbd - NetBIOS name server to provide NetBIOS over IP
naming services to clients
SYNOPSIS [Toc] [Back]
nmbd [ -D ] [ -a ] [ -i ] [ -o ] [ -P ] [ -h ] [ -V ]
[ -d <debug level> ] [ -H <lmhosts file> ] [ -l <log
directory> ] [ -n <primary netbios name> ] [ -p <port
number> ] [ -s <configuration file> ]
DESCRIPTION [Toc] [Back]
This program is part of the Samba 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, 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 WIN server.
OPTIONS [Toc] [Back]
-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.
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-a If this parameter is specified, each new connection
will append log messages to the log file. This is the
default.
-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 deamon mode
when run from the command line.
-o If this parameter is specified, the log files will be
overwritten when opened. By default, smbd will append
entries to the log files.
-h Prints the help information (usage) for nmbd.
-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/lmhosts. See the lmhosts(5) man page for details
on the contents of this file.
-V Prints the version number for nmbd.
-d <debug level>
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
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the log level parameter in the smb.conf file.
-l <log directory>
The -l parameter specifies a directory into which the
"log.nmbd" log file will be created for operational
data from the running nmbd server. The default log
directory is compiled into Samba as part of the build
process. Common defaults are
/usr/local/samba/var/log.nmb, /usr/samba/var/log.nmb
or /var/log/log.nmb. Beware: If the directory
specified does not exist, nmbd will log to the default
debug log location defined at compile time.
-n <primary NetBIOS name>
This option allows you to override the NetBIOS name
that Samba uses for itself. This is identical to
setting the NetBIOS name parameter in the smb.conf
file. However, a command line setting will take
precedence over settings in smb.conf.
-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!
-s <configuration file>
The default configuration file name is set at build
time, typically as /usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf, but
this may be changed when Samba is autoconfigured.
The file specified contains the configuration details
required by the server. See smb.conf(5) for more
information.
FILES [Toc] [Back]
/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. See the UNIX_INSTALL.html document for
details.
/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. See the UNIX_INSTALL.html document for
details.
/etc/services
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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). See the UNIX_INSTALL.html document
for details.
/usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf
This is the default location of the smb.conf server
configuration file. Other common places that systems
install this file are /usr/samba/lib/smb.conf and
/etc/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 [Toc] [Back]
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 in Samba 2.2). This
is to allow transient problems to be diagnosed, whilst still
running at a normally low log level.
TROUBLESHOOTING [Toc] [Back]
One of the common causes of difficulty when installing Samba
and SWAT is the existsnece of some type of firewall or port
filtering software on the Samba server. Make sure that the
appropriate ports outlined in this man page are available on
the server and are not currently being blocked by some type
of security software such as iptables or "port sentry". For
more troubleshooting information, refer to the additional
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documentation included in the Samba distribution.
VERSION [Toc] [Back]
This man page is correct for version 2.2 of the Samba suite.
SEE ALSO [Toc] [Back]
inetd(8), smbd(8) smb.conf(5)
smbclient(1)
and the Internet RFC's rfc1001.txt, rfc1002.txt. In
addition the CIFS (formerly SMB) specification is available
as a link from the Web page http://samba.org/cifs/
<URL:http://samba.org/cifs/>.
AUTHOR [Toc] [Back]
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/
<URL: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
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