nmbd(8)
NMBD(8) MAINTENANCE COMMANDS NMBD(8)
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>] [-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, Win-
dows 2000, Windows XP and LanManager clients. It also parti-
cipates 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 by the netbios
name in smb.conf. 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 broad-
cast 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 back-
ground, 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
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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 run-
ning 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 stan-
dard 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 Net-
BIOS 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|--debuglevel=level
level is an integer from 0 to 10. The default value if
this parameter is not specified is zero.
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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 prob-
lem. Levels above 3 are designed for use only by develop-
ers and generate HUGE amounts of log data, most of which
is extremely cryptic.
Note that specifying this parameter here will override
the
parameter in the smb.conf file.
-l|--logfile=logdirectory
Base directory name for log/debug files. The extension
".progname" will be appended (e.g. log.smbclient,
log.smbd, etc...). 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
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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 data-
base 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 diag-
nosed, whilst still running at a normally low log level.
VERSION
This man page is correct for version 3.0 of the Samba suite.
SEE ALSO
inetd(8), smbd(8), smb.conf(5), smbclient(1), testparm(1),
testprns(1), and the Internet RFC's rfc1001.txt,
rfc1002.txt. In addition the CIFS (formerly SMB) specifica-
tion is available as a link from the Web page
http://samba.org/cifs/.
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.
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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 Doc-
Book XML 4.2 for Samba 3.0 was done by Alexander Bokovoy.
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