1 2 3 4 5 6 7<html><head><title>nmbd</title> 8 9<link rev="made" href="mailto:samba@samba.org"> 10</head> 11<body> 12 13<hr> 14 15<h1>nmbd</h1> 16<h2>Samba</h2> 17<h2>23 Oct 1998</h2> 18 19 20 21<p><a name="NAME"></a> 22<h2>NAME</h2> 23 nmbd - NetBIOS name server to provide NetBIOS over IP 24naming services to clients 25<p><a name="SYNOPSIS"></a> 26<h2>SYNOPSIS</h2> 27 28<p><strong>nmbd</strong> [<a href="nmbd.8.html#minusD">-D</a>] [<a href="nmbd.8.html#minusa">-a</a>] [<a href="nmbd.8.html#minuso">-o</a>] [<a href="nmbd.8.html#minush">-h</a>] [<a href="nmbd.8.html#minusV">-V</a>] [<a href="nmbd.8.html#minusH">-H lmhosts file</a>] [<a href="nmbd.8.html#minusd">-d debuglevel</a>] [<a href="nmbd.8.html#minusl">-l log file basename</a>] [<a href="nmbd.8.html#minusn">-n primary NetBIOS name</a>] [<a href="nmbd.8.html#minusp">-p port number</a>] [<a href="nmbd.8.html#minuss">-s configuration file</a>] 29<p><a name="DESCRIPTION"></a> 30<h2>DESCRIPTION</h2> 31 32<p>This program is part of the <strong>Samba</strong> suite. 33<p><strong>nmbd</strong> is a server that understands and can reply to NetBIOS over IP 34name service requests, like those produced by SMBD/CIFS clients such 35as Windows 95/98, Windows NT and LanManager clients. It also 36participates in the browsing protocols which make up the Windows 37"Network Neighborhood" view. 38<p>SMB/CIFS clients, when they start up, may wish to locate an SMB/CIFS 39server. That is, they wish to know what IP number a specified host is 40using. 41<p>Amongst other services, <strong>nmbd</strong> will listen for such requests, 42and if its own NetBIOS name is specified it will respond with the IP 43number of the host it is running on. Its "own NetBIOS name" is by 44default the primary DNS name of the host it is running on, but this 45can be overridden with the <strong>-n</strong> option (see <a href="nmbd.8.html#OPTIONS">OPTIONS</a> below). Thus 46<strong>nmbd</strong> will reply to broadcast queries for its own name(s). Additional 47names for <strong>nmbd</strong> to respond on can be set via parameters in the 48<a href="smb.conf.5.html"><strong>smb.conf(5)</strong></a> configuration file. 49<p><strong>nmbd</strong> can also be used as a WINS (Windows Internet Name Server) 50server. What this basically means is that it will act as a WINS 51database server, creating a database from name registration requests 52that it receives and replying to queries from clients for these names. 53<p>In addition, <strong>nmbd</strong> can act as a WINS proxy, relaying broadcast queries 54from clients that do not understand how to talk the WINS protocol to a 55WIN server. 56<p><a name="OPTIONS"></a> 57<h2>OPTIONS</h2> 58 59<p><dl> 60<p><a name="minusD"></a> 61<p></p><dt><strong><strong>-D</strong></strong><dd> If specified, this parameter causes <strong>nmbd</strong> to operate 62as a daemon. That is, it detaches itself and runs in the background, 63fielding requests on the appropriate port. By default, <strong>nmbd</strong> will 64NOT operate as a daemon. nmbd can also be operated from the inetd 65meta-daemon, although this is not recommended. 66<p><a name="minusa"></a> 67<p></p><dt><strong><strong>-a</strong></strong><dd> If this parameter is specified, each new connection will 68append log messages to the log file. This is the default. 69<p><a name="minuso"></a> 70<p></p><dt><strong><strong>-o</strong></strong><dd> If this parameter is specified, the log files will be 71overwritten when opened. By default, the log files will be appended 72to. 73<p><a name="minush"></a> 74<p></p><dt><strong><strong>-h</strong></strong><dd> Prints the help information (usage) for <strong>nmbd</strong>. 75<p><a name="minusV"></a> 76<p></p><dt><strong><strong>-V</strong></strong><dd> Prints the version number for <strong>nmbd</strong>. 77<p><a name="minusH"></a> 78<p></p><dt><strong><strong>-H filename</strong></strong><dd> NetBIOS lmhosts file. 79<p>The lmhosts file is a list of NetBIOS names to IP addresses that is 80loaded by the nmbd server and used via the name resolution mechanism 81<a href="smb.conf.5.html#nameresolveorder"><strong>name resolve order</strong></a> described in 82<a href="smb.conf.5.html"><strong>smb.conf (5)</strong></a> to resolve any 83NetBIOS name queries needed by the server. Note that the contents of 84this file are <em>NOT</em> used by <strong>nmbd</strong> to answer any name queries. Adding 85a line to this file affects name NetBIOS resolution from this host 86<em>ONLY</em>. 87<p>The default path to this file is compiled into Samba as part of the 88build process. Common defaults are <em>/usr/local/samba/lib/lmhosts</em>, 89<em>/usr/samba/lib/lmhosts</em> or <em>/etc/lmhosts</em>. See the 90<a href="lmhosts.5.html"><strong>lmhosts (5)</strong></a> man page for details on the contents of this file. 91<p><a name="minusd"></a> 92<p></p><dt><strong><strong>-d debuglevel</strong></strong><dd> debuglevel is an integer from 0 to 10. 93<p>The default value if this parameter is not specified is zero. 94<p>The higher this value, the more detail will be logged to the log files 95about the activities of the server. At level 0, only critical errors 96and serious warnings will be logged. Level 1 is a reasonable level for 97day to day running - it generates a small amount of information about 98operations carried out. 99<p>Levels above 1 will generate considerable amounts of log data, and 100should only be used when investigating a problem. Levels above 3 are 101designed for use only by developers and generate HUGE amounts of log 102data, most of which is extremely cryptic. 103<p>Note that specifying this parameter here will override the <a href="smb.conf.5.html#loglevel"><strong>log 104level</strong></a> parameter in the <a href="smb.conf.5.html"><strong>smb.conf 105(5)</strong></a> file. 106<p><a name="minusl"></a> 107<p></p><dt><strong><strong>-l logfile</strong></strong><dd> The <strong>-l</strong> parameter specifies a path and base 108filename into which operational data from the running nmbd server will 109be logged. The actual log file name is generated by appending the 110extension ".nmb" to the specified base name. For example, if the name 111specified was "log" then the file log.nmb would contain the debugging 112data. 113<p>The default log file path is compiled into Samba as part of the 114build process. Common defaults are <em>/usr/local/samba/var/log.nmb</em>, 115<em>/usr/samba/var/log.nmb</em> or <em>/var/log/log.nmb</em>. 116<p><a name="minusn"></a> 117<p></p><dt><strong><strong>-n primary NetBIOS name</strong></strong><dd> This option allows you to override 118the NetBIOS name that Samba uses for itself. This is identical to 119setting the <a href="smb.conf.5.html#netbiosname"><strong>NetBIOS name</strong></a> parameter 120in the <a href="smb.conf.5.html"><strong>smb.conf</strong></a> file 121but will override the setting in the <a href="smb.conf.5.html"><strong>smb.conf</strong></a> file. 122<p><a name="minusp"></a> 123<p></p><dt><strong><strong>-p UDP port number</strong></strong><dd> UDP port number is a positive integer value. 124<p>This option changes the default UDP port number (normally 137) that 125<strong>nmbd</strong> responds to name queries on. Don't use this option unless you are 126an expert, in which case you won't need help! 127<p><a name="minuss"></a> 128<p></p><dt><strong><strong>-s configuration file</strong></strong><dd> The default configuration file name is 129set at build time, typically as <em>/usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf</em>, but 130this may be changed when Samba is autoconfigured. 131<p>The file specified contains the configuration details required by the 132server. See <a href="smb.conf.5.html"><strong>smb.conf (5)</strong></a> for more information. 133<p></dl> 134<p><a name="FILES"></a> 135<h2>FILES</h2> 136 137<p><strong>/etc/inetd.conf</strong> 138<p>If the server is to be run by the inetd meta-daemon, this file must 139contain suitable startup information for the meta-daemon. 140<p><strong>/etc/rc</strong> 141<p>(or whatever initialization script your system uses). 142<p>If running the server as a daemon at startup, this file will need to 143contain an appropriate startup sequence for the server. 144<p><strong>/usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf</strong> 145<p>This is the default location of the 146<a href="smb.conf.5.html"><strong>smb.conf</strong></a> server configuration 147file. Other common places that systems install this file are 148<em>/usr/samba/lib/smb.conf</em> and <em>/etc/smb.conf</em>. 149<p>When run as a <strong>WINS</strong> server (see the <a href="smb.conf.5.html#winssupport"><strong>wins support</strong></a> 150parameter in the <a href="smb.conf.5.html"><strong>smb.conf (5)</strong></a> man page), <strong>nmbd</strong> will 151store the WINS database in the file <code>wins.dat</code> in the <code>var/locks</code> directory 152configured under wherever Samba was configured to install itself. 153<p>If <strong>nmbd</strong> is acting as a <strong>browse master</strong> (see the <a href="smb.conf.5.html#localmaster"><strong>local master</strong></a> 154parameter in the <a href="smb.conf.5.html"><strong>smb.conf (5)</strong></a> man page), <strong>nmbd</strong> will 155store the browsing database in the file <code>browse.dat</code> in the <code>var/locks</code> directory 156configured under wherever Samba was configured to install itself. 157<p><a name="SIGNALS"></a> 158<h2>SIGNALS</h2> 159 160<p>To shut down an <strong>nmbd</strong> process it is recommended that SIGKILL (-9) 161<em>NOT</em> be used, except as a last resort, as this may leave the name 162database in an inconsistent state. The correct way to terminate 163<strong>nmbd</strong> is to send it a SIGTERM (-15) signal and wait for it to die on 164its own. 165<p><strong>nmbd</strong> will accept SIGHUP, which will cause it to dump out it's 166namelists into the file <code>namelist.debug</code> in the 167<em>/usr/local/samba/var/locks</em> directory (or the <em>var/locks</em> 168directory configured under wherever Samba was configured to install 169itself). This will also cause <strong>nmbd</strong> to dump out it's server database in 170the log.nmb file. In addition, the debug log level of nmbd may be raised 171by sending it a SIGUSR1 (<code>kill -USR1 <nmbd-pid></code>) and lowered by sending it a 172SIGUSR2 (<code>kill -USR2 <nmbd-pid></code>). This is to allow transient 173problems to be diagnosed, whilst still running at a normally low log 174level. 175<p><a name="VERSION"></a> 176<h2>VERSION</h2> 177 178<p>This man page is correct for version 2.0 of the Samba suite. 179<p><a name="SEEALSO"></a> 180<h2>SEE ALSO</h2> 181 182<p><strong>inetd (8)</strong>, <a href="smbd.8.html"><strong>smbd (8)</strong></a>, <a href="smb.conf.5.html"><strong>smb.conf 183(5)</strong></a>, <a href="smbclient.1.html"><strong>smbclient (1)</strong></a>, 184<a href="testparm.1.html"><strong>testparm (1)</strong></a>, <a href="testprns.1.html"><strong>testprns 185(1)</strong></a>, and the Internet RFC's <strong>rfc1001.txt</strong>, 186<strong>rfc1002.txt</strong>. In addition the CIFS (formerly SMB) specification is 187available as a link from the Web page : 188<a href="http://samba.org/cifs/">http://samba.org/cifs/</a>. 189<p><a name="AUTHOR"></a> 190<h2>AUTHOR</h2> 191 192<p>The original Samba software and related utilities were created by 193Andrew Tridgell <a href="mailto:samba@samba.org"><em>samba@samba.org</em></a>. Samba is now developed 194by the Samba Team as an Open Source project similar to the way the 195Linux kernel is developed. 196<p>The original Samba man pages were written by Karl Auer. The man page 197sources were converted to YODL format (another excellent piece of Open 198Source software, available at 199<a href="ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/"><strong>ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/</strong></a>) 200and updated for the Samba2.0 release by Jeremy Allison. 201<a href="mailto:samba@samba.org"><em>samba@samba.org</em></a>. 202<p>See <a href="samba.7.html"><strong>samba (7)</strong></a> to find out how to get a full 203list of contributors and details on how to submit bug reports, 204comments etc. 205</body> 206</html> 207