htmldocs/using_samba/ch12.html

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<h1 class="head0">Chapter 12. Troubleshooting Samba</h1>


<p><a name="INDEX-1"/><a name="INDEX-2"/>Samba is extremely robust. Once you have
everything set up the way you want, you'll probably
forget that it is running. When trouble occurs, it's
typically during installation or when you're trying
to reconfigure the server. Fortunately, a wide variety of resources
are available to diagnose these troubles. While we
can't describe in detail the solution to every
problem you might encounter, you should be able to get a good start
at resolving the problem by following the advice given in this
chapter.</p>

<p>The first section of this chapter lists the tool bag, a collection of
tools available for troubleshooting Samba; the second section is a
detailed how-to; the last section lists extra resources to track down
particularly stubborn problems.</p>


<div class="sect1"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-1"/>

<h2 class="head1">The Tool Box</h2>

<p><a name="INDEX-3"/><a name="INDEX-4"/>Sometimes Unix
seems to be made up of a grab bag of applications and tools. There
are tools to troubleshoot tools. And of course, there are several
ways to accomplish the same task. When trying to solve a problem
related to Samba, a good plan of attack is to use the following:</p>

<ul><li>
<p>Samba logs</p>
</li><li>
<p>Samba test utilities</p>
</li><li>
<p>Unix utilities</p>
</li><li>
<p>Fault tree</p>
</li><li>
<p>Documentation and FAQs</p>
</li><li>
<p>Samba newsgroups</p>
</li><li>
<p>Searchable mailing list archives</p>
</li></ul>
<p>Let's go over each of these one-by-one in the
following sections.</p>


<div class="sect2"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-1.1"/>

<h3 class="head2">Samba Logs</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-5"/><a name="INDEX-6"/>Your first line of attack should always
be to check the log files. The Samba log files can help diagnose the
vast majority of the problems faced by beginning- to
intermediate-level Samba administrators. Samba is quite flexible when
it comes to logging. You can set up the server to log as little or as
much information as you want. Using substitution variables in the
Samba configuration file allows you to isolate individual logs for
each system, share, or combination thereof.</p>

<p>Logs are placed in <em class="filename">/usr/local/samba/var/smbd.log</em>
and <em class="filename">/usr/local/samba/var/nmbd.log</em> by default.
You can specify a log directory to use with the
<em class="emphasis">-l</em> flag on the command line when starting the
Samba daemons. For example:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code"># <tt class="userinput"><b>smbd -l /var/log/samba</b></tt>
# <tt class="userinput"><b>nmbd -l /var/log/samba</b></tt></pre></blockquote>

<p>Alternatively, you can override the location and name using the
<tt class="literal">log</tt><a name="INDEX-7"/> <tt class="literal">file</tt> configuration
option in <em class="filename">smb.conf</em>. This option accepts all the
substitution variables, so you could easily have the server keep a
separate log for each connecting client system by specifying the
following:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">[global]
    log file = %m.log</pre></blockquote>

<p>Another useful trick is to have the server keep a log for each
service (share) that is offered, especially if you suspect a
particular share is causing trouble. To do this, use the
<tt class="literal">%S</tt> variable, like this:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">[global]
    log file = %S.log</pre></blockquote>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-1.1.1"/>

<h3 class="head3">Log levels</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-8"/>The level of logging that Samba uses
can be set in the <em class="filename">smb.conf</em> file using the global
<tt class="literal">log</tt> <tt class="literal">level</tt> or
<tt class="literal">debug</tt> <tt class="literal">level</tt> option; they are
equivalent. The logging level is an integer that can range from 0 to
10. At level 0, no logging is done. Higher values result in more
voluminous logging. For example, let's assume that
we will use a Windows client to browse a directory on a Samba server.
For a small amount of log information, you can use
<tt class="literal">log</tt> <tt class="literal">level</tt> <tt class="literal">=</tt>
<tt class="literal">1</tt>, which instructs Samba to show only cursory
information, in this case only the connection itself:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">05/25/02 22:02:11 server (192.168.236.86) connect to service public as user pcguest
(uid=503,gid=100) (pid 3377)</pre></blockquote>

<p>Higher debug levels produce more detailed information. Usually, you
won't need more than level 3, which is fully
adequate for most Samba administrators. Levels above 3 are used by
the developers and dump enormous amounts of cryptic information.</p>

<p>Here is an example of output at levels 2 and 3 for the same
operation. Don't worry if you don't
understand the intricacies of an SMB connection; the point is simply
to show you what types of information are shown at the different
<a name="INDEX-9"/>logging levels:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code"> /* Level 2 */
Got SIGHUP
Processing section &quot;[homes]&quot;
Processing section &quot;[public]&quot;
Processing section &quot;[temp]&quot;
Allowed connection from 192.168.236.86 (192.168.236.86) to IPC$
Allowed connection from 192.168.236.86 (192.168.236.86) to IPC/


/* Level 3 */
05/25/02 22:15:09 Transaction 63 of length 67
switch message SMBtconX (pid 3377)
Allowed connection from 192.168.236.86 (192.168.236.86) to IPC$
ACCEPTED: guest account and guest ok
found free connection number 105
Connect path is /tmp
chdir to /tmp
chdir to /
05/25/02 22:15:09 server (192.168.236.86) connect to service IPC$ as user pcguest
(uid=503,gid=100) (pid 3377)
05/25/02 22:15:09 tconX service=ipc$ user=pcguest cnum=105
05/25/02 22:15:09 Transaction 64 of length 99
switch message SMBtrans (pid 3377)
chdir to /tmp
trans &lt;\PIPE\LANMAN&gt; data=0 params=19 setup=0
Got API command 0 of form &lt;WrLeh&gt; &lt;B13BWz&gt; (tdscnt=0,tpscnt=19,mdrcnt=4096,mprcnt=8)
Doing RNetShareEnum
RNetShareEnum gave 4 entries of 4 (1 4096 126 4096)
05/25/02 22:15:11 Transaction 65 of length 99
switch message SMBtrans (pid 3377)
chdir to /
chdir to /tmp
trans &lt;\PIPE\LANMAN&gt; data=0 params=19 setup=0
Got API command 0 of form &lt;WrLeh&gt; &lt;B13BWz&gt; (tdscnt=0,tpscnt=19,mdrcnt=4096,mprcnt=8)
Doing RNetShareEnum
RNetShareEnum gave 4 entries of 4 (1 4096 126 4096)
05/25/02 22:15:11 Transaction 66 of length 95
switch message SMBtrans2 (pid 3377)
chdir to /
chdir to /pcdisk/public
call_trans2findfirst: dirtype = 0, maxentries = 6, close_after_first=0, close_if_end
= 0 requires_resume_key = 0 level = 260, max_data_bytes = 2432
unix_clean_name [./DESKTOP.INI]
unix_clean_name [desktop.ini]
unix_clean_name [./]
creating new dirptr 1 for path ./, expect_close = 1
05/25/02 22:15:11 Transaction 67 of length 53
switch message SMBgetatr (pid 3377)
chdir to /

<i class="lineannotation">[... deleted ...]</i></pre></blockquote>

<p>We cut off this listing after the first packet because it runs on for
many pages. However, be aware that log levels above 3 will quickly
consume disk space with megabytes of excruciating detail concerning
Samba's internal operations. Log level 3 is
extremely useful for following exactly what the server is doing, and
most of the time it will be obvious where an error occurs by glancing
through the log file.</p>

<p>Using a high log level (3 or above) will
<em class="emphasis">seriously</em> slow down the Samba server. Remember
that every log message generated causes a write to disk (an
inherently slow operation) and log levels greater than 2 produce
massive amounts of data. Essentially, you should turn on logging
level 3 only when you're actively tracking a problem
in the Samba server. <a name="INDEX-10"/></p>


</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-1.1.2"/>

<h3 class="head3">Activating and deactivating logging</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-11"/><a name="INDEX-12"/>To turn logging on and off,
set the appropriate level in the <tt class="literal">[global]</tt> section
of <em class="filename">smb.conf</em>. Then, you can either restart Samba
or force the current daemon to reprocess the configuration file by
sending it a hangup (HUP) signal. You also can send the
<em class="emphasis">smbd</em> process a SIGUSR1 signal to increase its
log level by one while it's running, like this:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code"># <tt class="userinput"><b>kill -SIGUSR1 1234</b></tt></pre></blockquote>

<p>or a SIGUSR2 signal to decrease it by one:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code"># <tt class="userinput"><b>kill -SIGUSR2 1234</b></tt></pre></blockquote>


</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-1.1.3"/>

<h3 class="head3">Logging by individual client systems or users</h3>

<p>An effective way to diagnose problems without hampering other users
is to assign different log levels for different systems in the
<tt class="literal">[global]</tt> section of the
<em class="filename">smb.conf</em> file. We can do this by building on the
strategy we presented earlier:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">[global]
    log level = 0
    log file = /usr/local/samba/var/log.%m
    include = /usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf.%m</pre></blockquote>

<p>These options instruct Samba to use unique configuration and log
files for each client that connects. Now all you have to do is create
an <em class="filename">smb.conf</em> file for a specific client system
with a <tt class="literal">log</tt> <tt class="literal">level</tt>
<tt class="literal">=</tt> <tt class="literal">3</tt> entry in it (the others
will pick up the default log level of 0) and use that log file to
track down the problem.</p>

<p>Similarly, if only particular users are experiencing a
problem&mdash;and it travels from system to system with
them&mdash;you can isolate logging to a specific user by adding the
following to the <em class="filename">smb.conf</em> file:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">[global]
    log level = 0
    log file = /usr/local/samba/var/log.%u
    include = /usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf.%u</pre></blockquote>

<p>Then you can create a unique <em class="filename">smb.conf</em> file for
each user you wish to monitor (e.g.,
<em class="filename">/usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf.tim</em>). Files
containing the configuration option <tt class="literal">log</tt>
<tt class="literal">level</tt> <tt class="literal">=</tt> <tt class="literal">3</tt>
and only those users will get more detailed logging.<a name="INDEX-13"/><a name="INDEX-14"/></p>


</div>


</div>


<div class="sect2"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-1.2"/>

<h3 class="head2">Samba Test Utilities</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-15"/><a name="INDEX-16"/>A rigorous set of tests that exercise
the major parts of Samba are described in various files in the
<em class="emphasis">/docs/textdocs</em> directory of the Samba
distribution kit, starting with <em class="emphasis">DIAGNOSIS.txt</em>.
The fault tree in this chapter is a more detailed version of the
basic tests suggested by the Samba Team, but it covers only
installation and reconfiguration diagnosis, such as
<em class="emphasis">DIAGNOSIS.txt</em>. The other files in the
<em class="emphasis">/docs</em> subdirectories address specific problems
and instruct you how to troubleshoot items not included in this book.
If the fault tree doesn't suffice, be sure to look
at
<em class="emphasis">DIAGNOSIS.txt</em><a name="INDEX-17"/>
and its friends.</p>


</div>


<div class="sect2"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-1.3"/>

<h3 class="head2">Unix Utilities</h3>

<p>Sometimes it's useful to use a tool outside the
Samba suite to examine what's happening inside the
server. Three diagnostic tools can be of particular help in debugging
Samba troubles: <em class="emphasis">trace</em>,
<em class="emphasis">tcpdump</em>, and <em class="emphasis">Ethereal</em>.</p>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-1.3.1"/>

<h3 class="head3">Using trace</h3>

<p>The <em class="emphasis">trace</em><a name="INDEX-18"/> command masquerades under several
different names, depending on the operating system you are using. On
Linux it will be
<em class="emphasis">strace</em><a name="INDEX-19"/>; on Solaris you'll use
<em class="emphasis">truss</em><a name="INDEX-20"/>; SGI will have
<em class="emphasis">padc</em><a name="INDEX-21"/> and
<em class="emphasis">par</em><a name="INDEX-22"/>; and HP-UX will have
<em class="emphasis">trace</em> or
<em class="emphasis">tusc</em><a name="INDEX-23"/>. All have essentially the same
function, which is to display each operating system function call as
it is executed. This allows you to follow the execution of a program,
such as the Samba server, and often pinpoints the exact call that is
causing the difficulty.</p>

<p>One problem that <em class="emphasis">trace</em> can highlight is an
incorrect version of a dynamically linked library. This can happen if
you've downloaded prebuilt binaries of Samba.
You'll typically see the offending call at the end
of the <em class="emphasis">trace</em>, just before the program
terminates.</p>

<p>A sample <em class="emphasis">strace</em> output for the Linux operating
system follows. This is a small section of a larger file created
during the opening of a directory on the Samba server. Each line
lists a system call and includes its parameters and the return value.
If there was an error, the error value (e.g.,
<tt class="literal">ENOENT</tt>) and its explanation are also shown. You
can look up the parameter types and the errors that can occur in the
appropriate <em class="emphasis">trace</em> manual page for the operating
system you are using.</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">chdir(&quot;/pcdisk/public&quot;)                 = 0
stat(&quot;mini/desktop.ini&quot;, 0xbffff7ec)    = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
stat(&quot;mini&quot;, {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=1024, ...}) = 0
stat(&quot;mini/desktop.ini&quot;, 0xbffff7ec)    = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open(&quot;mini&quot;, O_RDONLY)                  = 5
fcntl(5, F_SETFD, FD_CLOEXEC)           = 0
fstat(5, {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=1024, ...}) = 0
lseek(5, 0, SEEK_CUR)                   = 0
SYS_141(0x5, 0xbfffdbbc, 0xedc, 0xbfffdbbc, 0x80ba708) = 196
lseek(5, 0, SEEK_CUR)                   = 1024
SYS_141(0x5, 0xbfffdbbc, 0xedc, 0xbfffdbbc, 0x80ba708) = 0
close(5)                                = 0
stat(&quot;mini/desktop.ini&quot;, 0xbffff86c)    = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
write(3, &quot;\0\0\0#\377SMB\10\1\0\2\0\200\1\0&quot;..., 39) = 39
SYS_142(0xff, 0xbffffc3c, 0, 0, 0xbffffc08) = 1
read(3, &quot;\0\0\0?&quot;, 4)                   = 4
read(3, &quot;\377SMBu\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0&quot;..., 63) = 63
time(NULL)                              = 896143871</pre></blockquote>

<p>This example shows several <em class="emphasis">stat() calls</em> failing
to find the files they were expecting. You don't
have to be an expert to see that the file
<em class="emphasis">desktop.ini</em> is missing from that directory. In
fact, many difficult problems can be identified by looking for
obvious, repeatable errors with <em class="emphasis">trace</em>. Often,
you need not look further than the last message before a crash.</p>


</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-1.3.2"/>

<h3 class="head3">Using tcpdump</h3>

<p>The <em class="emphasis">tcpdump</em><a name="INDEX-24"/> program, as extended by Andrew
<a name="INDEX-25"/>Tridgell,
allows you to monitor SMB <a name="INDEX-26"/>network
traffic in real time. A variety of output formats are available, and
you can filter the output to look at only a particular type of
traffic. You can examine all conversations between client and server,
including SMB and NMB broadcast messages. While its troubleshooting
capabilities lie mainly at the OSI network layer, you can still use
its output to get a general idea of what the server and client are
attempting to do.</p>

<p>A sample <em class="emphasis">tcpdump</em> log follows. In this instance,
the client has requested a directory listing, and the server has
responded appropriately, giving the directory names
<tt class="literal">homes</tt>, <tt class="literal">public</tt>,
<tt class="literal">IPC$</tt>, and <tt class="literal">temp</tt>
(we've added a few explanations on the right):</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">$ <tt class="userinput"><b>tcpdump -v -s 255 -i eth0 port not telnet</b></tt>
SMB PACKET: SMBtrans (REQUEST)                <i class="lineannotation"> Request packet</i>
SMB Command   =  0x25                         <i class="lineannotation">Request was ls or dir</i>

[000] 01 00 00 10                             <i class="lineannotation">....</i>


&gt;&gt;&gt; NBT Packet                                <i class="lineannotation">Outer frame of SMB packet</i>
NBT Session Packet
Flags=0x0
Length=226
[lines skipped]

SMB PACKET: SMBtrans (REPLY)                  <i class="lineannotation">Beginning of a reply to  request</i>
SMB Command   =  0x25                         <i class="lineannotation">Command was an ls or dir</i>
Error class   =  0x0
Error code    =  0                            <i class="lineannotation">No errors</i>
Flags1        =  0x80
Flags2        =  0x1
Tree ID       =  105
Proc ID       =  6075
UID           =  100
MID           =  30337
Word Count    =  10
TotParamCnt=8
TotDataCnt=163
Res1=0
ParamCnt=8
ParamOff=55
Res2=0
DataCnt=163
DataOff=63
Res3=0
Lsetup=0
Param Data: (8 bytes)
[000] 00 00 00 00 05 00 05 00                           ........

Data Data: (135 bytes)                        <i class="lineannotation">Actual directory contents:</i>
[000] 68 6F 6D 65 73 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  homes... ........
[010] 64 00 00 00 70 75 62 6C  69 63 00 00 00 00 00 00  d...publ ic......
[020] 00 00 00 00 75 00 00 00  74 65 6D 70 00 00 00 00  ....u... temp....
[030] 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  76 00 00 00 49 50 43 24  ........ v...IPC$
[040] 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 03 00 77 00 00 00  ........ ....w...
[050] 64 6F 6E 68 61 6D 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  donham.. ........
[060] 92 00 00 00 48 6F 6D 65  20 44 69 72 65 63 74 6F  ....Home  Directo
[070] 72 69 65 73 00 00 00 49  50 43 20 53 65 72 76 69  ries...I PC Servi
[080] 63 65 20 28 53 61 6D                              ce (Sam</pre></blockquote>

<p>This is more of the same debugging session as we saw before with the
<em class="emphasis">trace</em> command: the listing of a directory. The options
we used were <em class="emphasis">-v</em> (verbose), <em class="emphasis">-i
eth0</em> to tell <em class="emphasis">tcpdump</em> on which
interface to listen (an Ethernet port), and <em class="emphasis">-s
255</em> to tell it to save the first 255 bytes of each packet
instead of the default: the first 68. The option
<tt class="literal">port</tt> <tt class="literal">not</tt>
<tt class="literal">telnet</tt> is used to avoid screens of telnet traffic,
because we were logged in to the server remotely. The
<em class="emphasis">tcpdump</em> program actually has quite a number of
options to filter just the traffic you want to look at. If
you've used <em class="emphasis">snoop</em> or
<em class="emphasis">etherdump</em>, it will look vaguely familiar.</p>

<p>You can download the modified <em class="emphasis">tcpdump</em> from the
Samba FTP server, located at
<a href="ftp://samba.anu.edu.au/pub/samba/tcpdump-smb">ftp://samba.anu.edu.au/pub/samba/tcpdump-smb</a>.
Other versions might not include support for the SMB protocol; if you
don't see output such as that shown in the example,
you'll need to use the SMB-enabled version.</p>


</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-1.3.3"/>

<h3 class="head3">Using Ethereal</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-27"/>Ethereal (<a href="http://www.ethereal.com">http://www.ethereal.com</a>) is a GUI-based
utility that performs the same basic function as
<em class="emphasis">tcpdump</em>. You might prefer Ethereal because it is
much easier to use. Once you have Ethereal running, just do the
following:</p>

<ol><li>
<p>Select Start from the Capture menu.</p>
</li><li>
<p>Click the OK button in the dialog box that appears. This will bring
up a dialog box showing how many packets Ethereal has seen. Perform
the actions on the system(s) in your network to reproduce the problem
you are analyzing.</p>
</li><li>
<p>Click the Stop button in the Ethereal dialog box to make it finish
collecting data.</p>
</li><li>
<p>In the main Ethereal window, click any item in the upper window to
view it in the lower window. In the lower window, click any of the
boxes containing a plus sign (<tt class="literal">+</tt>) to expand the
view.</p>
</li></ol>
<p>Ethereal does a good job of translating the content of the packets it
encounters into human-readable format, and you should have little
trouble seeing what happened on the network during the capture
period. <a name="INDEX-28"/><a name="INDEX-29"/></p>


</div>


</div>


</div>


<div class="sect1"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2"/>

<h2 class="head1">The Fault Tree</h2>

<p><a name="INDEX-30"/><a name="INDEX-31"/><a name="INDEX-32"/><a name="INDEX-33"/>The fault
tree presented in this section is for diagnosing and fixing problems
that occur when you're installing and reconfiguring
Samba. It's an expanded form of the trouble and
diagnostic document <em class="filename">DIAGNOSIS.txt</em>, which is part
of the Samba distribution.</p>

<p>Before you set out to troubleshoot any part of the Samba suite, you
should know the following information:</p>

<ul><li>
<p>Your client IP address (we use 192.168.236.10)</p>
</li><li>
<p>Your server IP address (we use 192.168.236.86)</p>
</li><li>
<p>The netmask for your network (typically 255.255.255.0)</p>
</li><li>
<p>Whether the systems are all on the same subnet (ours are)</p>
</li></ul>
<p>For clarity, we've renamed the server in the
following examples to <tt class="literal">server.example.com</tt>, and the
client system to <tt class="literal">client.example.com</tt>.</p>


<div class="sect2"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.1"/>

<h3 class="head2">How to Use the Fault Tree</h3>

<p>Start the tests here, without skipping forward; it
won't take long (about 5 minutes) and might actually
save you time backtracking. Whenever a test succeeds, you will be
given a name of a section to which you can safely skip.</p>


</div>


<div class="sect2"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.2"/>

<h3 class="head2">Troubleshooting Low-Level IP</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-34"/>The
first series of tests is that of the low-level services that Samba
needs to run. The tests in this section verify that:</p>

<ul><li>
<p>The IP software works</p>
</li><li>
<p>The Ethernet hardware works</p>
</li><li>
<p>Basic name service is in place</p>
</li></ul>
<p>Subsequent sections add TCP software, the Samba daemons
<em class="emphasis">smbd</em> and <em class="emphasis">nmbd</em>, host-based
access control, authentication and per-user access control, file
services, and browsing. The tests are described in considerable
detail to make them understandable by both technically oriented end
users and experienced systems and network administrators.</p>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.2.1"/>

<h3 class="head3">Testing the networking software with ping</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-35"/>The first command to enter
on both the server and the client is
<tt class="literal">ping</tt><a name="INDEX-36"/><a name="INDEX-37"/>
<tt class="literal">127.0.0.1</tt>. This pings the loopback address and
indicates whether any networking support is functioning. On Unix, you
can use <tt class="literal">ping</tt> <tt class="literal">127.0.0.1</tt> with the
statistics option and interrupt it after a few lines. On Sun
workstations, the command is typically
<tt class="literal">/usr/etc/ping</tt> <tt class="literal">-s</tt>
<tt class="literal">127.0.0.1</tt>; on Linux, just <tt class="literal">ping</tt>
<tt class="literal">127.0.0.1</tt>. On Windows clients, run
<tt class="literal">ping</tt> <tt class="literal">127.0.0.1</tt> in an MS-DOS
(command prompt) window, and it will stop by itself after four lines.</p>

<p>Here is an example on a Linux server:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">$ <tt class="userinput"><b>ping 127.0.0.1 </b></tt>
PING localhost: 56 data bytes 64 bytes from localhost (127.0.0.1):
icmp-seq=0. time=1. ms 64 bytes from localhost (127.0.0.1):
icmp-seq=1. time=0. ms 64 bytes from localhost (127.0.0.1):
icmp-seq=2. time=1. ms ^C
----127.0.0.1 PING Statistics----
3 packets transmitted, 3 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip (ms)
min/avg/max = 0/0/1</pre></blockquote>

<p>If you get &quot;ping: no answer from . . .
&quot; or &quot;100% packet
loss,&quot; you have no IP networking installed on the
system. The address <tt class="literal">127.0.0.1</tt> is the internal
loopback address and doesn't depend on the computer
being physically connected to a network. If this test fails, you have
a serious local problem. TCP/IP either isn't
installed or is seriously misconfigured. See your operating system
documentation if it's a Unix server. If
it's a Windows client, follow the instructions in
<a href="ch03.html">Chapter 3</a> to install networking support.</p>

<a name="samba2-CHP-12-NOTE-155"/><blockquote class="note"><h4 class="objtitle">TIP</h4>
<p>If <em class="emphasis">you're</em> the network manager,
some good references are Craig Hunt's
<em class="emphasis">TCP/IP Network Administration</em>, Chapter 11, and Craig Hunt and Robert Bruce
Thompson's <em class="emphasis">Windows NT TCP/IP Network
Administration</em>, both published by
O'Reilly.</p>
</blockquote>


</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.2.2"/>

<h3 class="head3">Testing local name services with ping</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-38"/>Next, try to ping
<tt class="literal">localhost</tt> on the Samba server. The
<tt class="literal">localhost</tt> hostname is the conventional hostname
for the <tt class="literal">127.0.0.1</tt> loopback interface, and it
should resolve to that address. After typing <tt class="literal">ping</tt>
<tt class="literal">localhost</tt>, you should see output similar to the
following:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">$  <tt class="userinput"><b>ping localhost  </b></tt>
PING localhost: 56 data bytes  64 bytes from localhost (127.0.0.1):
icmp-seq=0. time=0. ms  64 bytes from localhost (127.0.0.1):
icmp-seq=1. time=0. ms  64 bytes from localhost (127.0.0.1):
icmp-seq=2. time=0. ms  ^C</pre></blockquote>

<p>If this succeeds, try the same test on the client. Otherwise:</p>

<ul><li>
<p>If you get &quot;unknown host:
localhost,&quot; there is a problem resolving the
hostname <em class="filename">localhost</em> into a valid IP address.
(This might be as simple as a missing entry in a local
<em class="emphasis">hosts</em> file.) From here, skip down to
<a href="ch03.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.7">Section 12.2.7</a> later in this chapter.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get &quot;ping: no answer,&quot; or
&quot;100% packet loss,&quot; but pinging
<tt class="literal">127.0.0.1</tt> worked, name services is resolving to an
address, but it isn't the correct one. Check the
file or database (typically <em class="filename">/etc/hosts</em> on a Unix
system) that the name service is using to resolve addresses to ensure
that the entry is correct.</p>
</li></ul>

</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.2.3"/>

<h3 class="head3">Testing the networking hardware with ping</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-39"/>Next, ping the
server's network IP address from itself. This should
get you exactly the same results as pinging
<tt class="literal">127.0.0.1</tt>:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">$ <tt class="userinput"><b>ping 192.168.236.86 </b></tt>
PING 192.168.236.86: 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 192.168.236.86 (192.168.236.86):
icmp-seq=0. time=1. ms 64 bytes from 192.168.236.86 (192.168.236.86):
icmp-seq=1. time=0. ms 64 bytes from 192.168.236.86 (192.168.236.86):
icmp-seq=2. time=1. ms ^C
----192.168.236.86 PING Statistics----
3 packets transmitted, 3 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip (ms)
min/avg/max = 0/0/1</pre></blockquote>

<p>If this works on the server, repeat it for the client. Otherwise:</p>

<ul><li>
<p>If <tt class="literal">ping</tt> <em class="replaceable">network_ip</em>
fails on either the server or client, but <tt class="literal">ping</tt>
<tt class="literal">127.0.0.1</tt> works on that system, you have a TCP/IP
problem that is specific to the Ethernet network interface card on
the computer. Check with the documentation for the network card or
host operating system to determine how to configure it correctly.
However, be aware that on some operating systems, the
<em class="emphasis">ping</em> command appears to work even if the network
is disconnected, so this test doesn't always
diagnose all hardware problems.</p>
</li></ul>

</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.2.4"/>

<h3 class="head3">Testing connections with ping</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-40"/>Now, ping the server by name (instead
of its IP address)&mdash;once from the server and once from the
client. This is the general test for working network hardware:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">$ <tt class="userinput"><b>ping server </b></tt>
PING server.example.com: 56 data bytes 64 bytes from server.example.com (192.168.236.86):
icmp-seq=0. time=1. ms 64 bytes from server.example.com (192.168.236.86):
icmp-seq=1. time=0. ms 64 bytes from server.example.com (192.168.236.86):
icmp-seq=2. time=1. ms ^C
----server.example.com PING Statistics----
3 packets transmitted, 3 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip (ms)
min/avg/max = 0/0/1</pre></blockquote>

<p>If successful, this test tells us five things:</p>

<ul><li>
<p>The hostname (e.g., <tt class="literal">server</tt>) is being found by your
local name server.</p>
</li><li>
<p>The hostname has been expanded to the full name (e.g.,
<tt class="literal">server.example.com</tt>).</p>
</li><li>
<p>Its address is being returned (<tt class="literal">192.168.236.86</tt>).</p>
</li><li>
<p>The client has sent the Samba server four 56-byte UDP/IP packets.</p>
</li><li>
<p>The Samba server has replied to all four packets.</p>
</li></ul>
<p>If this test isn't successful, one of several things
can be wrong with the network:</p>

<ul><li>
<p>First, if you get <tt class="literal">ping</tt>: <tt class="literal">no</tt>
<tt class="literal">answer</tt>, or <tt class="literal">100%</tt>
<tt class="literal">packet</tt> <tt class="literal">loss</tt>,
you're not connecting to the network, the other
system isn't connecting, or one of the addresses is
incorrect. Check the addresses that the <em class="emphasis">ping</em>
command reports on each system, and ensure that they match the ones
you set up initially.</p>

<p>If not, there is at least one mismatched address between the two
systems. Try entering the command <tt class="literal">arp</tt>
<tt class="literal">-a</tt>, and see if there is an entry for the other
system. (The <em class="emphasis">arp</em> command stands for the Address
Resolution Protocol. The <tt class="literal">arp</tt> <tt class="literal">-a</tt>
command lists all the addresses known on the local system.) Here are
some things to try:</p>
<ul><li>
<p>If you receive a message like <tt class="literal">192.168.236.86</tt>
<tt class="literal">at</tt> <tt class="literal">(incomplete)</tt>, the Ethernet
address of 192.168.236.86 is unknown. This indicates a complete lack
of connectivity, and you're likely having a problem
at the very bottom of the TCP/IP protocol stack&mdash;the Ethernet
interface layer. This is discussed in Chapters 5 and 6 of
<em class="citetitle">TCP/IP Network Administration
</em>(O'Reilly).</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you receive a response similar to server
<tt class="literal">(192.168.236.86)</tt> <tt class="literal">at</tt>
<tt class="literal">8:0:20:12:7c:94</tt>, the server has been reached at
some time, or another system is answering on its behalf. However,
this means that <em class="emphasis">ping</em> should have worked: you may
have an intermittent networking or ARP problem.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If the IP address from ARP doesn't match the
addresses you expected, investigate and correct the addresses
manually.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</li>

<li>
<p>If each system can ping itself but not another, something is wrong on
the network between them.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">ping</tt>: <tt class="literal">network</tt>
<tt class="literal">unreachable</tt> or <tt class="literal">ICMP</tt>
<tt class="literal">Host</tt> <tt class="literal">Unreachable</tt>,
you're not receiving an answer, and more than one
network is probably involved.</p>

<p>In principle, you shouldn't try to troubleshoot SMB
clients and servers on different networks. Try to test a server and
client that are on the same network:</p>

<ol><li>
<p>First, perform the tests for <tt class="literal">ping</tt>:
<tt class="literal">no</tt> <tt class="literal">answer</tt> described earlier in
this section. If this doesn't identify the problem,
the remaining possibilities are the following: an address is wrong,
your netmask is wrong, a network is down, or the packets have been
stopped by a firewall.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Check both the address and the netmasks on source and destination
systems to see if something is obviously wrong. Assuming both systems
really are on the same network, they both should have the same
netmasks, and <em class="emphasis">ping</em> should report the correct
addresses. If the addresses are wrong, you'll need
to correct them. If they are correct, the programs might be confused
by an incorrect netmask. See <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.8.1">Section 12.2.8.1</a>, later in this chapter.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>If the commands are still reporting that the network is unreachable
and neither of the previous two conditions are in error, one network
really might be unreachable from the other. This, too, is an issue
for the network manager.</p>
</li></ol>
</li><li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">ICMP</tt>
<tt class="literal">Administratively</tt> <tt class="literal">Prohibited</tt>,
you've struck a firewall of some sort or a
misconfigured router. You will need to speak to your network security
officer.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">ICMP</tt> <tt class="literal">Host</tt>
<tt class="literal">redirect</tt> and <em class="emphasis">ping</em> reports
packets getting through, this is generally harmless:
you're simply being rerouted over the network.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get a host redirect and no <em class="emphasis">ping</em>
responses, you are being redirected, but no one is responding. Treat
this just like the <tt class="literal">Network</tt>
<tt class="literal">unreachable</tt> response, and check your addresses and
netmasks.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">ICMP</tt> <tt class="literal">Host</tt>
<tt class="literal">Unreachable</tt> <tt class="literal">from</tt>
<tt class="literal">gateway</tt> <tt class="literal">gateway</tt>
<tt class="literal">name</tt>, ping packets are being routed to another
network, but the other system isn't responding and
the router is reporting the problem on its behalf. Again, treat this
like a <tt class="literal">Network</tt> <tt class="literal">unreachable</tt>
response, and start checking addresses and netmasks.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">ping</tt>: <tt class="literal">unknown</tt>
<tt class="literal">host</tt> <tt class="literal">hostname</tt>, your
system's name is not known. This tends to indicate a
name service problem, which didn't affect
<tt class="literal">localhost</tt>. Have a look at <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.7">Section 12.2.7</a>, later in this chapter.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get a partial success&mdash;with some pings failing but others
succeeding&mdash;you have either an intermittent problem between the
systems or an overloaded network. Ping a bit longer, and see if more
than about three percent of the packets fail. If so, check it with
your network manager: a problem might just be starting. However, if
only a few fail, or if you happen to know some massive network
program is running, don't worry unduly. The ICMP
(and UDP) protocols used by <em class="emphasis">ping</em> are allowed to
drop occasional packets.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get a response such as <tt class="literal">smtsvr.antares.net</tt>
<tt class="literal">is</tt> <tt class="literal">alive</tt> when you actually
pinged <tt class="literal">client.example.com</tt>, either
you're using someone else's address
or the system has multiple names and addresses. If the address is
wrong, the name service is clearly the culprit;
you'll need to change the address in the name
service database to refer to the correct system. This is discussed in
<a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.7">Section 12.2.7</a>, later in this
chapter.</p>

<p>Servers are often <em class="emphasis">multihomed</em> &mdash;i.e.,
connected to more than one network, with different names on each net.
If you are getting a response from an unexpected name on a multihomed
server, look at the address and see if it's on your
network (see <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.8.1">Section 12.2.8.1</a>, later in this chapter). If
so, you should use that address, rather than one on a different
network, for both performance and reliability reasons.</p>

<p>Servers can also have multiple names for a single Ethernet address,
especially if they are web servers. This is harmless, albeit
startling. You probably will want to use the official (and permanent)
name, rather than an alias that might change.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If everything works but the IP address reported is
<tt class="literal">127.0.0.1</tt>, you have a name service error. This
typically occurs when an operating-system installation program
generates an <em class="filename">/etc/hosts</em> line similar to
<tt class="literal">127.0.0.1</tt> <tt class="literal">localhost</tt>
<em class="emphasis">hostname.domainname</em>. The localhost line should
say <tt class="literal">127.0.0.1</tt> <tt class="literal">localhost</tt> or
<tt class="literal">127.0.0.1</tt> <tt class="literal">localhost</tt>
<tt class="literal">loghost</tt>. Correct it, lest it cause failures to
negotiate who is the master browse list holder and who is the master
browser. It can also cause (ambiguous) errors in later tests.</p>
</li></ul>
<p>If this worked from the server, repeat it from the client. <a name="INDEX-41"/>
<a name="INDEX-42"/><a name="INDEX-43"/></p>


</div>


</div>


<div class="sect2"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.3"/>

<h3 class="head2">Troubleshooting TCP</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-44"/><a name="INDEX-45"/>Now that
you've tested IP, UDP, and a name service with
<em class="emphasis">ping</em>, it's time to test TCP.
Browsing and <em class="emphasis">ping</em> use ICMP and UDP; file and
print services (shares) use TCP. Both depend on IP as a lower layer,
and all four depend on name services. Testing TCP is most
conveniently done using the FTP program.</p>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.3.1"/>

<h3 class="head3">Testing TCP with FTP</h3>

<p>Try connecting via FTP, once from the server to itself, and once from
the client to the server:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">$ <tt class="userinput"><b>ftp server</b></tt>
Connected to server.example.com.
220 server.example.com FTP server (Version 6.2/OpenBSD/Linux-0.10) ready.
 Name (server:davecb):
331 Password required for davecb.
Password:
230 User davecb logged in.
 ftp&gt;<tt class="userinput"><b> quit </b></tt>
221 Goodbye.</pre></blockquote>

<p>If this worked, skip to the next section, <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.4">Section 12.2.4</a>. Otherwise:</p>

<ul><li>
<p>If you received the message <tt class="literal">server</tt>:
<tt class="literal">unknown</tt> <tt class="literal">host</tt>, name service has
failed. Go back to the corresponding <em class="emphasis">ping</em> step,
<a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.2.2">Section 12.2.2.2</a>, and rerun those tests
to see why name lookup failed.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you received <tt class="literal">ftp</tt>: <tt class="literal">connect</tt>:
<tt class="literal">Connection</tt> <tt class="literal">refused</tt>, the system
isn't running an FTP daemon. This is mildly unusual
on Unix servers. Optionally, you might try this test by connecting to
the system using <em class="emphasis">telnet</em> instead of
<em class="emphasis">ftp</em>; the messages are very similar, and
<em class="emphasis">telnet</em> uses TCP as well.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If there was a long pause, and then <tt class="literal">ftp</tt>:
<tt class="literal">connect</tt>: <tt class="literal">Connection</tt>
<tt class="literal">timed</tt> <tt class="literal">out</tt>, the system
isn't reachable. Return to <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.2.4">Section 12.2.2.4</a>.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you received <tt class="literal">530</tt> <tt class="literal">Logon</tt>
<tt class="literal">Incorrect</tt>, you connected successfully, but
you've just found a different problem. You likely
provided an incorrect username or password. Try again, making sure
you use your username from the Unix server and type your password
correctly.</p>
</li></ul>

</div>


</div>


<div class="sect2"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.4"/>

<h3 class="head2">Troubleshooting Server Daemons</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-46"/>Once
you've confirmed that TCP networking is working
properly, the next step is to make sure the daemons are running on
the server. This takes three separate tests because no single one of
the following will decisively prove that they're
working correctly.</p>

<p>To be sure they're running, you need to find out
whether the daemons:</p>

<ol><li>
<p>Have started</p>
</li><li>
<p>Are registered or bound to a TCP/IP port by the operating system</p>
</li><li>
<p>Are actually paying attention</p>
</li></ol>

<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.4.1"/>

<h3 class="head3">Tracking daemon startup</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-47"/>First, check the Samba logs. If
you've started the daemons, the message
<tt class="literal">smbd</tt> <tt class="literal">version</tt>
<tt class="literal">number</tt> <tt class="literal">started</tt> should appear.
If it doesn't, you need to restart the Samba
daemons.</p>

<p>If the daemon reports that it has indeed started, look out for
<tt class="literal">bind</tt> <tt class="literal">failed</tt>
<tt class="literal">on</tt> <tt class="literal">port</tt> <tt class="literal">139</tt>
<tt class="literal">socket_addr=0</tt> <tt class="literal">(Address</tt>
<tt class="literal">already</tt> <tt class="literal">in</tt>
<tt class="literal">use)</tt>. This means another daemon has been started
on port 139 (<em class="emphasis">smbd</em> ). Also,
<em class="emphasis">nmbd</em> will report a similar failure if it cannot
bind to port 137. Either you've started them twice,
or the <em class="emphasis">inetd</em> server has tried to provide a
daemon for you. If it's the latter,
we'll diagnose that in a moment.</p>


</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.4.2"/>

<h3 class="head3">Looking for daemon processes with ps</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-48"/>Another way to make sure the daemons are
running is to check their processes on the system. Use the
<em class="emphasis">ps</em><a name="INDEX-49"/> command on the server with the
&quot;long&quot; option for your system type
(commonly <tt class="literal">ps</tt> <tt class="literal">ax</tt> or
<tt class="literal">ps</tt> <tt class="literal">-ef</tt>), and see whether
<em class="emphasis">smbd</em> and <em class="emphasis">nmbd</em> are already
running. This often looks like the following:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">$ <tt class="userinput"><b>ps ax</b></tt>
 PID TTY STAT TIME   COMMAND
 1   ?   S    0:03   init [2]
 2   ?   SW   0:00   (kflushd)
<i class="lineannotation">(...many lines of processes...) </i>
 234 ?   S    0:14   nmbd -D3
 237 ?   S    0:11   smbd -D3
<i class="lineannotation">(...more lines, possibly including more smbd lines...)</i></pre></blockquote>

<p>This example illustrates that <em class="emphasis">smbd</em> and
<em class="emphasis">nmbd</em> have already started as standalone daemons
(the <em class="emphasis">-D</em> option) at log level 3.</p>


</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.4.3"/>

<h3 class="head3">Looking for daemons bound to ports</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-50"/>Next, the daemons have to be registered
with the operating system so that they can get access to TCP/IP
ports. The <em class="emphasis">netstat</em> command will tell you if this
has been done. Run the command <tt class="literal">netstat</tt>
<tt class="literal">-a</tt> on the server, and look for lines mentioning
<tt class="literal">netbios</tt>, <tt class="literal">137</tt>, or
<tt class="literal">139</tt>:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">$ <tt class="userinput"><b>netstat -a </b></tt>
Active Internet connections (including servers)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q  Local Address          Foreign Address        (state)
udp   0      0       *.137                  *.*
tcp   0      0       *.139                  *.*                    LISTEN
tcp   8370   8760    server.139             client.1439            ESTABLISHED</pre></blockquote>

<p>Among similar lines, there should be at least one UDP line for
<tt class="literal">*.netbios-</tt> or <tt class="literal">*.137</tt>. This
indicates that the <em class="emphasis">nmbd</em> server is registered and
(we hope) is waiting to answer requests. There should also be at
least one TCP line mentioning <tt class="literal">*.netbios-</tt> or
<tt class="literal">*.139</tt>, and it will probably be in the LISTEN
state. This means that <em class="emphasis">smbd</em> is up and listening
for connections.</p>

<p>There might be other TCP lines indicating connections from
<em class="emphasis">smbd</em> to clients, one for each client. These are
usually in the ESTABLISHED state. If there are
<em class="emphasis">smbd</em> lines in the ESTABLISHED state,
<em class="emphasis">smbd</em> is definitely running. If there is only one
line in the LISTEN state, we're not sure yet. If
both of the lines are missing, a daemon has not succeeded in
starting, so it's time to check the logs and then go
back to <a href="ch02.html">Chapter 2</a>.</p>

<p>If there is a line for each client, it might be coming either from a
Samba daemon or from the master IP daemon,
<em class="emphasis">inetd</em>. It's quite possible that
your <em class="emphasis">inetd</em> startup file contains lines that
start Samba daemons without your realizing it; for instance, the
lines might have been placed there if you installed Samba as part of
a Linux distribution. The daemons started by
<em class="emphasis">inetd</em> prevent ours from running. This problem
typically produces log messages such as <tt class="literal">bind</tt>
<tt class="literal">failed</tt> <tt class="literal">on</tt>
<tt class="literal">port</tt> <tt class="literal">139</tt>
<tt class="literal">socket</tt> <tt class="literal">addr=0</tt>
<tt class="literal">(Address</tt> <tt class="literal">already</tt>
<tt class="literal">in</tt> <tt class="literal">use)</tt>.</p>

<p>Check your <em class="filename">/etc/inetd.conf</em> ; unless
you're intentionally starting the daemons from
there, <tt class="literal">netbios-ns</tt> (UDP port 137) or
<tt class="literal">netbios-ssn</tt> (tcp port 139) servers should be
mentioned there. If your system is providing an SMB daemon via
<em class="emphasis">inetd</em>, lines such as the following will appear
in the <em class="filename">inetd.conf</em> file:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">netbios-ssn stream tcp nowait root /usr/local/samba/bin/smbd smbd
netbios-ns dgram udp wait root /usr/local/samba/bin/nmbd nmbd</pre></blockquote>

<p>If your system uses <em class="emphasis">xinetd</em> instead of
<em class="emphasis">inetd</em>, see <a href="ch02.html">Chapter 2</a> for
details concerning its configuration.</p>


</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.4.4"/>

<h3 class="head3">Checking smbd with telnet</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-51"/><a name="INDEX-52"/><a name="INDEX-53"/>Ironically, the easiest way to test that
the <em class="emphasis">smbd</em> server is actually working is to send
it a meaningless message and see if it is rejected. Try something
such as the following:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">$ <tt class="userinput"><b>echo &quot;hello&quot; | telnet localhost 139 </b></tt>
Trying
Trying 192.168.236.86 ...
Connected to localhost. Escape character is '^]'.
Connection closed by foreign host.</pre></blockquote>

<p>This sends an erroneous but harmless message to
<em class="emphasis">smbd</em>. If you get a <tt class="literal">Connected</tt>
message followed by a <tt class="literal">Connection</tt>
<tt class="literal">closed</tt> message, the test was a success. You have
an <em class="emphasis">smbd</em> daemon listening on the port and
rejecting improper connection messages. On the other hand, if you get
<tt class="literal">telnet</tt>: <tt class="literal">connect</tt>:
<tt class="literal">Connection</tt> <tt class="literal">refused</tt>, most likely
no daemon is present. Check the logs and go back to <a href="ch02.html">Chapter 2</a>.</p>

<p>Regrettably, there isn't an easy test for
<em class="emphasis">nmbd</em>. If the <em class="emphasis">telnet</em> test
and the <em class="emphasis">netstat</em> test both say that an
<em class="emphasis">smbd</em> is running, there is a good chance that
<em class="emphasis">netstat</em> will also be correct about
<em class="emphasis">nmbd</em> running.</p>


</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.4.5"/>

<h3 class="head3">Testing daemons with testparm</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-54"/><a name="INDEX-55"/>Once you know
there's a daemon, you should always run
<em class="emphasis">testparm</em>, in hopes of getting something such as
the following:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">$ <tt class="userinput"><b>testparm </b></tt>
Load smb config files from /opt/samba/lib/smb.conf
Processing section &quot;[homes]&quot;
Processing section &quot;[printers]&quot; ...
Processing section &quot;[tmp]&quot;
Loaded services file OK. ...</pre></blockquote>

<p>The <em class="emphasis">testparm</em> program normally reports the
processing of a series of sections and responds with
<tt class="literal">Loaded</tt> <tt class="literal">services</tt>
<tt class="literal">file</tt> <tt class="literal">OK</tt> if it succeeds. If not,
it reports one or more of the following messages, which also appear
in the logs as noted:</p>

<dl>
<dt><b>Allow/Deny connection from account (n) to service</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>A <em class="emphasis">testparm</em>-only message produced if you have
<tt class="literal">valid</tt> <tt class="literal">user</tt> or
<tt class="literal">invalid</tt> <tt class="literal">user</tt> options set in
your <em class="emphasis">smb.conf</em>. You will want to make sure that
you are on the valid user list, and that <tt class="literal">root</tt>,
<tt class="literal">bin</tt>, etc., are on the invalid user list. If you
don't, you will not be able to connect, or users who
shouldn't <em class="emphasis">will</em> be able to.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>Warning: You have some share names that are longer than eight chars</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>For anyone using Windows for Workgroups and older clients. They fail
to connect to shares with long names, producing an overflow message
that sounds confusingly like a memory overflow.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>Warning: [name] service MUST be printable!</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>A printer share lacks a <tt class="literal">printable</tt>
<tt class="literal">=</tt> <tt class="literal">yes</tt> option.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>No path in service name using [name]</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>A file share doesn't know which directory to provide
to the user, or a print share doesn't know which
directory to use for spooling. If no path is specified, the service
will try to run with a path of <em class="emphasis">/tmp</em>, which might
not be what you want.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>Note: Servicename is flagged unavailable</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>Just a reminder that you have used the <tt class="literal">available</tt>
<tt class="literal">=</tt> <tt class="literal">no</tt> option in a share.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>Can't find include file [name] </b></dt>
<dd>
<p>A configuration file referred to by an <tt class="literal">include</tt>
option did not exist. If you were including the file unconditionally,
this is an error and probably a serious one: the share will not have
the configuration you intended. If you were including it based on one
of the <tt class="literal">%</tt> variables, such as <tt class="literal">%a</tt>
(architecture), you will need to decide whether, for example, a
missing Windows for Workgroups configuration file is a problem. It
often isn't.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>Can't copy service name, unable to copy to itself</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>You tried to copy an <em class="filename">smb.conf</em> section into
itself.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>Unable to copy service&mdash;source not found: [name]</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>Indicates a missing or misspelled section in a
<tt class="literal">copy</tt> <tt class="literal">=</tt> option.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>Ignoring unknown parameter name </b></dt>
<dd>
<p>Typically indicates an obsolete, misspelled, or unsupported option.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>Global parameter name found in service section </b></dt>
<dd>
<p>Indicates that a global-only parameter has been used in an individual
share. Samba ignores the parameter.</p>
</dd>

</dl>

<p>After the <em class="emphasis">testparm</em> test, repeat it with
(exactly) three parameters: the name of your
<em class="filename">smb.conf</em> file, the name of your client, and its
IP address:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code"># <tt class="userinput"><b>testparm /usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf client 192.168.236.10</b></tt></pre></blockquote>

<p>This will run one more test that checks the hostname and address
against <tt class="literal">hosts</tt> <tt class="literal">allow</tt> and
<tt class="literal">hosts</tt> <tt class="literal">deny</tt> options and might
produce the <tt class="literal">Allow</tt> <tt class="literal">connection</tt>
<tt class="literal">from</tt> <tt class="literal">hostname</tt>
<tt class="literal">to</tt> <tt class="literal">service</tt> and/or
<tt class="literal">Deny</tt> <tt class="literal">connection</tt>
<tt class="literal">from</tt> <tt class="literal">hostname</tt>
<tt class="literal">to</tt> <tt class="literal">service</tt> messages for the
client system. These messages indicate that you have
<tt class="literal">hosts</tt> <tt class="literal">allow</tt> and/or
<tt class="literal">hosts</tt> <tt class="literal">deny</tt> options in your
<em class="filename">smb.conf</em>, and they prohibit access from the
client system. <a name="INDEX-56"/></p>


</div>


</div>


<div class="sect2"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.5"/>

<h3 class="head2">Troubleshooting SMB Connections</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-57"/><a name="INDEX-58"/>Now
that you know the servers are up, you need to make sure
they're running properly. We start by placing a
simple <em class="filename">smb.conf</em> file in the
<em class="filename">/usr/local/samba/lib</em> directory.</p>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.5.1"/>

<h3 class="head3">A minimal smb.conf file</h3>

<p>In the following tests, we assume you have a
<tt class="literal">[temp]</tt> share suitable for testing, plus at least
one account. An <em class="filename">smb.conf</em> file that includes just
these is as follows:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">[global]
    workgroup = <em class="replaceable">EXAMPLE</em>
    security = user
    browsable = yes
    local master = yes
[homes]
    guest ok = no
    browsable = no
[temp]
    path = /tmp
    public = yes</pre></blockquote>
<a name="samba2-CHP-12-NOTE-156"/><blockquote class="note"><h4 class="objtitle">WARNING</h4>
<p>The <tt class="literal">public</tt> <tt class="literal">=</tt>
<tt class="literal">yes</tt> option in the <tt class="literal">[temp]</tt> share
is just for testing. You probably don't want people
without accounts storing things on your Samba server, so you should
comment it out when you're done.</p>
</blockquote>


</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.5.2"/>

<h3 class="head3">Testing locally with smbclient</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-59"/><a name="INDEX-60"/>The first test is to ensure that the
server can list its own services (shares). Run the command
<tt class="literal">smbclient</tt> <em class="emphasis">-L</em>
<tt class="literal">localhost</tt> <tt class="literal">-U%</tt> to connect to the
server from itself, and specify the guest user. You should see the
following:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">$ <tt class="userinput"><b>smbclient -L localhost -U% </b></tt>
Server time is Wed May 27 17:57:40 2002 Timezone is UTC-4.0
Server=[localhost]
User=[davecb]
Workgroup=[EXAMPLE]
Domain=[EXAMPLE]
    Sharename      Type      Comment
    ---------      -----     ----------
    temp           Disk
    IPC$           IPC       IPC Service (Samba 1.9.18)
    homes          Disk      Home directories
This machine does not have a browse list</pre></blockquote>

<p>If you received this output, move on to the next section, <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.5.3">Section 12.2.5.3</a>. On the other hand, if you
receive an error, check the following:</p>

<ul><li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">Get_hostbyname</tt>:
<tt class="literal">unknown</tt> <tt class="literal">host</tt>
<tt class="literal">localhost</tt>, either you've spelled
its name wrong or there actually is a problem (which should have been
seen back in <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.2.2">Section 12.2.2.2</a>). In the
latter case, move on to <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.7">Section 12.2.7</a>, later in this chapter.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">Connect</tt> <tt class="literal">error</tt>:
<tt class="literal">Connection</tt> <tt class="literal">refused</tt>, the server
was found, but it wasn't running an
<em class="emphasis">nmbd</em> daemon. Skip back to
<a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.4">Section 12.2.4</a>,
earlier in this chapter, and retest the daemons.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get the message <tt class="literal">Your</tt>
<tt class="literal">server</tt> <tt class="literal">software</tt>
<tt class="literal">is</tt> <tt class="literal">being</tt>
<tt class="literal">unfriendly</tt>, the initial session request packet got
a garbage response from the server. The server might have crashed or
started improperly. The common causes of this can be discovered by
scanning the logs for the following:</p>
<ul><li>
<p>Invalid command-line parameters to <em class="emphasis">smbd</em> ; see
the <em class="emphasis">smbd</em> manual page.</p>
</li><li>
<p>A fatal problem with the <em class="filename">smb.conf</em> file that
prevents the startup of <em class="emphasis">smbd</em>. Always check your
changes with <em class="emphasis">testparm</em>, as was done in <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.4.5">Section 12.2.4.5</a>, earlier in this chapter.</p>
</li><li>
<p>Missing directories where Samba is supposed to keep its log and lock
files.</p>
</li><li>
<p>The presence of a server already on the port (139 for
<em class="emphasis">smbd</em>, 137 for <em class="emphasis">nmbd</em> ),
preventing the daemon from starting.</p>
</li></ul>
</li>
<li>
<p>If you're using <em class="emphasis">inetd</em> (or
xinetd ) instead of standalone daemons, be sure to check your
<em class="filename">/etc/inetd.conf</em> (or xinetd configuration files)
and <em class="filename">/etc/services</em> entries against their manual
pages for errors as well.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get a <tt class="literal">Password</tt>: prompt, your guest account
is not set up properly. The <em class="emphasis">-U%</em> option tells
<em class="emphasis">smbclient</em> to do a &quot;null
login,&quot; which requires that the guest account be
present but does not require it to have any privileges.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get the message <tt class="literal">SMBtconX</tt>
<tt class="literal">failed</tt>. <tt class="literal">ERRSRV--ERRaccess</tt>, you
aren't permitted access to the server. This normally
means you have a <tt class="literal">hosts</tt> <tt class="literal">allow</tt>
option that doesn't include the server or a
<tt class="literal">hosts</tt> <tt class="literal">deny</tt> option that does.
Recheck with the command <tt class="literal">testparm</tt>
<tt class="literal">smb.conf</tt> <em class="replaceable">your_hostname</em>
<em class="replaceable">your_ip_address</em> (see
<a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.4.5">Section 12.2.4.5</a>),
and correct any unintended prohibitions.</p>
</li></ul>

</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.5.3"/>

<h3 class="head3">Testing connections with smbclient</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-61"/><a name="INDEX-62"/>Run the command
<tt class="literal">smbclient</tt>
<tt class="literal">\\</tt><em class="replaceable">server</em><tt class="literal">\temp</tt>
to connect to the server's <tt class="literal">[temp]</tt>
share and to see if you can connect to a file service. You should get
the following response:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">$ <tt class="userinput"><b>smbclient '\\server\temp' </b></tt>
Server time is Tue May  5 09:49:32 2002 Timezone is UTC-4.0 Password:
<b class="emphasis-bold">smb: \&gt; quit</b></pre></blockquote>
<p>You might receive the following errors:</p>

<ul><li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">Get_Hostbyname</tt>:
<tt class="literal">Unknown</tt> <tt class="literal">host</tt>
<tt class="literal">name</tt>, <tt class="literal">Connect</tt>
<tt class="literal">error</tt>: <tt class="literal">Connection</tt>
<tt class="literal">refused</tt>, or <tt class="literal">Your</tt>
<tt class="literal">server</tt> <tt class="literal">software</tt>
<tt class="literal">is</tt> <tt class="literal">being</tt>
<tt class="literal">unfriendly</tt>, see the previous section,
<a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.5.2">Section 12.2.5.2</a>, for
the diagnoses.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get the message <tt class="literal">servertemp</tt>:
<tt class="literal">Not</tt> <tt class="literal">enough</tt>
<tt class="literal">`\</tt>'
<tt class="literal">characters</tt> <tt class="literal">in</tt>
<tt class="literal">service</tt>, you likely didn't quote
the address, so Unix stripped off backslashes. You can also write the
command:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">smbclient \\\\<em class="replaceable">server</em>\\temp</pre></blockquote>

<p>or:</p>
<blockquote><pre class="code">smbclient //<em class="replaceable">server</em>/temp</pre></blockquote>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Now, provide your Unix account password to the
<tt class="literal">Password</tt>: prompt. If you then get an
<tt class="literal">smb</tt>: <tt class="literal">\&gt;</tt> prompt, it worked.
Enter <tt class="literal">quit</tt> and continue on to the next section,
<a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.5.4">Section 12.2.5.4</a>. If
you got <tt class="literal">SMBtconX</tt> <tt class="literal">failed</tt>.
<tt class="literal">ERRSRV--ERRinvnetname</tt>, the problem can be any of
the following:</p>

<ul><li>
<p>A wrong share name: you might have spelled it wrong, it might be too
long, it might be in mixed case, or it might not be available. Check
that it's what you expect with
<em class="emphasis">testparm</em> (see the earlier section, <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.4.5">Section 12.2.4.5</a>).</p>
</li><li>
<p>A <tt class="literal">security</tt> <tt class="literal">=</tt>
<tt class="literal">share</tt> parameter in your Samba configuration file,
in which case you might have to add <tt class="literal">-U</tt>
<em class="replaceable">your_account</em> to the
<em class="emphasis">smbclient</em> command.</p>
</li><li>
<p>An erroneous username.</p>
</li><li>
<p>An erroneous password.</p>
</li><li>
<p>An <tt class="literal">invalid</tt> <tt class="literal">users</tt> or
<tt class="literal">valid</tt> <tt class="literal">users</tt> option in your
<em class="emphasis">smb.conf</em> file that doesn't
allow your account to connect. Recheck using
<tt class="literal">testparm</tt> <tt class="literal">smb.conf</tt>
<em class="replaceable">your_hostname your_ip_address</em> (see the
earlier section, <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.4.5">Section 12.2.4.5</a>).</p>
</li><li>
<p>A <tt class="literal">valid</tt> <tt class="literal">hosts</tt> option that
doesn't include the server, or an
<tt class="literal">invalid</tt> <tt class="literal">hosts</tt> option that does.
Also test this with <em class="emphasis">testparm</em>.</p>
</li><li>
<p>A problem in authentication, such as if shadow passwords or the
Password Authentication Module (PAM) is used on the server, but Samba
is not compiled to use it. This is rare, but it occasionally happens
when a SunOS 4 Samba binary (with no shadow passwords) is run without
recompilation on a Solaris system (with shadow passwords).</p>
</li><li>
<p>The <tt class="literal">encrypted</tt> <tt class="literal">passwords</tt>
<tt class="literal">=</tt> <tt class="literal">yes</tt> option is in the
configuration file, but no password for your account is in the
<em class="emphasis">smbpasswd</em> file.</p>
</li><li>
<p>You have a null password entry, either in Unix
<em class="filename">/etc/passwd</em> or in the
<em class="emphasis">smbpasswd</em> file.</p>
</li><li>
<p>You are connecting to <tt class="literal">[temp]</tt>, and you do not have
the <tt class="literal">guest</tt> <tt class="literal">ok</tt>
<tt class="literal">=</tt> <tt class="literal">yes</tt> option in the
<tt class="literal">[temp]</tt> section of the
<em class="emphasis">smb.conf</em> file.</p>
</li><li>
<p>You are connecting to <tt class="literal">[temp]</tt> before connecting to
your home directory, and your guest account isn't
set up correctly. If you can connect to your home directory and then
connect to <tt class="literal">[temp]</tt>, that's the
problem. See <a href="ch02.html">Chapter 2</a> for more information on
creating a basic Samba configuration file.</p>

<p>A bad guest account will also prevent you from printing or browsing
until after you've logged in to your home directory.</p>
</li></ul>
<p>There is one more reason for this failure that has nothing at all to
do with passwords: the <tt class="literal">path</tt> parameter in your
<em class="filename">smb.conf</em> file might point somewhere that
doesn't exist. This will not be diagnosed by
<em class="emphasis">testparm</em>, and most SMB clients
can't distinguish it from other types of bad user
accounts. You will have to check it manually.</p>

<p>Once you have connected to <tt class="literal">[temp]</tt> successfully,
repeat the test, this time logging in to your home directory (e.g.,
map network drive
<em class="replaceable">server</em><tt class="literal">\davecb</tt>). If you
have to change anything to get that to work, retest
<tt class="literal">[temp]</tt> again afterward.</p>


</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.5.4"/>

<h3 class="head3">Testing connections with net use</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-63"/><a name="INDEX-64"/>Run the command
<tt class="literal">net</tt> <tt class="literal">use</tt> <tt class="literal">*</tt>
<tt class="literal">\</tt><em class="replaceable">server</em><tt class="literal">\temp</tt>
on the Windows client to see if it can connect to the server. You
should be prompted for a password, then receive the response
<tt class="literal">The</tt> <tt class="literal">command</tt>
<tt class="literal">was</tt> <tt class="literal">completed</tt>
<tt class="literal">successfully</tt>.</p>

<p>If that worked, continue with the steps in the next section, <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.5.5">Section 12.2.5.5</a>. Otherwise:</p>

<ul><li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">The</tt> <tt class="literal">specified</tt>
<tt class="literal">shared</tt> <tt class="literal">directory</tt>
<tt class="literal">cannot</tt> <tt class="literal">be</tt>
<tt class="literal">found</tt>, or <tt class="literal">Cannot</tt>
<tt class="literal">locate</tt> <tt class="literal">specified</tt>
<tt class="literal">share</tt> <tt class="literal">name</tt>, the directory name
is either misspelled or not in the <em class="emphasis">smb.conf</em>
file. This message can also warn of a name that is in mixed case,
including spaces, or that is longer than eight characters.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">The</tt> <tt class="literal">computer</tt>
<tt class="literal">name</tt> <tt class="literal">specified</tt>
<tt class="literal">in</tt> <tt class="literal">the</tt>
<tt class="literal">network</tt> <tt class="literal">path</tt>
<tt class="literal">cannot</tt> <tt class="literal">be</tt>
<tt class="literal">located</tt> or <tt class="literal">Cannot</tt>
<tt class="literal">locate</tt> <tt class="literal">specified</tt>
<tt class="literal">computer</tt>, the directory name has been misspelled,
the name service has failed, there is a networking problem, or the
<tt class="literal">hosts</tt> <tt class="literal">deny</tt> option includes your
host.</p>
<ul><li>
<p>If it is not a spelling mistake, you need to double back at least to
<a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.5.3">Section 12.2.5.3</a> to
investigate why it doesn't connect.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If <em class="emphasis">smbclient</em> does work, there is a name service
problem with the client name service, and you need to go forward to
<a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.6.2">Section 12.2.6.2</a> and see if
you can look up both the client and server with
<em class="emphasis">nmblookup</em>.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</li>

<li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">The</tt> <tt class="literal">password</tt>
<tt class="literal">is</tt> <tt class="literal">invalid</tt>
<tt class="literal">for</tt> <tt class="literal">\server\username</tt>, your
locally cached copy on the client doesn't match the
one on the server. You will be prompted for a replacement.</p>

<a name="samba2-CHP-12-NOTE-157"/><blockquote class="note"><h4 class="objtitle">TIP</h4>
<p>Each Windows 95/98/Me client keeps a local
<em class="emphasis">password</em> file, but it's really
just a cached copy of the password it sends to Samba and NT/2000/XP
servers to authenticate you. That's what is being
prompted for here. You can still log on to a Windows system without a
password (but not to NT/2000/XP).</p>
</blockquote>

<p>If you provide your password and it still fails, your password is not
being matched on the server, you have a <tt class="literal">valid</tt>
<tt class="literal">users</tt> or <tt class="literal">invalid</tt>
<tt class="literal">users</tt> list denying you permission, NetBEUI is
interfering, or the encrypted password problem described in the next
paragraph exists.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If your client is Windows NT 4.0, NT 3.5 with Patch 3, Windows 95
with Patch 3, Windows 98, any of these with Internet Explorer 4.0, or
any subsequent version of Windows, the system will default to
Microsoft encryption for passwords. In general, if you have installed
a major Microsoft product on any of the older Windows versions, you
might have applied an update and turned on encrypted passwords. If
the client is defaulting to encrypted passwords, you will need to
specify <tt class="literal">encrypt</tt> <tt class="literal">passwords</tt>
<tt class="literal">=</tt> <tt class="literal">yes</tt> in your Samba
configuration file if you are using a version of Samba prior to Samba
3.0.</p>

<a name="samba2-CHP-12-NOTE-158"/><blockquote class="note"><h4 class="objtitle">TIP</h4>
<p>Because of Internet Explorer's willingness to honor
URLs such as <em class="filename">file://somehost/somefile</em> by making
SMB connections, clients up to and including Windows 95 Patch Level 2
would happily send your password, in plain text, to SMB servers
anywhere on the Internet. This was considered a bad idea, and
Microsoft switched to using only encrypted passwords in the SMB
protocol. All subsequent releases of Microsoft's
products have included this correction.</p>
</blockquote>
</li>

<li>
<p>If you have a mixed-case password on Unix, the client is probably
sending it in all one case. If changing your password to all one case
works, this was the problem. Regrettably, all but the oldest clients
support uppercase passwords, so Samba will try once with the password
in uppercase and once in lowercase. If you wish to use mixed-case
passwords, see the <tt class="literal">password</tt>
<tt class="literal">level</tt> option in <a href="ch09.html">Chapter 9</a> for a
workaround.</p>
</li><li>
<p>You might have a <tt class="literal">valid</tt> <tt class="literal">users</tt>
problem, as tested with <em class="emphasis">smbclient</em> (see the
earlier section, <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.5.3">Section 12.2.5.3</a>).</p>
</li><li>
<p>You might have the NetBEUI protocol bound to the Microsoft client.
This often produces long timeouts and erratic failures and is known
to have caused failures to accept passwords in the past. Unless you
absolutely need the NetBEUI protocol, remove it.</p>
</li></ul>
<a name="samba2-CHP-12-NOTE-159"/><blockquote class="note"><h4 class="objtitle">TIP</h4>
<p>The term &quot;bind&quot; is used here to
mean connecting one piece of software to another. When configured
correctly, the Microsoft SMB client is &quot;bound
to&quot; TCP/IP in the bindings section of the TCP/IP
properties panel under the Windows 95/98/Me Network icon in the
Control Panel. TCP/IP in turn is bound to an Ethernet card. This is
not the same sense of the word as binding an SMB daemon to a TCP/IP
port.</p>
</blockquote>


</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.5.5"/>

<h3 class="head3">Testing connections with Windows Explorer</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-65"/><a name="INDEX-66"/>Start Windows Explorer
(not Internet Explorer), select Map Network Drive from the Tools
menu, and specify the UNC for one of your shares on the Samba server
to see if you can make Explorer connect to it. If so,
you've succeeded and can skip to the next section,
<a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.6">Section 12.2.6</a>.</p>

<p>Windows Explorer is a rather poor diagnostic tool: it tells you that
something's wrong, but rarely what it is. If you get
a failure, you'll need to track it down with the
Windows <em class="emphasis">net use</em> command, which has far superior
error reporting:</p>

<ul><li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">The</tt> <tt class="literal">password</tt>
<tt class="literal">for</tt> <tt class="literal">this</tt>
<tt class="literal">connection</tt> <tt class="literal">that</tt>
<tt class="literal">is</tt> <tt class="literal">in</tt> <tt class="literal">your</tt>
<tt class="literal">password</tt> <tt class="literal">file</tt>
<tt class="literal">is</tt> <tt class="literal">no</tt> <tt class="literal">longer</tt>
<tt class="literal">correct</tt>, you might have any of the following:</p>
<ul><li>
<p>Your locally cached copy on the client doesn't match
the one on the server.</p>
</li><li>
<p>You didn't provide a username and password when
logging on to the client. Some versions of Explorer will continue to
send a null username and password, even if you provide a password.</p>
</li><li>
<p>You have misspelled the password.</p>
</li><li>
<p>You have an <tt class="literal">invalid</tt> <tt class="literal">users</tt> or
<tt class="literal">valid</tt> <tt class="literal">users</tt> list denying
permission.</p>
</li><li>
<p>Your client is defaulting to encrypted passwords, but Samba is
configured with the <tt class="literal">encrypt</tt>
<tt class="literal">passwords</tt> <tt class="literal">=</tt>
<tt class="literal">no</tt> configuration file parameter.</p>
</li><li>
<p>You have a mixed-case password, which the client is supplying in all
one case.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">The</tt> <tt class="literal">network</tt>
<tt class="literal">name</tt> <tt class="literal">is</tt>
<tt class="literal">either</tt> <tt class="literal">incorrect</tt>,
<tt class="literal">or</tt> <tt class="literal">a</tt> <tt class="literal">network</tt>
<tt class="literal">to</tt> <tt class="literal">which</tt> <tt class="literal">you</tt>
<tt class="literal">do</tt> <tt class="literal">not</tt> <tt class="literal">have</tt>
<tt class="literal">full</tt> <tt class="literal">access</tt>, or
<tt class="literal">Cannot</tt> <tt class="literal">locate</tt>
<tt class="literal">specified</tt> <tt class="literal">computer</tt>, you might
have any of the following:</p>
<ul><li>
<p>Misspelled name</p>
</li><li>
<p>Malfunctioning service</p>
</li><li>
<p>Failed share</p>
</li><li>
<p>Networking problem</p>
</li><li>
<p>Bad <tt class="literal">path</tt> parameter in
<em class="filename">smb.conf</em></p>
</li><li>
<p><tt class="literal">hosts</tt> <tt class="literal">deny</tt> line that excludes
you</p>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">You</tt> <tt class="literal">must</tt>
<tt class="literal">supply</tt> <tt class="literal">a</tt>
<tt class="literal">password</tt> <tt class="literal">to</tt>
<tt class="literal">make</tt> <tt class="literal">this</tt>
<tt class="literal">connection</tt>, the password on the client is out of
synchronization with the server, or this is the first time
you've tried from this client system and the client
hasn't cached it locally yet.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">Cannot</tt> <tt class="literal">locate</tt>
<tt class="literal">specified</tt> <tt class="literal">share</tt>
<tt class="literal">name</tt>, you have a wrong share name or a syntax
error in specifying it, a share name longer than eight characters, or
one containing spaces or in mixed case.</p>
</li></ul>
<p>Once you can reliably connect to the share, try again, this time
using your home directory. If you have to change something to get
home directories working, retest with the first share, and vice
versa, as we showed in the earlier section, &quot;Testing
connections with net use.&quot; As always, if Explorer
fails, drop back to that section and debug the connection there.
<a name="INDEX-67"/><a name="INDEX-68"/></p>


</div>


</div>


<div class="sect2"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.6"/>

<h3 class="head2">Troubleshooting Browsing</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-69"/><a name="INDEX-70"/>Finally, we
come to browsing. We've left this for last, not
because it is the most difficult, but because it's
both optional and partially dependent on a protocol that
doesn't guarantee delivery of a packet. Browsing is
hard to diagnose if you don't already know that all
the other services are running.</p>

<p>Browsing is purely optional: it's just a way to find
the servers on your network and the shares that they provide. Unix
has nothing of the sort and happily does without. Browsing also
assumes all your systems are on a local area network (LAN) where
broadcasts are allowable.</p>

<p>First, the browsing mechanism identifies a system using the
unreliable UDP protocol; it then makes a normal (reliable) TCP/IP
connection to list the shares the system provides.</p>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.6.1"/>

<h3 class="head3">Testing browsing with smbclient</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-71"/><a name="INDEX-72"/>We'll start with
testing the reliable connection first. From the server, try listing
its own shares using <em class="emphasis">smbclient</em> with a
<tt class="literal">-L</tt> option and your server's name.
You should get something resembling the following:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">$ <tt class="userinput"><b>smbclient -L server</b></tt>
Added interface ip=192.168.236.86 bcast=192.168.236.255 nmask=255.255.255.0 Server
time is Tue Apr 28 09:57:28 2002 Timezone is UTC-4.0
Password:
Domain=[EXAMPLE] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 2.2.5]

   Sharename      Type      Comment
   ---------      ----      -------
    cdrom          Disk      CD-ROM
    cl             Printer   Color Printer 1
    davecb         Disk      Home Directories

   Server         Comment
   ---------      -------
   SERVER         Samba 2.2.5

   Workgroup      Master
   ---------      -------
   EXAMPLE        SERVER</pre></blockquote>

<ul><li>
<p>If you didn't get a Sharename list, the server is
not allowing you to browse any shares. This should not be the case if
you've tested any of the shares with Windows
Explorer or the <em class="emphasis">net use</em> command. If you
haven't done the <tt class="literal">smbclient</tt>
<tt class="literal">-L</tt> <tt class="literal">localhost</tt>
<tt class="literal">-U%</tt> test yet (see the earlier section, <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.5.2">Section 12.2.5.2</a>), do it now. An erroneous
guest account can prevent the shares from being seen. Also, check the
<em class="filename">smb.conf</em> file to make sure you do not have the
option <tt class="literal">browsable</tt> <tt class="literal">=</tt>
<tt class="literal">no</tt> anywhere in it: we suggest using a minimal
<em class="filename">smb.conf</em> file (see the earlier section, <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.5.1">Section 12.2.5.1</a>). You need to have
<tt class="literal">browsable</tt> enabled (which is the default) to see
the share.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you didn't get a browse list, the server is not
providing information about the systems on the network. At least one
system on the net must support browse lists. Make sure you have
<tt class="literal">local</tt> <tt class="literal">master</tt>
<tt class="literal">=</tt> <tt class="literal">yes</tt> in the
<em class="filename">smb.conf</em> file if you want Samba to be the local
master browser.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you got a browse list but didn't get
<em class="emphasis">/tmp</em>, you probably have a
<em class="filename">smb.conf</em> problem. Go back to <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.4.5">Section 12.2.4.5</a>.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you didn't get a workgroup list with your
workgroup name in it, it is possible that your workgroup is set
incorrectly in the <em class="filename">smb.conf</em> file.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you didn't get a workgroup list at all, ensure
that <tt class="literal">workgroup</tt> <tt class="literal">=</tt>
<tt class="literal">EXAMPLE</tt> is present in the
<em class="filename">smb.conf</em> file.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get nothing, try once more with the options
<tt class="literal">-I</tt> <em class="emphasis">ip_address</em>
<tt class="literal">-n</tt> <em class="emphasis">netbios_name</em>
<tt class="literal">-W</tt> <em class="emphasis">workgroup</em>
<tt class="literal">-d3</tt> with the NetBIOS and workgroup name in
uppercase. (The <tt class="literal">-d3</tt> option sets the log /debugging
level to 3.) Then check the Samba logs for clues.</p>
</li></ul>
<p>If you're still getting nothing, you
shouldn't have gotten this far; double back to at
least <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.3.1">Section 12.2.3.1</a>, or perhaps
<a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.2.4">Section 12.2.2.4</a>. On the other hand:</p>

<ul><li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">SMBtconX</tt> <tt class="literal">failed</tt>.
<tt class="literal">ERRSRV--ERRaccess</tt>, you aren't
permitted access to the server. This normally means you have a
<tt class="literal">hosts</tt> <tt class="literal">allow</tt> option that
doesn't include the server or a
<tt class="literal">hosts</tt> <tt class="literal">deny</tt> option that does.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">Bad</tt> <tt class="literal">password</tt>, you
presumably have one of the following:</p>
<ul><li>
<p>An incorrect <tt class="literal">hosts</tt> <tt class="literal">allow</tt> or
<tt class="literal">hosts</tt> <tt class="literal">deny</tt> line</p>
</li><li>
<p>An incorrect <tt class="literal">invalid</tt> <tt class="literal">users</tt> or
<tt class="literal">valid</tt> <tt class="literal">users</tt> line</p>
</li><li>
<p>A lowercase password and OS/2 or Windows for Workgroups clients</p>
</li><li>
<p>A missing or invalid guest account</p>
</li></ul>
<p>Check what your guest account is (see the earlier section, <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.5.2">Section 12.2.5.2</a>), change or comment out any
<tt class="literal">hosts</tt> <tt class="literal">allow</tt>,
<tt class="literal">hosts</tt> <tt class="literal">deny</tt>,
<tt class="literal">valid</tt> <tt class="literal">users</tt>, or
<tt class="literal">invalid</tt> <tt class="literal">users</tt> lines, and verify
your <em class="filename">smb.conf</em> file with
<tt class="literal">testparm</tt> <tt class="literal">smb.conf</tt>
<em class="replaceable">your_hostname your_ip_address</em> (see the
earlier section, <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.4.5">Section 12.2.4.5</a>).</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">Connection</tt> <tt class="literal">refused</tt>,
the <em class="emphasis">smbd</em> server is not running or has crashed.
Check that it's up, running, and listening to the
network with <em class="emphasis">netstat</em>. See the earlier section,
<a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.4">Section 12.2.4</a>.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">Get_Hostbyname</tt>:
<tt class="literal">Unknown</tt> <tt class="literal">host</tt>
<tt class="literal">name</tt>, you've made a spelling
error, there is a mismatch between the Unix and NetBIOS hostname, or
there is a name service problem. Start name service debugging as
discussed in the earlier section, <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.5.4">Section 12.2.5.4</a>. If this works, suspect a
name mismatch, and go to the later section, <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.9">Section 12.2.9</a>.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">Session</tt> <tt class="literal">request</tt>
<tt class="literal">failed</tt>, the server refused the connection. This
usually indicates an internal error, such as insufficient memory to
fork a process.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">Your</tt> <tt class="literal">server</tt>
<tt class="literal">software</tt> <tt class="literal">is</tt>
<tt class="literal">being</tt> <tt class="literal">unfriendly</tt>, the initial
session request packet received a garbage response from the server.
The server might have crashed or started improperly. Go back to <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.5.2">Section 12.2.5.2</a>, where the
problem is first analyzed.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you suspect the server is not running, go back to
<a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.4.2">Section 12.2.4.2</a> to see why the server
daemon isn't responding.</p>
</li></ul>

</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.6.2"/>

<h3 class="head3">Testing the server with nmblookup</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-73"/><a name="INDEX-74"/>This will test the
&quot;advertising&quot; system used for
Windows name services and browsing. Advertising works by broadcasting
one's presence or willingness to provide services.
It is the part of browsing that uses an unreliable protocol (UDP) and
works only on broadcast networks such as Ethernets. The
<em class="emphasis">nmblookup</em> program broadcasts name queries for
the hostname you provide and returns its IP address and the name of
the system, much as <em class="emphasis">nslookup</em> does with DNS.
Here, the <em class="emphasis">-d</em> (debug or log-level) and
<em class="emphasis">-B</em> (broadcast address) options direct queries to
specific systems.</p>

<p>First, we check the server from itself. Run
<em class="emphasis">nmblookup</em> with a <em class="emphasis">-B</em> option
of your server's name (to tell it to send the query
to the Samba server) and a parameter of <tt class="literal">_ _SAMBA_
_</tt> as the symbolic name to look up. You should get:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">$ <tt class="userinput"><b>nmblookup -B server _ _SAMBA_ _</b></tt>
Added interface ip=192.168.236.86 bcast=192.168.236.255 nmask=255.255.255.0
Sending queries to 192.168.236.86 192.168.236.86 _ _SAMBA_ _</pre></blockquote>

<p>You should get the IP address of the server, followed by the name
<tt class="literal">_ _SAMBA_ _</tt> , which means that the server has
successfully advertised that it has a service called <tt class="literal">_
_SAMBA_ _</tt> , and therefore at least part of NetBIOS name
service works.</p>

<ul><li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">Name_query</tt> <tt class="literal">failed</tt>
<tt class="literal">to</tt> <tt class="literal">find</tt> <tt class="literal">name</tt>
<tt class="literal">_ _SAMBA_ _</tt>, you might have specified the server
name to the <em class="emphasis">-B</em> option, or
<em class="emphasis">nmbd</em> is not running. The <em class="emphasis">-B</em>
option actually takes a broadcast address: we're
using a computer name to get a unicast address and to ask the server
if it has claimed <tt class="literal">_ _SAMBA_ _</tt>. Try again with
<tt class="literal">nmblookup</tt> <tt class="literal">-B</tt>
<em class="replaceable">ip_address</em>, and if that fails too,
<em class="emphasis">nmbd</em> isn't claiming the name.
Go back briefly to the earlier section, &quot;Testing
daemons with testparm,&quot; to see if
<em class="emphasis">nmbd</em> is running. If so, it might not be claiming
names; this means that Samba is not providing the browsing
service&mdash;a configuration problem. If that is the case, make sure
that <em class="filename">smb.conf</em> doesn't contain
the option <tt class="literal">browsing</tt> <tt class="literal">=</tt>
<tt class="literal">no</tt>.</p>
</li></ul>

</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.6.3"/>

<h3 class="head3">Testing the client with nmblookup</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-75"/><a name="INDEX-76"/>Next, check the IP address of the
client from the server with <em class="emphasis">nmblookup</em> using the
<tt class="literal">-B</tt> option for the client's name
and a parameter of '<tt class="literal">*</tt>' meaning
&quot;anything,&quot; as shown here:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">$ <b class="emphasis-bold">nmblookup -B client '*</b>'
Sending queries to 192.168.236.10 192.168.236.10 *
Got a positive name query response from 192.168.236.10 (192.168.236.10)</pre></blockquote>

<p>You might get the following error:</p>

<ul><li>
<p>If you receive <tt class="literal">Name-query</tt>
<tt class="literal">failed</tt> <tt class="literal">to</tt>
<tt class="literal">find</tt> <tt class="literal">name</tt> <tt class="literal">*</tt>,
you have made a spelling mistake, or the client software on the PC
isn't installed, started, or bound to TCP/IP. Double
back to <a href="ch03.html">Chapter 3</a> and ensure that you have a
client installed that is listening to the network.</p>
</li></ul>
<p>Repeat the command with the following options if you had any failures:</p>

<ul><li>
<p>If <tt class="literal">nmblookup</tt> <tt class="literal">-B</tt>
<em class="replaceable">client_IP_address</em> succeeds but
<tt class="literal">nmblookup</tt> <tt class="literal">-B</tt>
<em class="replaceable">client_name</em> fails, there is a name service
problem with the client's name; go to <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.7">Section 12.2.7</a>, later in this chapter.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If <tt class="literal">nmblookup</tt> <tt class="literal">-B</tt>
<tt class="literal">127.0.0.1</tt> '<tt class="literal">*</tt>' succeeds, but
<tt class="literal">nmblookup</tt> <tt class="literal">-B</tt>
<em class="replaceable">client_IP_address</em> fails, there is a
hardware problem, and <em class="emphasis">ping</em> should have failed.
See your network manager.</p>
</li></ul>

</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.6.4"/>

<h3 class="head3">Testing the network with nmblookup</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-77"/><a name="INDEX-78"/>Run the command
<em class="emphasis">nmblookup</em> again with a <em class="emphasis">-d2</em>
option (for a debug level of 2) and a parameter of
'<tt class="literal">*</tt>'. This time we are testing the ability of
programs (such as <em class="emphasis">nmbd</em> ) to use broadcast.
It's essentially a connectivity test, done via a
broadcast to the default broadcast address.</p>

<p>A number of NetBIOS over TCP/IP hosts on the network should respond
with <tt class="literal">got</tt> <tt class="literal">a</tt>
<tt class="literal">positive</tt> <tt class="literal">name</tt>
<tt class="literal">query</tt> <tt class="literal">response</tt> messages. Samba
might not catch all the responses in the short time it listens, so
you won't always see all the SMB clients on the
network. However, you should see most of them:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">$ <b class="emphasis-bold">nmblookup -d 2 '*</b>'
Added interface ip=192.168.236.86 bcast=192.168.236.255 nmask=255.255.255.0 Sending
queries to 192.168.236.255
Got a positive name query response from 192.168.236.191 (192.168.236.191)
Got a positive name query response from 192.168.236.228 (192.168.236.228)
Got a positive name query response from 192.168.236.75 (192.168.236.75)
Got a positive name query response from 192.168.236.79 (192.168.236.79)
Got a positive name query response from 192.168.236.206 (192.168.236.206)
Got a positive name query response from 192.168.236.207 (192.168.236.207)
Got a positive name query response from 192.168.236.217 (192.168.236.217)
Got a positive name query response from 192.168.236.72 (192.168.236.72) 192.168.236.86 *</pre></blockquote>

<p>However:</p>

<ul><li>
<p>If this doesn't give at least the client address you
previously tested, the default broadcast address is wrong. Try
<tt class="literal">nmblookup</tt> <tt class="literal">-B</tt>
<tt class="literal">255.255.255.255</tt> <tt class="literal">-d</tt>
<tt class="literal">2</tt> '<tt class="literal">*</tt>', which is a last-ditch
variant (using a broadcast address of all 1s). If this draws
responses, the broadcast address you've been using
before is wrong. Troubleshooting these is discussed in <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.8.2">Section 12.2.8.2</a>, later in this
chapter.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If the address 255.255.255.255 fails too, check your notes to see if
your PC and server are on different subnets, as discovered in the
earlier section, <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.2.4">Section 12.2.2.4</a>. You
should try to diagnose this step with a server and client on the same
subnet, but if you can't, you can try specifying the
remote subnet's broadcast address with
<em class="emphasis">-B</em>. Finding that address is discussed in <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.8.2">Section 12.2.8.2</a>, later in this
chapter. The <em class="emphasis">-B</em> option will work if your router
supports directed broadcasts; if it doesn't, you
might be forced to test with a client on the same network.</p>
</li></ul>
<p>As usual, you can check the Samba log files for additional clues.</p>


</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.6.5"/>

<h3 class="head3">Testing client browsing with net view</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-79"/><a name="INDEX-80"/>On the client, run the
command <em class="replaceable">net view \\server</em> in an MS-DOS
(command prompt) window to see if you can connect to the client and
ask what shares it provides. You should get back a list of available
shares on the server.</p>

<p>If this works, continue with the later section <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-3.1">Section 12.3.1</a>. Otherwise:</p>

<ul><li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">Network</tt> <tt class="literal">name</tt>
<tt class="literal">not</tt> <tt class="literal">found</tt> for the name you just
tested in the earlier section, <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.6.3">Section 12.2.6.3</a>, there is a problem with the
client software itself. Double-check this by running
<em class="emphasis">nmblookup</em> on the client; if it works and
<em class="emphasis">net view</em> doesn't, the client is
at fault.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If <em class="emphasis">nmblookup</em> fails, there is a NetBIOS name
service problem, as discussed in the later section, <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.9">Section 12.2.9</a>.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">You</tt> <tt class="literal">do</tt>
<tt class="literal">not</tt> <tt class="literal">have</tt> <tt class="literal">the</tt>
<tt class="literal">necessary</tt> <tt class="literal">access</tt>
<tt class="literal">rights</tt>, or <tt class="literal">This</tt>
<tt class="literal">server</tt> <tt class="literal">is</tt>
<tt class="literal">not</tt> <tt class="literal">configured</tt>
<tt class="literal">to</tt> <tt class="literal">list</tt>
<tt class="literal">shared</tt> <tt class="literal">resources</tt>, either your
guest account is misconfigured (see the earlier section, <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.5.2">Section 12.2.5.2</a>) or you have a
<tt class="literal">hosts</tt> <tt class="literal">allow</tt> or
<tt class="literal">hosts</tt> <tt class="literal">deny</tt> line that prohibits
connections from your system. These problems should have been
detected by the <em class="emphasis">smbclient</em> tests starting in the
earlier section, <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.6.1">Section 12.2.6.1</a>.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">The</tt> <tt class="literal">specified</tt>
<tt class="literal">computer</tt> <tt class="literal">is</tt>
<tt class="literal">not</tt> <tt class="literal">receiving</tt>
<tt class="literal">requests</tt>, you have misspelled the name, the system
is unreachable by broadcast (tested in the earlier section, <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.6.4">Section 12.2.6.4</a>), or it's
not running <em class="emphasis">nmbd</em>.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">Bad</tt> <tt class="literal">password</tt>
<tt class="literal">error</tt>, you're probably
encountering the Microsoft-encrypted password problem, as discussed
earlier in this chapter and in <a href="ch09.html">Chapter 9</a>, with its
corrections.</p>
</li></ul>

</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.6.6"/>

<h3 class="head3">Browsing the server from the client</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-81"/><a name="INDEX-82"/>From the Windows Network
Neighborhood (or My Network Places in newer releases), try to browse
the server. Your Samba server should appear in the browse list of
your local workgroup. You should be able to double-click the name of
the server to get a list of shares.</p>

<ul><li>
<p>If you get an <tt class="literal">Invalid</tt> <tt class="literal">password</tt>
error, it's most likely the encryption problem
again.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you receive an <tt class="literal">Unable</tt> <tt class="literal">to</tt>
<tt class="literal">browse</tt> <tt class="literal">the</tt>
<tt class="literal">network</tt> error, one of the following has occurred:</p>
<ul><li>
<p>You have looked too soon, before the broadcasts and updates have
completed. Wait 30 seconds and try again.</p>
</li><li>
<p>There is a network problem you've not yet diagnosed.</p>
</li><li>
<p>There is no browse master. Add the configuration option
<tt class="literal">local</tt> <tt class="literal">master</tt>
<tt class="literal">=</tt> <tt class="literal">yes</tt> to your
<em class="emphasis">smb.conf</em> file.</p>
</li><li>
<p>No shares are made browsable in the <em class="emphasis">smb.conf</em>
file.</p>
</li></ul>
</li>
<li>
<p>If you receive the message <tt class="literal">\\server</tt>
<tt class="literal">is</tt> <tt class="literal">not</tt>
<tt class="literal">accessible</tt> then:</p>
<ul><li>
<p>You have the encrypted password problem.</p>
</li><li>
<p>The system really isn't accessible.</p>
</li><li>
<p>The system doesn't support browsing.</p>
</li></ul>
</li>
</ul>

<p>If you've made it this far and the problem is not
yet solved, either the problem is one we've not yet
seen, or it is a problem related to a topic we have already covered,
and further analysis is required. Name resolution is often related to
difficulties with Samba, so we cover it in more detail in the next
sections. If you know your problem is not related to name resolution,
skip to the <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-3">Section 12.3</a> at the end of the chapter. <a name="INDEX-83"/><a name="INDEX-84"/></p>


</div>


</div>


<div class="sect2"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.7"/>

<h3 class="head2">Troubleshooting Name Services</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-85"/><a name="INDEX-86"/>This
section looks at simple troubleshooting of all the name services
you'll encounter, but only for the common problems
that affect Samba.</p>

<p>There are several good references for troubleshooting particular name
services: Paul <a name="INDEX-87"/>Albitz and Cricket <a name="INDEX-88"/>Liu's <em class="emphasis">DNS and
Bind</em> (O'Reilly) covers the DNS, Hal
<a name="INDEX-89"/>Stern's <em class="emphasis">NFS and
NIS</em> (O'Reilly) covers NIS
(&quot;Yellow pages&quot;), while Windows
Internet Name Service (WINS), <em class="filename">hosts/LMHOSTS</em>
files, and NIS+ are best covered by their respective
vendors' manuals.</p>

<p>The problems addressed in this section are as follows:</p>

<ul><li>
<p>Name services are identified.</p>
</li><li>
<p>A hostname can't be looked up.</p>
</li><li>
<p>The long (FQDN) form of a hostname works but the short form
doesn't.</p>
</li><li>
<p>The short form of the name works, but the long form
doesn't.</p>
</li><li>
<p>A long delay occurs before the expected result.</p>
</li></ul>

<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.7.1"/>

<h3 class="head3">Identifying what's in use</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-90"/>First, see if both the
server and the client are using DNS, WINS, NIS, or
<em class="filename">hosts</em> files to look up IP addresses when you
give them a name. Each kind of system has a different preference:</p>

<ul><li>
<p>Windows 95/98/Me tries WINS and the <em class="filename">LMHOSTS</em> file
first, then broadcast, and finally DNS and <em class="filename">HOSTS</em>
files.</p>
</li><li>
<p>Windows NT/2000/XP tries WINS, then broadcast, then the
<em class="filename">LMHOSTS</em> file, and finally
<em class="filename">HOSTS</em> and DNS.</p>
</li><li>
<p>Windows programs using the WINSOCK standard use the HOSTS file, DNS,
WINS, and then broadcast. Don't assume that if a
different program's name service works, the SMB
client program's name service will!</p>
</li><li>
<p>Samba daemons use <em class="filename">lmhosts</em>, WINS, the Unix
system's name resolution, and then broadcast.</p>
</li><li>
<p>Unix systems can be configured to use any combination of DNS,
<em class="filename">HOSTS</em> files, NIS or NIS+, and winbind, generally
in any order.</p>
</li></ul>
<p>We recommend that the client systems be configured to use WINS and
DNS, the Samba daemons to use WINS and DNS, and the Unix server to
use DNS, <em class="filename">hosts</em> files, and perhaps NIS+.
You'll have to look at your notes and the actual
systems to see which is in use.</p>

<p>On the clients, the name services are all set in the TCP/IP
Properties panel of the Networking Control Panel, as discussed in
<a href="ch03.html">Chapter 3</a>. You might need to check there to see
what you've actually turned on. On the server, see
if a <em class="filename">/etc/resolv.conf</em> file exists. If it does,
you're using DNS. You might be using the others as
well, though. You'll need to check for NIS and
combinations of services.</p>

<p>Check for a <em class="filename">/etc/nsswitch.conf</em> file on Solaris
and other System V Unix operating systems. If you have one, look for
a line that begins with <tt class="literal">host</tt>: followed by one or
more of <tt class="literal">files</tt>, <tt class="literal">bind</tt>,
<tt class="literal">nis</tt>, or <tt class="literal">nis+</tt>. These are the
name services to use, in order, with optional extra material in
square brackets. The <tt class="literal">files</tt> keyword is for
using <em class="emphasis">HOSTS</em> files, while <tt class="literal">bind</tt>
(the Berkeley Internet Name Daemon) refers to using DNS.</p>

<p>If the client and server differ, the first thing to do is to get them
in sync. Clients can use DNS, WINS, <em class="emphasis">HOSTS</em>, and
<em class="emphasis">LMHOSTS</em> files, but not NIS or NIS+. Servers can
use <em class="emphasis">HOSTS</em> and <em class="filename">LMHOSTS</em>
files, DNS, NIS or NIS+, and winbind, but not WINS&mdash;even if your
Samba server provides WINS services. If you can't
get all the systems to use the same services, you'll
have to check the server and the client carefully for the same data.</p>

<p>You can also make use of the <em class="emphasis">-R</em> (resolve order)
option for <em class="emphasis">smbclient</em>. If you want to
troubleshoot WINS, for example, you'd say:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">$ <tt class="userinput"><b>smbclient -L </b></tt><em class="replaceable">server</em> <tt class="userinput"><b>-R wins</b></tt></pre></blockquote>

<p>The possible settings are <tt class="literal">hosts</tt> (which means
whatever the Unix system is using, not just<em class="filename">
/etc/hosts</em> files), <tt class="literal">lmhosts</tt>,
<tt class="literal">wins</tt>, and <tt class="literal">bcast</tt> (broadcast).</p>

<p>In the following sections, we use the term <em class="emphasis">long
name</em> for a fully qualified domain name (FQDN), such as
<tt class="literal">server.example.com</tt> , and the term <em class="emphasis">short
name</em> for the host part of an FQDN, such as
<tt class="literal">server</tt>.</p>


</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.7.2"/>

<h3 class="head3">Cannot look up hostnames</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-91"/>Try the
following:</p>

<dl>
<dt><b>DNS</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>Run <tt class="literal">nslookup</tt> <em class="replaceable">name</em>. If
this fails, look for a <em class="filename">resolv.conf</em> error, a
downed DNS server, or a short/long name problem (see the next
section). Try the following:</p>


<ul><li>
<p>Your <em class="filename">/etc/resolv.conf</em> file should contain one or
more <tt class="literal">nameserver</tt> lines, each with an IP address.
These are the addresses of your DNS servers.</p>
</li><li>
<p>Ping each server address you find. If this fails for one, suspect the
system. If it fails for each, suspect your network.</p>
</li><li>
<p>Retry the lookup using the full domain name (e.g.,
<tt class="literal">server.example.com</tt>) if you tried the short name
first, or the short name if you tried the long name first. If results
differ, skip to the next section.</p>
</li></ul>
</dd>


<dt><b>Broadcast/ WINS</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>Broadcast/ WINS does only short names such as
<tt class="literal">server</tt>, and not long ones, such as
<tt class="literal">server.example.com</tt>. Run
<tt class="literal">nmblookup</tt> <tt class="literal">-S</tt>
<em class="replaceable">server</em>. This reports everything broadcast
has registered for the name. In our example, it looks like this:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">$ <tt class="userinput"><b>nmblookup -S server</b></tt>
Looking up status of 192.168.236.86
received 10 names
        SERVER           &lt;00&gt; -         M &lt;ACTIVE&gt;
        SERVER           &lt;03&gt; -         M &lt;ACTIVE&gt;
        SERVER           &lt;1f&gt; -         M &lt;ACTIVE&gt;
        SERVER           &lt;20&gt; -         M &lt;ACTIVE&gt;
        ..__MSBROWSE__.  &lt;01&gt; - &lt;GROUP&gt; M &lt;ACTIVE&gt;
        MYGROUP          &lt;00&gt; - &lt;GROUP&gt; M &lt;ACTIVE&gt;
        MYGROUP          &lt;1b&gt; -         M &lt;ACTIVE&gt;
        MYGROUP          &lt;1c&gt; - &lt;GROUP&gt; M &lt;ACTIVE&gt;
        MYGROUP          &lt;1d&gt; -         M &lt;ACTIVE&gt;
        MYGROUP          &lt;1e&gt; - &lt;GROUP&gt; M &lt;ACTIVE&gt;</pre></blockquote>

<p>The required entry is <tt class="literal">SERVER</tt>
<tt class="literal">&lt;00&gt;</tt>, which identifies
<em class="replaceable">server</em> as being this
system's NetBIOS name. You should also see your
workgroup mentioned one or more times. If these lines are missing,
Broadcast/WINS cannot look up names and will need attention.</p>

<a name="samba2-CHP-12-NOTE-160"/><blockquote class="note"><h4 class="objtitle">TIP</h4>
<p>The numbers in angle brackets in the previous output identify NetBIOS
names as being workgroups, workstations, and file users of the
messenger service, master browsers, domain master browsers, domain
controllers, and a plethora of others. We primarily use
<tt class="literal">&lt;00&gt;</tt> to identify system and workgroup names
and <tt class="literal">&lt;20&gt;</tt> to identify systems as servers. The
complete list is available at <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q163/4/09.asp">http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q163/4/09.asp</a>.</p>
</blockquote>
</dd>


<dt><b>NIS</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>Try <tt class="literal">ypmatch</tt> <tt class="literal">name</tt>
<tt class="literal">hosts</tt>. If this fails, NIS is down. Find out the
NIS server's name by running
<em class="emphasis">ypwhich</em>, and ping the system to see if
it's accessible.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>NIS+</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>If you're running NIS+, try
<tt class="literal">nismatch</tt> <tt class="literal">name</tt>
<tt class="literal">hosts</tt>. If this fails, NIS is down. Find out the
NIS+ server's name by running
<em class="emphasis">niswhich</em>, and ping that system to see if
it's accessible.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>hosts and HOSTS files</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>Inspect the <em class="filename">HOSTS</em> file on the client
(<em class="filename">C:\Windows\ Hosts</em> on Windows 95/98/Me, and
<em class="filename">C:\WINNT \system32\drivers\etc\hosts</em> on Windows
NT/2000/XP). Each line should have an IP number and one or more
names, the primary name first, then any optional aliases. An example
follows:</p>


<blockquote><pre class="code">127.0.0.1         localhost
192.168.236.1     dns.svc.example.com
192.168.236.10    client.example.com client
192.168.236.11    backup.example.com loghost
192.168.236.86    server.example.com server
192.168.236.254   router.svc.example.com</pre></blockquote>

<p>On Unix, <tt class="literal">localhost</tt> should always be 127.0.0.1,
although it might be just an alias for a hostname on the PC. On the
client, check that there are no <tt class="literal">#XXX</tt> directives at
the ends of the lines; these are LAN Manager/NetBIOS directives and
should appear only in <em class="emphasis">LMHOSTS</em> files.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>LMHOSTS files</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>This file is a local source for LAN Manager (NetBIOS) names. It has a
format similar to <em class="filename">hosts</em> files, but it does not
support long-form domain names (e.g.,
<tt class="literal">server.example.com</tt>) and can have a number of
optional <tt class="literal">#XXX</tt> directives following the NetBIOS
names. There is usually an <em class="emphasis">lmhosts.sam</em> (for
sample) file located in <em class="filename">C:\Windows</em> on Windows
95/98/Me, and in <em class="filename">C:\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc</em>
on Windows NT/2000/XP, but it's not used unless it
is renamed to <em class="emphasis">Lmhosts</em> in the same directory.</p>
</dd>

</dl>


</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.7.3"/>

<h3 class="head3">Long and short hostnames</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-92"/>Where the long (FQDN) form of a hostname
works but the short name doesn't (for example,
<tt class="literal">client.example.com</tt> works but
<tt class="literal">client</tt> doesn't), consider the
following:</p>

<dl>
<dt><b>DNS </b></dt>
<dd>
<p>This usually indicates that there is no default domain in which to
look up the short names. Look for a <tt class="literal">default</tt> line
in <em class="filename">/etc/resolv.conf</em> on the Samba server with
your domain in it, or look for a <tt class="literal">search</tt> line with
one or more domains in it. One or the other might need to be present
to make short names usable; which one depends on the vendor and
version of the DNS resolver. Try adding <tt class="literal">domain</tt>
<em class="replaceable">your_domain</em> to
<em class="filename">resolv.conf</em>, and ask your network or DNS
administrator what should be in the file.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>Broadcast/WINS </b></dt>
<dd>
<p>Broadcast/WINS doesn't support long names; it
won't suffer from this problem.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>NIS </b></dt>
<dd>
<p>Try the command <tt class="literal">ypmatch</tt>
<em class="replaceable">hostname</em> <tt class="literal">hosts</tt>. If you
don't get a match, your tables
don't include short names. Speak to your network
manager; short names might be missing by accident or might be
unsupported as a matter of policy. Some sites don't
ever use (ambiguous) short names.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>NIS+</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>Try <tt class="literal">nismatch</tt> <em class="replaceable">hostname</em>
<tt class="literal">hosts</tt>, and treat failure exactly as with NIS.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>hosts </b></dt>
<dd>
<p>If the short name is not in <em class="filename">/etc/hosts</em>, consider
adding it as an alias. Avoid, if you can, short names as primary
names (the first one on a line). Have them as aliases if your system
permits.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>LMHOSTS </b></dt>
<dd>
<p>LAN Manager doesn't support long names, so it
won't suffer from this problem.</p>
</dd>

</dl>

<p>On the other hand, if the short form of the name works and the long
form doesn't, consider the following:</p>

<dl>
<dt><b>DNS </b></dt>
<dd>
<p>This is bizarre; see your network or DNS administrator, as this is
probably a DNS setup error.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>Broadcast/WINS </b></dt>
<dd>
<p>This is normal; Broadcast/WINS can't use the long
form. Optionally, consider DNS. (Be aware that Microsoft has stated
that it will eventually switch entirely to DNS, even though DNS does
not provide name types such as &lt;00&gt;.)</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>NIS</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>If you can use <em class="emphasis">ypmatch</em> to look up the short form
but not the long, consider adding the long form to the table as at
least an alias.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>NIS+ </b></dt>
<dd>
<p>Same as NIS, except you use <em class="emphasis">nismatch</em> instead of
<em class="emphasis">ypmatch</em> to look up names.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>hosts and HOSTS</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>Add the long name as at least an alias, and preferably as the primary
form. Also consider using DNS if it's practical.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>LMHOSTS </b></dt>
<dd>
<p>This is normal. LAN Manager can't use the long form;
consider switching to DNS or <em class="filename">hosts</em>.</p>
</dd>

</dl>


</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.7.4"/>

<h3 class="head3">Unusual delays</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-93"/>When there is a long delay before the
expected result:</p>

<dl>
<dt><b>DNS </b></dt>
<dd>
<p>Test the same name with the <em class="emphasis">nslookup</em> command on
the system that is slow (client or server). If
<em class="emphasis">nslookup</em> is also slow, you have a DNS problem.
If it's slower on a client, you might have too many
protocols bound to the Ethernet card. Eliminate NetBEUI, which is
infamously slow, and, optionally, Novell&mdash;assuming you
don't need them. This is especially important on
Windows 95, which is particularly sensitive to excess protocols.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>Broadcast/ WINS</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>Test the client using <em class="emphasis">nmblookup</em>; if
it's faster, you probably have the protocols problem
as mentioned in the previous item.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>NIS</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>Try <em class="emphasis">ypmatch</em>; if it's slow,
report the problem to your network manager.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>NIS+ </b></dt>
<dd>
<p>Try <em class="emphasis">nismatch</em>, similarly.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>hosts and HOSTS</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>The <em class="emphasis">hosts</em> files, if of reasonable size, are
always fast. You probably have the protocols problem mentioned
previously under DNS.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>lmhosts and LMHOSTS</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>This is not a name lookup problem; <em class="emphasis">LMHOSTS</em> files
are as fast as <em class="emphasis">hosts</em> and
<em class="filename">HOSTS</em> files.</p>
</dd>

</dl>


</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.7.5"/>

<h3 class="head3">Localhost issues</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-94"/>When a localhost isn't
127.0.0.1, try the following:</p>

<dl>
<dt><b>DNS</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>There is probably no record for <tt class="literal">localhost</tt>.
<tt class="literal">A</tt> <tt class="literal">127.0.0.1</tt>. Arrange to add
one, as well as a reverse entry,
<tt class="literal">1.0.0.127.IN-ADDR.ARPA</tt> <tt class="literal">PTR</tt>
<tt class="literal">127.0.0.1</tt>.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>Broadcast/WINS</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>Not applicable.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>NIS</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>If <tt class="literal">localhost</tt> isn't in the table,
add it.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>NIS+ </b></dt>
<dd>
<p>If <tt class="literal">localhost</tt> isn't in the table,
add it.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>hosts and HOSTS</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>Add a line that says <tt class="literal">127.0.0.1</tt>
<tt class="literal">localhost</tt>.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>LMHOSTS</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>Not applicable. <a name="INDEX-95"/><a name="INDEX-96"/></p>
</dd>

</dl>


</div>


</div>


<div class="sect2"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.8"/>

<h3 class="head2">Troubleshooting Network Addresses</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-97"/><a name="INDEX-98"/>A
number of common problems are caused by incorrect routing of Internet
addresses or by the incorrect assignment of addresses. This section
helps you determine what your addresses are.</p>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.8.1"/>

<h3 class="head3">Netmasks</h3>

<p>Using the <a name="INDEX-99"/>netmask, it is possible to
determine which addresses can be reached directly (i.e., which are on
the local network) and which addresses require forwarding packets
through a router. If the netmask is wrong, the systems will make one
of two mistakes. One is to route local packets via a router, which is
an expensive waste of time&mdash;it might work reasonably fast, it
might run slowly, or it might fail utterly. The second mistake is to
fail to send packets from a remote system to the router, which will
prevent them from being forwarded to the remote system.</p>

<p>The netmask is a number like an IP address, with one-bits for the
network part of an address and zero-bits for the host portion. It is
used as a bitmask to mask off parts of the address inside the TCP/IP
code. If the mask is 255.255.0.0, the first 2 bytes are the network
part and the last 2 are the host part. More common is 255.255.255.0,
in which the first 3 bytes are the network part and the last one is
the host part.</p>

<p>For example, let's say your IP address is
192.168.0.10 and the Samba server is 192.168.236.86. If your netmask
happens to be 255.255.255.0, the network part of the address is the
first 3 bytes, and the host part is the last byte. In this case, the
network parts are different, and the systems are on different
networks:</p>

<a name="ch12-37-fm2xml"/><table border="1">


<tr>
<th>
<p>Network part</p>
</th>
<th>
<p>Host part</p>
</th>
</tr>


<tr>
<td>
<p>192 168 000</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>10</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>192 168 235</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>86</p>
</td>
</tr>

</table>

<p>If your netmask happens to be 255.255.0.0, the network part is just
the first 2 bytes. In this case, the network parts match, and so the
two systems are on the same network:</p>

<a name="ch12-38-fm2xml"/><table border="1">


<tr>
<th>
<p>Network part</p>
</th>
<th>
<p>Host part</p>
</th>
</tr>


<tr>
<td>
<p>192 168</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>000 10</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>192 168</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>236 86</p>
</td>
</tr>

</table>

<p>Make sure the netmask in use on each system matches the structure of
your network. On every subnet, the netmask should be identical on
each system.</p>


</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.8.2"/>

<h3 class="head3">Broadcast addresses</h3>

<p>The <a name="INDEX-100"/>broadcast address is a normal address,
with the hosts part all one-bits. It means &quot;all
hosts on your network.&quot; You can compute it easily
from your netmask and address: take the address and put one-bits in
it for all the bits that are zero at the end of the netmask (the host
part). The following table illustrates this:</p>

<a name="ch12-39-fm2xml"/><table border="1">


<tr>
<th>
</th>
<th>
<p>Network part</p>
</th>
<th>
<p>Host part</p>
</th>
</tr>


<tr>
<td>
<p>IP address</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>192 168 236</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>86</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Netmask</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>255 255 255</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>000</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Broadcast</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>192 168 236</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>255</p>
</td>
</tr>

</table>

<p>In this example, the broadcast address on the 192.168.236 network is
192.168.236.255. There is also an old
&quot;universal&quot; broadcast address,
255.255.255.255. Routers are prohibited from forwarding these, but
most systems on your local network will respond to broadcasts to this
address.</p>


</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.8.3"/>

<h3 class="head3">Network address ranges</h3>

<p>A <a name="INDEX-101"/>number of address ranges have been
reserved for testing and for nonconnected networks; we use these for
the examples in this book. If you don't have an
address yet, feel free to use one of these to start. They include one
class A network, 10.*.*.*, a range of class B network addresses,
172.16.*.* through 172.31.*.*, and 254 class C networks, 192.168.1.*
through 192.168.254.*. The domain <tt class="literal">example.com</tt> is
also reserved for unconnected networks, explanatory examples, and
books.</p>

<p>If you're actually connecting to the Internet,
you'll need to get an appropriate IP address and a
domain name, probably through the same company that provides your
connection.</p>


</div>


<div class="sect3"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.8.4"/>

<h3 class="head3">Finding your network address</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-102"/>If you
haven't recorded your IP address, you can learn it
through the <em class="emphasis">ifconfig</em><a name="INDEX-103"/> command on Unix or the
<em class="emphasis">ipconfig</em> <a name="INDEX-104"/>command on Windows. (Check your manual
pages for any options required by your brand of Unix. For example,
<tt class="literal">ifconfig</tt> <tt class="literal">-a</tt> works on Solaris.)
You should see output similar to the following:</p>

<blockquote><pre class="code">$ <tt class="userinput"><b>ifconfig -a</b></tt>
le0: flags=63&lt;UP,BROADCAST,NOTRAILERS,RUNNING &gt;
      inet 192.168.236.11 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 192.168.236.255
lo0: flags=49&lt;&amp;lt&gt;UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING&lt;&amp;gt&gt;
      inet 127.0.0.1 netmask ff000000</pre></blockquote>

<p>One of the interfaces will be loopback (in our examples,
<tt class="literal">lo0</tt>), and the other will be the regular IP
interface. The flags should show that the interface is running, and
Ethernet interfaces will also say they support broadcasts (PPP
interfaces don't). The other places to look for IP
addresses are <em class="filename">/etc/hosts</em> files, Windows
<em class="emphasis">HOSTS</em> files, Windows
<em class="emphasis">LMHOSTS</em> files, NIS, NIS+, and DNS. <a name="INDEX-105"/><a name="INDEX-106"/></p>


</div>


</div>


<div class="sect2"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.9"/>

<h3 class="head2">Troubleshooting NetBIOS Names</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-107"/><a name="INDEX-108"/>Historically, SMB protocols have
depended on the NetBIOS name system, also called the LAN Manager name
system. This was a simple scheme where each system had a unique
20-character name and broadcast it on the LAN for everyone to know.
With TCP/IP, we tend to use names such as
<tt class="literal">client.example.com</tt>, stored in
<em class="filename">/etc/hosts</em> files through DNS or WINS.</p>

<p>The usual mapping of domain names such as
<tt class="literal">server.example.com</tt> to NetBIOS names simply uses
the <tt class="literal">server</tt> part as the NetBIOS name and converts
it to uppercase. Alas, this doesn't always work,
especially if you have a system with a 21-character name; not
everyone uses the same NetBIOS and DNS names. For example,
<tt class="literal">corpvm1</tt> along with <tt class="literal">vm1.corp.com</tt>
is not unusual.</p>

<p>A system with a different NetBIOS name and domain name is confusing
when you're troubleshooting; we recommend that you
try to avoid this wherever possible. NetBIOS names are discoverable
with <em class="emphasis">smbclient</em> :</p>

<ul><li>
<p>If you can list shares on your Samba server with
<tt class="literal">smbclient</tt> <tt class="literal">-L</tt>
<tt class="literal">short_name</tt>, the short name is the NetBIOS name.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If you get <tt class="literal">Get_Hostbyname</tt>:
<tt class="literal">Unknown</tt> <tt class="literal">host</tt>
<tt class="literal">name</tt>, there is probably a mismatch. Check in the
<em class="filename">smb.conf</em> file to see if the NetBIOS name is
explicitly set.</p>
</li><li>
<p>Try to list shares again, specifying <tt class="literal">-I</tt> and the IP
address of the Samba server (e.g., <tt class="literal">smbclient</tt>
<tt class="literal">-L</tt> <tt class="literal">server</tt> <tt class="literal">-I</tt>
<tt class="literal">192.168.236.86</tt>). This overrides the name lookup
and forces the packets to go to the IP address. If this works, there
was a mismatch.</p>
</li><li>
<p>Try with <tt class="literal">-I</tt> and the full domain name of the server
(e.g., <tt class="literal">smbclient</tt> <tt class="literal">-L</tt>
<tt class="literal">server</tt> <tt class="literal">-I</tt>
<tt class="literal">server.example.com</tt>). This tests the lookup of the
domain name, using whatever scheme the Samba server uses (e.g., DNS).
If it fails, you have a name service problem. You should reread the
earlier section, <a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.7">Section 12.2.7</a>,
after you finish troubleshooting the NetBIOS names.</p>
</li><li>
<p>Try with the <tt class="literal">-n</tt> (NetBIOS name) option, giving it
the name you expect to work (e.g., <tt class="literal">smbclient</tt>
<tt class="literal">-n</tt> <tt class="literal">server</tt> <tt class="literal">-L</tt>
<tt class="literal">server-12</tt>), but without overriding the IP address
through <tt class="literal">-I</tt>. If this works, the name you specified
with <tt class="literal">-n</tt> is the actual NetBIOS name of the server.
If you receive <tt class="literal">Get-Hostbyname</tt>:
<tt class="literal">Unknown</tt> <tt class="literal">host</tt>
<tt class="literal">SERVER</tt>, it's not the right server
yet.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If nothing is working so far, repeat the tests specifying
<tt class="literal">-U</tt> <em class="emphasis">username</em> and
<tt class="literal">-W</tt> <em class="emphasis">workgroup</em>, with the
username and workgroup in uppercase, to make sure
you're not being derailed by a user or workgroup
mismatch.</p>
</li><li>
<p>If still nothing works and you had evidence of a name service
problem, troubleshoot the name service (see the earlier section,
<a href="ch12.html#samba2-CHP-12-SECT-2.7">Section 12.2.7</a>) and then return to
the NetBIOS name service. <a name="INDEX-109"/><a name="INDEX-110"/></p>
</li></ul>

</div>


</div>


<div class="sect1"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-3"/>

<h2 class="head1">Extra Resources</h2>

<p>At some point during your work with Samba, you'll
want to turn to online or printed resources for news, updates, and
aid.</p>


<div class="sect2"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-3.1"/>

<h3 class="head2">Documentation and FAQs</h3>

<p>It's OK to read the <a name="INDEX-111"/><a name="INDEX-112"/>documentation. Really. Nobody can see you,
and we won't tell. In fact, Samba ships with a large
set of documentation files, and it is well worth the effort to at
least browse through them, either in the distribution directory on
your computer under <em class="filename">/docs</em> or online at the Samba
web site: <a href="http://www.samba.org">http://www.samba.org</a>. The most current
FAQ list, bug information, and distribution locations are located at
the web site, with links to all the Samba manual pages and HOWTOs.</p>


</div>


<div class="sect2"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-3.2"/>

<h3 class="head2">Samba Newsgroups</h3>

<p><a name="INDEX-113"/>Usenet
newsgroups have always been a great place to get advice on just about
any topic. In the past few years, though, this vast pool of knowledge
has developed something that has made it into an invaluable resource:
a memory. Archival and search sites such as the one at
<a name="INDEX-114"/>Google (<a href="http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search">http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search</a>)
have made sifting through years of valuable solutions as simple as a
few mouse clicks.</p>

<p>The primary newsgroup for Samba is
<em class="emphasis">comp.protocols.smb</em><a name="INDEX-115"/>. This should always be your first
stop when there's a problem. More often than not,
spending 5 minutes researching an error here will save hours of
frustration while trying to debug something yourself.</p>

<p>When searching a newsgroup, try to be as specific as possible, but
not too wordy. Searching on actual error messages is best. If you
don't find an answer immediately in the newsgroup,
resist the temptation to post a request for help until
you've done a bit more work on the problem. You
might find that the answer is in a FAQ or one of the many
documentation files that ship with Samba, or a solution might become
evident when you run one of Samba's diagnostic
tools. If nothing works, post a request in
<em class="emphasis">comp.protocols.smb</em>, and be as specific as
possible about what you have tried and what you are seeing. Include
any error messages that appear. It might be days before you receive
help, so be patient and keep trying things while you wait.</p>

<a name="samba2-CHP-12-NOTE-161"/><blockquote class="note"><h4 class="objtitle">TIP</h4>
<p>Once you post a request for help, keep poking at the problem
yourself. Most of us have had the experience of posting a Usenet
article containing hundreds of lines of intricate detail, only to
solve the problem an hour later after the article has blazed its way
across several continents. The rule of thumb goes something like
this: the more folks who have read your request, the simpler the
solution. Usually this means that once everyone in the Unix community
has seen your article, the solution will be something simple such as,
&quot;Plug the power cord into the wall
socket.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>


</div>


<div class="sect2"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-3.3"/>

<h3 class="head2">Samba Mailing Lists</h3>

<p>The following are <a name="INDEX-116"/>mailing lists for support with Samba. See
the Samba home page, <a href="http://www.samba.org/">http://www.samba.org/</a>, for
information on subscribing and unsubscribing to these mailing lists:</p>

<dl>
<dt><b>samba@samba.org</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>This is the primary mailing list for general questions and discussion
regarding Samba.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>samba-announce@samba.org</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>This list is for receiving news regarding Samba, such as
announcements of new releases.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>samba-cvs@samba.org</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>By subscribing to this list, you can automatically receive a message
every time one of the Samba developers updates the Samba source code
in the CVS repository. You might want to do this if you are waiting
for a specific bug fix or feature to be applied. To avoid congesting
your email inbox, we suggest using the digest feature, which
consolidates messages into a smaller number of emails.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>samba-docs@samba.org</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>This list is for discussing Samba documentation.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>samba-vms@samba.org</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>This mailing list is for people who are running Samba on the VMS
operating system.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>samba-binaries@samba.org</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>This is a list for developers to use when discussing precompiled
Samba distributions.</p>
</dd>


<dt><b>samba-technical@samba.org</b></dt>
<dd>
<p>This mailing list is for developer discussion of the Samba code.</p>
</dd>

</dl>

<p>Searchable versions of the Samba mailing list archives can be found
at <a href="http://marc.theaimsgroup.com">http://marc.theaimsgroup.com</a>.</p>

<p>When posting messages to the Samba mailing lists, keep in mind that
you are sending your message to a large audience. The notes in the
previous section regarding Usenet postings also apply here. A
well-formulated question or comment is more likely to be answered,
and a poorly conceived message is <em class="emphasis">very</em> likely to
be ignored!</p>


</div>


<div class="sect2"><a name="samba2-CHP-12-SECT-3.4"/>

<h3 class="head2">Further Reading</h3>

<ol><li>
<p>Hunt, Craig. <em class="emphasis">TCP/IP Network Administration</em>,
Third Edition. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly
&amp; Associates, 1997.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Hunt, Craig, and Robert Bruce Thompson. <em class="emphasis">Windows NT TCP/IP
Network Administration</em>. Sebastopol, CA:
O'Reilly &amp; Associates, 1998.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Albitz, Paul, and Cricket Liu. <em class="emphasis">DNS and Bind</em>,
Fourth Edition. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly
&amp; Associates, 1998.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Stern, Hal. <em class="emphasis">Managing NFS and NIS</em>, Second
Edition. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly &amp; Associates,
1991.<a name="INDEX-117"/></p>
</li></ol>

</div>


</div>

<hr/><h4 class="head4"><a href="toc.html">TOC</a></h4></body></html>