NMBD(8) NMBD(8)
NAME
nmbd - NetBIOS name server to provide NetBIOS over IP
naming services to clients
SYNOPSIS
nmbd [ -D ] [ -a ] [ -i ] [ -o ] [ -P ] [ -h ] [ -V
] [ -d <debug level> ] [ -H <lmhosts file> ] [ -l <log
directory> ] [ -n <primary netbios name> ] [ -p <port
number> ] [ -s <configuration file> ]
DESCRIPTION
This program is part of the Samba suite.
nmbd is a server that understands and can reply to NetBIOS
over IP name service requests, like those produced by
SMB/CIFS clients such as Windows 95/98/ME, Windows NT,
Windows 2000, and LanManager clients. It also participates
in the browsing protocols which make up the Windows "Net-
work Neighborhood" view.
SMB/CIFS clients, when they start up, may wish to locate
an SMB/CIFS server. That is, they wish to know what IP
number a specified host is using.
Amongst other services, nmbd will listen for such
requests, and if its own NetBIOS name is specified it will
respond with the IP number of the host it is running on.
Its "own NetBIOS name" is by default the primary DNS name
of the host it is running on, but this can be overridden
with the -n option (see OPTIONS below). Thus nmbd will
reply to broadcast queries for its own name(s). Additional
names for nmbd to respond on can be set via parameters in
the smb.conf(5)configuration file.
nmbd can also be used as a WINS (Windows Internet Name
Server) server. What this basically means is that it will
act as a WINS database server, creating a database from
name registration requests that it receives and replying
to queries from clients for these names.
In addition, nmbd can act as a WINS proxy, relaying broad-
cast queries from clients that do not understand how to
talk the WINS protocol to a WIN server.
OPTIONS
-D If specified, this parameter causes nmbd to operate
as a daemon. That is, it detaches itself and runs
in the background, fielding requests on the appro-
priate port. By default, nmbd will operate as a
daemon if launched from a command shell. nmbd can
also be operated from the inetd meta-daemon,
although this is not recommended.
-a If this parameter is specified, each new connection
will append log messages to the log file. This is
the default.
-i If this parameter is specified it causes the server
to run "interactively", not as a daemon, even if
the server is executed on the command line of a
shell. Setting this parameter negates the implicit
deamon mode when run from the command line.
-o If this parameter is specified, the log files will
be overwritten when opened. By default, smbd will
append entries to the log files.
-h Prints the help information (usage) for nmbd.
-H <filename>
NetBIOS lmhosts file. The lmhosts file is a list of
NetBIOS names to IP addresses that is loaded by the
nmbd server and used via the name resolution mecha-
nism name resolve order to resolve any NetBIOS
name queries needed by the server. Note that the
contents of this file are NOT used by nmbd to
answer any name queries. Adding a line to this
file affects name NetBIOS resolution from this host
ONLY.
The default path to this file is compiled into
Samba as part of the build process. Common defaults
are /usr/local/samba/lib/lmhosts,
/usr/samba/lib/lmhosts or /etc/lmhosts. See the
lmhosts(5)man page for details on the contents of
this file.
-V Prints the version number for nmbd.
-d <debug level>
debuglevel is an integer from 0 to 10. The default
value if this parameter is not specified is zero.
The higher this value, the more detail will be
logged to the log files about the activities of the
server. At level 0, only critical errors and seri-
ous warnings will be logged. Level 1 is a reason-
able level for day to day running - it generates a
small amount of information about operations car-
ried out.
Levels above 1 will generate considerable amounts
of log data, and should only be used when investi-
gating a problem. Levels above 3 are designed for
use only by developers and generate HUGE amounts of
log data, most of which is extremely cryptic.
Note that specifying this parameter here will over-
ride the log level parameter in the smb.conffile.
-l <log directory>
The -l parameter specifies a directory into which
the "log.nmbd" log file will be created for opera-
tional data from the running nmbd server.
The default log directory is compiled into Samba as
part of the build process. Common defaults are
/usr/local/samba/var/log.nmb,
/usr/samba/var/log.nmb or /var/log/log.nmb.
-n <primary NetBIOS name>
This option allows you to override the NetBIOS name
that Samba uses for itself. This is identical to
setting the NetBIOS nameparameter in the smb.conf-
file. However, a command line setting will take
precedence over settings in smb.conf.
-p <UDP port number>
UDP port number is a positive integer value. This
option changes the default UDP port number (nor-
mally 137) that nmbd responds to name queries on.
Don't use this option unless you are an expert, in
which case you won't need help!
-s <configuration file>
The default configuration file name is set at build
time, typically as /usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf,
but this may be changed when Samba is autoconfig-
ured.
The file specified contains the configuration
details required by the server. See smb.conf(5)for
more information.
FILES
/etc/inetd.conf
If the server is to be run by the inetd meta-dae-
mon, this file must contain suitable startup infor-
mation for the meta-daemon. See the
UNIX_INSTALL.htmldocument for details.
/etc/rc
or whatever initialization script your system
uses).
If running the server as a daemon at startup, this
file will need to contain an appropriate startup
sequence for the server. See the UNIX_INSTALL.html-
document for details.
/etc/services
If running the server via the meta-daemon inetd,
this file must contain a mapping of service name
(e.g., netbios-ssn) to service port (e.g., 139) and
protocol type (e.g., tcp). See the
UNIX_INSTALL.html document for details.
/usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf
This is the default location of the smb.conf server
configuration file. Other common places that sys-
tems install this file are /usr/samba/lib/smb.conf
and /etc/smb.conf.
When run as a WINS server (see the wins support
parameter in the smb.conf(5) man page), nmbd will
store the WINS database in the file wins.dat in the
var/locks directory configured under wherever Samba
was configured to install itself.
If nmbd is acting as a browse master (see the
local master parameter in the smb.conf(5) man page,
nmbd will store the browsing database in the file
browse.dat in the var/locks directory configured
under wherever Samba was configured to install
itself.
SIGNALS
To shut down an nmbd process it is recommended that
SIGKILL (-9) NOT be used, except as a last resort, as this
may leave the name database in an inconsistent state. The
correct way to terminate nmbd is to send it a SIGTERM
(-15) signal and wait for it to die on its own.
nmbd will accept SIGHUP, which will cause it to dump out
its namelists into the file namelist.debug in the
/usr/local/samba/var/locks directory (or the var/locks
directory configured under wherever Samba was configured
to install itself). This will also cause nmbd to dump out
its server database in the log.nmb file.
The debug log level of nmbd may be raised or lowered using
smbcontrol(1) (SIGUSR[1|2] signals are no longer used in
Samba 2.2). This is to allow transient problems to be
diagnosed, whilst still running at a normally low log
level.
VERSION
This man page is correct for version 2.2 of the Samba
suite.
SEE ALSO
inetd(8), smbd(8), smb.conf(5) , smbclient(1) , and the
Internet RFC's rfc1001.txt, rfc1002.txt. In addition the
CIFS (formerly SMB) specification is available as a link
from the Web page http://samba.org/cifs/
<URL:http://samba.org/cifs/>.
AUTHOR
The original Samba software and related utilities were
created by Andrew Tridgell. Samba is now developed by the
Samba Team as an Open Source project similar to the way
the Linux kernel is developed.
The original Samba man pages were written by Karl Auer.
The man page sources were converted to YODL format
(another excellent piece of Open Source software, avail-
able at ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/
<URL:ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/>) and updated for the
Samba 2.0 release by Jeremy Allison. The conversion to
DocBook for Samba 2.2 was done by Gerald Carter
24 January 2002 NMBD(8)