1NMBD(8)                   System Administration tools                  NMBD(8)
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NAME

6       nmbd - NetBIOS name server to provide NetBIOS over IP naming services
7       to clients
8

SYNOPSIS

10       nmbd [-D|--daemon] [-F|--foreground] [-S|--log-stdout]
11        [-i|--interactive] [-V] [-d <debug level>] [-H|--hosts <lmhosts file>]
12        [-l <log directory>] [-p|--port <port number>]
13        [-s <configuration file>] [--no-process-group]
14

DESCRIPTION

16       This program is part of the samba(7) suite.
17
18       nmbd is a server that understands and can reply to NetBIOS over IP name
19       service requests, like those produced by SMB/CIFS clients such as
20       Windows 95/98/ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP and LanManager
21       clients. It also participates in the browsing protocols which make up
22       the Windows "Network Neighborhood" view.
23
24       SMB/CIFS clients, when they start up, may wish to locate an SMB/CIFS
25       server. That is, they wish to know what IP number a specified host is
26       using.
27
28       Amongst other services, nmbd will listen for such requests, and if its
29       own NetBIOS name is specified it will respond with the IP number of the
30       host it is running on. Its "own NetBIOS name" is by default the primary
31       DNS name of the host it is running on, but this can be overridden by
32       the netbios name in smb.conf. Thus nmbd will reply to broadcast queries
33       for its own name(s). Additional names for nmbd to respond on can be set
34       via parameters in the smb.conf(5) configuration file.
35
36       nmbd can also be used as a WINS (Windows Internet Name Server) server.
37       What this basically means is that it will act as a WINS database
38       server, creating a database from name registration requests that it
39       receives and replying to queries from clients for these names.
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41       In addition, nmbd can act as a WINS proxy, relaying broadcast queries
42       from clients that do not understand how to talk the WINS protocol to a
43       WINS server.
44

OPTIONS

46       -D|--daemon
47           If specified, this parameter causes nmbd to operate as a daemon.
48           That is, it detaches itself and runs in the background, fielding
49           requests on the appropriate port. By default, nmbd will operate as
50           a daemon if launched from a command shell. nmbd can also be
51           operated from the inetd meta-daemon, although this is not
52           recommended.
53
54       -F|--foreground
55           If specified, this parameter causes the main nmbd process to not
56           daemonize, i.e. double-fork and disassociate with the terminal.
57           Child processes are still created as normal to service each
58           connection request, but the main process does not exit. This
59           operation mode is suitable for running nmbd under process
60           supervisors such as supervise and svscan from Daniel J. Bernstein's
61           daemontools package, or the AIX process monitor.
62
63       -S|--log-stdout
64           If specified, this parameter causes nmbd to log to standard output
65           rather than a file.
66
67       -i|--interactive
68           If this parameter is specified it causes the server to run
69           "interactively", not as a daemon, even if the server is executed on
70           the command line of a shell. Setting this parameter negates the
71           implicit daemon mode when run from the command line.  nmbd also
72           logs to standard output, as if the -S parameter had been given.
73
74       -?|--help
75           Print a summary of command line options.
76
77       --usage
78           Display brief usage message.
79
80       -H|--hosts <filename>
81           NetBIOS lmhosts file. The lmhosts file is a list of NetBIOS names
82           to IP addresses that is loaded by the nmbd server and used via the
83           name resolution mechanism name resolve order described in
84           smb.conf(5) to resolve any NetBIOS name queries needed by the
85           server. Note that the contents of this file are NOT used by nmbd to
86           answer any name queries. Adding a line to this file affects name
87           NetBIOS resolution from this host ONLY.
88
89           The default path to this file is compiled into Samba as part of the
90           build process. Common defaults are /usr/local/samba/lib/lmhosts,
91           /usr/samba/lib/lmhosts or /etc/samba/lmhosts. See the lmhosts(5)
92           man page for details on the contents of this file.
93
94       -d|--debuglevel=level
95           level is an integer from 0 to 10. The default value if this
96           parameter is not specified is 0.
97
98           The higher this value, the more detail will be logged to the log
99           files about the activities of the server. At level 0, only critical
100           errors and serious warnings will be logged. Level 1 is a reasonable
101           level for day-to-day running - it generates a small amount of
102           information about operations carried out.
103
104           Levels above 1 will generate considerable amounts of log data, and
105           should only be used when investigating a problem. Levels above 3
106           are designed for use only by developers and generate HUGE amounts
107           of log data, most of which is extremely cryptic.
108
109           Note that specifying this parameter here will override the log
110           level parameter in the smb.conf file.
111
112       -V|--version
113           Prints the program version number.
114
115       -s|--configfile=<configuration file>
116           The file specified contains the configuration details required by
117           the server. The information in this file includes server-specific
118           information such as what printcap file to use, as well as
119           descriptions of all the services that the server is to provide. See
120           smb.conf for more information. The default configuration file name
121           is determined at compile time.
122
123       -l|--log-basename=logdirectory
124           Base directory name for log/debug files. The extension ".progname"
125           will be appended (e.g. log.smbclient, log.smbd, etc...). The log
126           file is never removed by the client.
127
128       --option=<name>=<value>
129           Set the smb.conf(5) option "<name>" to value "<value>" from the
130           command line. This overrides compiled-in defaults and options read
131           from the configuration file.
132
133       -p|--port <UDP port number>
134           UDP port number is a positive integer value. This option changes
135           the default UDP port number (normally 137) that nmbd responds to
136           name queries on. Don't use this option unless you are an expert, in
137           which case you won't need help!
138
139       --no-process-group
140           Do not create a new process group for nmbd.
141

FILES

143       /etc/inetd.conf
144           If the server is to be run by the inetd meta-daemon, this file must
145           contain suitable startup information for the meta-daemon.
146
147       /etc/rc
148           or whatever initialization script your system uses).
149
150           If running the server as a daemon at startup, this file will need
151           to contain an appropriate startup sequence for the server.
152
153       /etc/services
154           If running the server via the meta-daemon inetd, this file must
155           contain a mapping of service name (e.g., netbios-ssn) to service
156           port (e.g., 139) and protocol type (e.g., tcp).
157
158       /usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf
159           This is the default location of the smb.conf(5) server
160           configuration file. Other common places that systems install this
161           file are /usr/samba/lib/smb.conf and /etc/samba/smb.conf.
162
163           When run as a WINS server (see the wins support parameter in the
164           smb.conf(5) man page), nmbd will store the WINS database in the
165           file wins.dat in the var/locks directory configured under wherever
166           Samba was configured to install itself.
167
168           If nmbd is acting as a
169            browse master (see the local master parameter in the smb.conf(5)
170           man page, nmbd will store the browsing database in the file
171           browse.dat in the var/locks directory configured under wherever
172           Samba was configured to install itself.
173

SIGNALS

175       To shut down an nmbd process it is recommended that SIGKILL (-9) NOT be
176       used, except as a last resort, as this may leave the name database in
177       an inconsistent state. The correct way to terminate nmbd is to send it
178       a SIGTERM (-15) signal and wait for it to die on its own.
179
180       nmbd will accept SIGHUP, which will cause it to dump out its namelists
181       into the file namelist.debug in the /usr/local/samba/var/locks
182       directory (or the var/locks directory configured under wherever Samba
183       was configured to install itself). This will also cause nmbd to dump
184       out its server database in the log.nmb file.
185
186       The debug log level of nmbd may be raised or lowered using
187       smbcontrol(1) (SIGUSR[1|2] signals are no longer used since Samba 2.2).
188       This is to allow transient problems to be diagnosed, whilst still
189       running at a normally low log level.
190

VERSION

192       This man page is part of version 4.8.3 of the Samba suite.
193

SEE ALSO

195       inetd(8), smbd(8), smb.conf(5), smbclient(1), testparm(1), and the
196       Internet RFC's rfc1001.txt, rfc1002.txt. In addition the CIFS (formerly
197       SMB) specification is available as a link from the Web page
198       https://www.samba.org/cifs/.
199

AUTHOR

201       The original Samba software and related utilities were created by
202       Andrew Tridgell. Samba is now developed by the Samba Team as an Open
203       Source project similar to the way the Linux kernel is developed.
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207Samba 4.8.3                       10/30/2018                           NMBD(8)
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