1NMBD(8) System Administration tools NMBD(8)
2
6 nmbd - NetBIOS name server to provide NetBIOS over IP naming services
7 to clients
8
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
16 This program is part of the samba(7) suite.
17 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 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 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 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.
40 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
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 -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 -S|--log-stdout
64 If specified, this parameter causes nmbd to log to standard output
65 rather than a file.
66 -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 -?|--help
75 Print a summary of command line options.
76 --usage
78 Display brief usage message.
79 -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 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 -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 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 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 Note that specifying this parameter here will override the log
110 level parameter in the smb.conf file.
111 -V|--version
113 Prints the program version number.
114 -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 -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 --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 -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 --no-process-group
140 Do not create a new process group for nmbd.
141
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 /etc/rc
148 or whatever initialization script your system uses).
149 If running the server as a daemon at startup, this file will need
151 to contain an appropriate startup sequence for the server.
152 /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 /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 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 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
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 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. Additionally, the signal
185 will cause reloading nmbd configuration.
186 Instead of sending a SIGHUP signal, a request to dump namelists into
188 the file and reload a configuration file may be sent using
189 smbcontrol(1) program.
190 The debug log level of nmbd may be raised or lowered using
192 smbcontrol(1) (SIGUSR[1|2] signals are no longer used since Samba 2.2).
193 This is to allow transient problems to be diagnosed, whilst still
194 running at a normally low log level.
195
197 This man page is part of version 4.14.5 of the Samba suite.
198
200 inetd(8), smbd(8), smb.conf(5), smbclient(1), testparm(1), and the
201 Internet RFC's rfc1001.txt, rfc1002.txt. In addition the CIFS (formerly
202 SMB) specification is available as a link from the Web page
203 https://www.samba.org/cifs/.
204
206 The original Samba software and related utilities were created by
207 Andrew Tridgell. Samba is now developed by the Samba Team as an Open
208 Source project similar to the way the Linux kernel is developed.
209Samba 4.14.5 06/01/2021 NMBD(8)