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] [-i|--interactive] [-F|--foreground]
11        [--no-process-group] [-b|--build-options] [-p <port number(s)>]
12        [-P <profiling level>] [-d <debug level>] [--debug-stdout]
13        [--configfile=<configuration file>] [--option=<name>=<value>]
14        [-l|--log-basename <log directory>] [--leak-report]
15        [--leak-report-full] [-V|--version]
16

DESCRIPTION

18       This program is part of the samba(7) suite.
19
20       nmbd is a server that understands and can reply to NetBIOS over IP name
21       service requests, like those produced by SMB/CIFS clients such as
22       Windows 95/98/ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP and LanManager
23       clients. It also participates in the browsing protocols which make up
24       the Windows "Network Neighborhood" view.
25
26       SMB/CIFS clients, when they start up, may wish to locate an SMB/CIFS
27       server. That is, they wish to know what IP number a specified host is
28       using.
29
30       Amongst other services, nmbd will listen for such requests, and if its
31       own NetBIOS name is specified it will respond with the IP number of the
32       host it is running on. Its "own NetBIOS name" is by default the primary
33       DNS name of the host it is running on, but this can be overridden by
34       the netbios name in smb.conf. Thus nmbd will reply to broadcast queries
35       for its own name(s). Additional names for nmbd to respond on can be set
36       via parameters in the smb.conf(5) configuration file.
37
38       nmbd can also be used as a WINS (Windows Internet Name Server) server.
39       What this basically means is that it will act as a WINS database
40       server, creating a database from name registration requests that it
41       receives and replying to queries from clients for these names.
42
43       In addition, nmbd can act as a WINS proxy, relaying broadcast queries
44       from clients that do not understand how to talk the WINS protocol to a
45       WINS server.
46

OPTIONS

48       -D|--daemon
49           If specified, this parameter causes nmbd to operate as a daemon.
50           That is, it detaches itself and runs in the background, fielding
51           requests on the appropriate port. By default, nmbd will operate as
52           a daemon if launched from a command shell. nmbd can also be
53           operated from the inetd meta-daemon, although this is not
54           recommended.
55
56       -F|--foreground
57           If specified, this parameter causes the main nmbd process to not
58           daemonize, i.e. double-fork and disassociate with the terminal.
59           Child processes are still created as normal to service each
60           connection request, but the main process does not exit. This
61           operation mode is suitable for running nmbd under process
62           supervisors such as supervise and svscan from Daniel J. Bernstein's
63           daemontools package, or the AIX process monitor.
64
65       -i|--interactive
66           If this parameter is specified it causes the server to run
67           "interactively", not as a daemon, even if the server is executed on
68           the command line of a shell. Setting this parameter negates the
69           implicit daemon mode when run from the command line.  nmbd also
70           logs to standard output, as if the -S parameter had been given.
71
72       -H|--hosts <filename>
73           NetBIOS lmhosts file. The lmhosts file is a list of NetBIOS names
74           to IP addresses that is loaded by the nmbd server and used via the
75           name resolution mechanism name resolve order described in
76           smb.conf(5) to resolve any NetBIOS name queries needed by the
77           server. Note that the contents of this file are NOT used by nmbd to
78           answer any name queries. Adding a line to this file affects name
79           NetBIOS resolution from this host ONLY.
80
81           The default path to this file is compiled into Samba as part of the
82           build process. Common defaults are /usr/local/samba/lib/lmhosts,
83           /usr/samba/lib/lmhosts or /etc/samba/lmhosts. See the lmhosts(5)
84           man page for details on the contents of this file.
85
86       -p|--port <UDP port number>
87           UDP port number is a positive integer value. This option changes
88           the default UDP port number (normally 137) that nmbd responds to
89           name queries on. Don't use this option unless you are an expert, in
90           which case you won't need help!
91
92       --no-process-group
93           Do not create a new process group for nmbd.
94
95       -d|--debuglevel=DEBUGLEVEL, --debug-stdout
96           level is an integer from 0 to 10. The default value if this
97           parameter is not specified is 0.
98
99           The higher this value, the more detail will be logged to the log
100           files about the activities of the server. At level 0, only critical
101           errors and serious warnings will be logged. Level 1 is a reasonable
102           level for day-to-day running - it generates a small amount of
103           information about operations carried out.
104
105           Levels above 1 will generate considerable amounts of log data, and
106           should only be used when investigating a problem. Levels above 3
107           are designed for use only by developers and generate HUGE amounts
108           of log data, most of which is extremely cryptic.
109
110           Note that specifying this parameter here will override the log
111           level parameter in the smb.conf file.  This will redirect debug
112           output to STDOUT. By default server daemons are logging to a log
113           file.
114
115       --configfile=CONFIGFILE
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       --option=<name>=<value>
124           Set the smb.conf(5) option "<name>" to value "<value>" from the
125           command line. This overrides compiled-in defaults and options read
126           from the configuration file. If a name or a value includes a space,
127           wrap whole --option=name=value into quotes.
128
129       -l|--log-basename=logdirectory
130           Base directory name for log/debug files. The extension ".progname"
131           will be appended (e.g. log.smbclient, log.smbd, etc...). The log
132           file is never removed by the client.
133
134       --leak-report
135           Enable talloc leak reporting on exit.
136
137       --leak-report-full
138           Enable full talloc leak reporting on exit.
139
140       -V|--version
141           Prints the program version number.
142
143       -?|--help
144           Print a summary of command line options.
145
146       --usage
147           Display brief usage message.
148

FILES

150       /etc/inetd.conf
151           If the server is to be run by the inetd meta-daemon, this file must
152           contain suitable startup information for the meta-daemon.
153
154       /etc/rc
155           or whatever initialization script your system uses).
156
157           If running the server as a daemon at startup, this file will need
158           to contain an appropriate startup sequence for the server.
159
160       /etc/services
161           If running the server via the meta-daemon inetd, this file must
162           contain a mapping of service name (e.g., netbios-ssn) to service
163           port (e.g., 139) and protocol type (e.g., tcp).
164
165       /usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf
166           This is the default location of the smb.conf(5) server
167           configuration file. Other common places that systems install this
168           file are /usr/samba/lib/smb.conf and /etc/samba/smb.conf.
169
170           When run as a WINS server (see the wins support parameter in the
171           smb.conf(5) man page), nmbd will store the WINS database in the
172           file wins.dat in the var/locks directory configured under wherever
173           Samba was configured to install itself.
174
175           If nmbd is acting as a
176            browse master (see the local master parameter in the smb.conf(5)
177           man page, nmbd will store the browsing database in the file
178           browse.dat in the var/locks directory configured under wherever
179           Samba was configured to install itself.
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SIGNALS

182       To shut down an nmbd process it is recommended that SIGKILL (-9) NOT be
183       used, except as a last resort, as this may leave the name database in
184       an inconsistent state. The correct way to terminate nmbd is to send it
185       a SIGTERM (-15) signal and wait for it to die on its own.
186
187       nmbd will accept SIGHUP, which will cause it to dump out its namelists
188       into the file namelist.debug in the /usr/local/samba/var/locks
189       directory (or the var/locks directory configured under wherever Samba
190       was configured to install itself). This will also cause nmbd to dump
191       out its server database in the log.nmb file. Additionally, the signal
192       will cause reloading nmbd configuration.
193
194       Instead of sending a SIGHUP signal, a request to dump namelists into
195       the file and reload a configuration file may be sent using
196       smbcontrol(1) program.
197
198       The debug log level of nmbd may be raised or lowered using
199       smbcontrol(1) (SIGUSR[1|2] signals are no longer used since Samba 2.2).
200       This is to allow transient problems to be diagnosed, whilst still
201       running at a normally low log level.
202

VERSION

204       This man page is part of version 4.15.2 of the Samba suite.
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SEE ALSO

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

213       The original Samba software and related utilities were created by
214       Andrew Tridgell. Samba is now developed by the Samba Team as an Open
215       Source project similar to the way the Linux kernel is developed.
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219Samba 4.15.2                      11/13/2021                           NMBD(8)
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