1NMBD(8) NMBD(8)
2
6 nmbd - NetBIOS name server to provide NetBIOS over IP naming services
7 to clients
8
10 nmbd [-D] [-F] [-S] [-a] [-i] [-o] [-h] [-V] [-d <debug level>]
11 [-H <lmhosts file>] [-l <log directory>] [-p <port number>] [-s <con‐
12 figuration file>]
13
15 This program is part of the samba(7) suite.
16 nmbd is a server that understands and can reply to NetBIOS over IP name
18 service requests, like those produced by SMB/CIFS clients such as Win‐
19 dows 95/98/ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP and LanManager
20 clients. It also participates in the browsing protocols which make up
21 the Windows "Network Neighborhood" view.
22 SMB/CIFS clients, when they start up, may wish to locate an SMB/CIFS
24 server. That is, they wish to know what IP number a specified host is
25 using.
26 Amongst other services, nmbd will listen for such requests, and if its
28 own NetBIOS name is specified it will respond with the IP number of the
29 host it is running on. Its "own NetBIOS name" is by default the primary
30 DNS name of the host it is running on, but this can be overridden by
31 the netbios name in smb.conf. Thus nmbd will reply to broadcast queries
32 for its own name(s). Additional names for nmbd to respond on can be set
33 via parameters in the smb.conf(5) configuration file.
34 nmbd can also be used as a WINS (Windows Internet Name Server) server.
36 What this basically means is that it will act as a WINS database
37 server, creating a database from name registration requests that it
38 receives and replying to queries from clients for these names.
39 In addition, nmbd can act as a WINS proxy, relaying broadcast queries
41 from clients that do not understand how to talk the WINS protocol to a
42 WINS server.
43
45 -D
46 If specified, this parameter causes nmbd to operate as a daemon.
47 That is, it detaches itself and runs in the background, fielding
48 requests on the appropriate port. By default, nmbd will operate as a
49 daemon if launched from a command shell. nmbd can also be operated
50 from the inetd meta-daemon, although this is not recommended.
51 -F
53 If specified, this parameter causes the main nmbd process to not
54 daemonize, i.e. double-fork and disassociate with the terminal.
55 Child processes are still created as normal to service each connec‐
56 tion request, but the main process does not exit. This operation
57 mode is suitable for running nmbd under process supervisors such as
58 supervise and svscan from Daniel J. Bernstein's daemontools package,
59 or the AIX process monitor.
60 -S
62 If specified, this parameter causes nmbd to log to standard output
63 rather than a file.
64 -i
66 If this parameter is specified it causes the server to run "interac‐
67 tively", not as a daemon, even if the server is executed on the com‐
68 mand line of a shell. Setting this parameter negates the implicit
69 daemon mode when run from the command line. nmbd also logs to stan‐
70 dard output, as if the -S parameter had been given.
71 -h|--help
73 Print a summary of command line options.
74 -H <filename>
76 NetBIOS lmhosts file. The lmhosts file is a list of NetBIOS names to
77 IP addresses that is loaded by the nmbd server and used via the name
78 resolution mechanism name resolve order described in smb.conf(5) to
79 resolve any NetBIOS name queries needed by the server. Note that the
80 contents of this file are NOT used by nmbd to answer any name
81 queries. Adding a line to this file affects name NetBIOS resolution
82 from this host ONLY.
83 The default path to this file is compiled into Samba as part of the
85 build process. Common defaults are /usr/local/samba/lib/lmhosts,
86 /usr/samba/lib/lmhosts or /etc/samba/lmhosts. See the lmhosts(5) man
87 page for details on the contents of this file.
88 -V
90 Prints the program version number.
91 -s <configuration file>
93 The file specified contains the configuration details required by
94 the server. The information in this file includes server-specific
95 information such as what printcap file to use, as well as descrip‐
96 tions of all the services that the server is to provide. See
97 smb.conf for more information. The default configuration file name
98 is determined at compile time.
99 -d|--debuglevel=level
101 level is an integer from 0 to 10. The default value if this parame‐
102 ter is not specified is zero.
103 The higher this value, the more detail will be logged to the log
105 files about the activities of the server. At level 0, only critical
106 errors and serious warnings will be logged. Level 1 is a reasonable
107 level for day-to-day running - it generates a small amount of infor‐
108 mation about operations carried out.
109 Levels above 1 will generate considerable amounts of log data, and
111 should only be used when investigating a problem. Levels above 3 are
112 designed for use only by developers and generate HUGE amounts of log
113 data, most of which is extremely cryptic.
114 Note that specifying this parameter here will override the
116 parameter in the smb.conf file.
118 -l|--logfile=logdirectory
120 Base directory name for log/debug files. The extension ".progname"
121 will be appended (e.g. log.smbclient, log.smbd, etc...). The log
122 file is never removed by the client.
123 -p <UDP port number>
125 UDP port number is a positive integer value. This option changes the
126 default UDP port number (normally 137) that nmbd responds to name
127 queries on. Don't use this option unless you are an expert, in which
128 case you won't need help!
129
131 /etc/inetd.conf
132 If the server is to be run by the inetd meta-daemon, this file must
133 contain suitable startup information for the meta-daemon.
134 /etc/rc
136 or whatever initialization script your system uses).
137 If running the server as a daemon at startup, this file will need to
139 contain an appropriate startup sequence for the server.
140 /etc/services
142 If running the server via the meta-daemon inetd, this file must con‐
143 tain a mapping of service name (e.g., netbios-ssn) to service port
144 (e.g., 139) and protocol type (e.g., tcp).
145 /usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf
147 This is the default location of the smb.conf(5) server configuration
148 file. Other common places that systems install this file are
149 /usr/samba/lib/smb.conf and /etc/samba/smb.conf.
150 When run as a WINS server (see the wins support parameter in the
152 smb.conf(5) man page), nmbd will store the WINS database in the file
153 wins.dat in the var/locks directory configured under wherever Samba
154 was configured to install itself.
155 If nmbd is acting as a
157 browse master (see the local master parameter in the smb.conf(5)
158 man page, nmbd will store the browsing database in the file
159 browse.dat in the var/locks directory configured under wherever
160 Samba was configured to install itself.
161
163 To shut down an nmbd process it is recommended that SIGKILL (-9) NOT be
164 used, except as a last resort, as this may leave the name database in
165 an inconsistent state. The correct way to terminate nmbd is to send it
166 a SIGTERM (-15) signal and wait for it to die on its own.
167 nmbd will accept SIGHUP, which will cause it to dump out its namelists
169 into the file namelist.debug in the /usr/local/samba/var/locks direc‐
170 tory (or the var/locks directory configured under wherever Samba was
171 configured to install itself). This will also cause nmbd to dump out
172 its server database in the log.nmb file.
173 The debug log level of nmbd may be raised or lowered using smbcon‐
175 trol(1) (SIGUSR[1|2] signals are no longer used since Samba 2.2). This
176 is to allow transient problems to be diagnosed, whilst still running at
177 a normally low log level.
178
180 This man page is correct for version 3.0 of the Samba suite.
181
183 inetd(8), smbd(8), smb.conf(5), smbclient(1), testparm(1), testprns(1),
184 and the Internet RFC's rfc1001.txt, rfc1002.txt. In addition the CIFS
185 (formerly SMB) specification is available as a link from the Web page
186 http://samba.org/cifs/.
187
189 The original Samba software and related utilities were created by
190 Andrew Tridgell. Samba is now developed by the Samba Team as an Open
191 Source project similar to the way the Linux kernel is developed.
192 The original Samba man pages were written by Karl Auer. The man page
194 sources were converted to YODL format (another excellent piece of Open
195 Source software, available at ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/) and
196 updated for the Samba 2.0 release by Jeremy Allison. The conversion to
197 DocBook for Samba 2.2 was done by Gerald Carter. The conversion to Doc‐
198 Book XML 4.2 for Samba 3.0 was done by Alexander Bokovoy.
199 NMBD(8)