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9 <refentrytitle>nmbd</refentrytitle>
10 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
15 <refname>nmbd</refname>
16 <refpurpose>NetBIOS name server to provide NetBIOS
17 over IP naming services to clients</refpurpose>
22 <command>nmbd</command>
23 <arg choice="opt">-D</arg>
24 <arg choice="opt">-F</arg>
25 <arg choice="opt">-S</arg>
26 <arg choice="opt">-a</arg>
27 <arg choice="opt">-i</arg>
28 <arg choice="opt">-o</arg>
29 <arg choice="opt">-h</arg>
30 <arg choice="opt">-V</arg>
31 <arg choice="opt">-d <debug level></arg>
32 <arg choice="opt">-H <lmhosts file></arg>
33 <arg choice="opt">-l <log directory></arg>
34 <arg choice="opt">-p <port number></arg>
35 <arg choice="opt">-s <configuration file></arg>
40 <title>DESCRIPTION</title>
41 <para>This program is part of the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>samba</refentrytitle>
42 <manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry> suite.</para>
44 <para><command>nmbd</command> is a server that understands
45 and can reply to NetBIOS over IP name service requests, like
46 those produced by SMB/CIFS clients such as Windows 95/98/ME,
47 Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP and LanManager clients. It also
48 participates in the browsing protocols which make up the
49 Windows "Network Neighborhood" view.</para>
51 <para>SMB/CIFS clients, when they start up, may wish to
52 locate an SMB/CIFS server. That is, they wish to know what
53 IP number a specified host is using.</para>
55 <para>Amongst other services, <command>nmbd</command> will
56 listen for such requests, and if its own NetBIOS name is
57 specified it will respond with the IP number of the host it
58 is running on. Its "own NetBIOS name" is by
59 default the primary DNS name of the host it is running on,
60 but this can be overridden by the <smbconfoption><name>netbios name</name></smbconfoption>
61 in &smb.conf;. Thus <command>nmbd</command> will
62 reply to broadcast queries for its own name(s). Additional
63 names for <command>nmbd</command> to respond on can be set
64 via parameters in the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smb.conf</refentrytitle>
65 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> configuration file.</para>
67 <para><command>nmbd</command> can also be used as a WINS
68 (Windows Internet Name Server) server. What this basically means
69 is that it will act as a WINS database server, creating a
70 database from name registration requests that it receives and
71 replying to queries from clients for these names.</para>
73 <para>In addition, <command>nmbd</command> can act as a WINS
74 proxy, relaying broadcast queries from clients that do
75 not understand how to talk the WINS protocol to a WINS
80 <title>OPTIONS</title>
85 <listitem><para>If specified, this parameter causes
86 <command>nmbd</command> to operate as a daemon. That is,
87 it detaches itself and runs in the background, fielding
88 requests on the appropriate port. By default, <command>nmbd</command>
89 will operate as a daemon if launched from a command shell.
90 nmbd can also be operated from the <command>inetd</command>
91 meta-daemon, although this is not recommended.
97 <listitem><para>If specified, this parameter causes
98 the main <command>nmbd</command> process to not daemonize,
99 i.e. double-fork and disassociate with the terminal.
100 Child processes are still created as normal to service
101 each connection request, but the main process does not
102 exit. This operation mode is suitable for running
103 <command>nmbd</command> under process supervisors such
104 as <command>supervise</command> and <command>svscan</command>
105 from Daniel J. Bernstein's <command>daemontools</command>
106 package, or the AIX process monitor.
112 <listitem><para>If specified, this parameter causes
113 <command>nmbd</command> to log to standard output rather
114 than a file.</para></listitem>
119 <listitem><para>If this parameter is specified it causes the
120 server to run "interactively", not as a daemon, even if the
121 server is executed on the command line of a shell. Setting this
122 parameter negates the implicit daemon mode when run from the
123 command line. <command>nmbd</command> also logs to standard
124 output, as if the <constant>-S</constant> parameter had been
125 given. </para></listitem>
131 <term>-H <filename></term>
132 <listitem><para>NetBIOS lmhosts file. The lmhosts
133 file is a list of NetBIOS names to IP addresses that
134 is loaded by the nmbd server and used via the name
135 resolution mechanism <smbconfoption><name>name resolve order</name></smbconfoption> described in <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smb.conf</refentrytitle>
136 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> to resolve any
137 NetBIOS name queries needed by the server. Note
138 that the contents of this file are <emphasis>NOT</emphasis>
139 used by <command>nmbd</command> to answer any name queries.
140 Adding a line to this file affects name NetBIOS resolution
141 from this host <emphasis>ONLY</emphasis>.</para>
143 <para>The default path to this file is compiled into
144 Samba as part of the build process. Common defaults
145 are <filename>/usr/local/samba/lib/lmhosts</filename>,
146 <filename>/usr/samba/lib/lmhosts</filename> or
147 <filename>/etc/samba/lmhosts</filename>. See the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>lmhosts</refentrytitle>
148 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> man page for details on the contents of this file.</para></listitem>
154 <term>-p <UDP port number></term>
155 <listitem><para>UDP port number is a positive integer value.
156 This option changes the default UDP port number (normally 137)
157 that <command>nmbd</command> responds to name queries on. Don't
158 use this option unless you are an expert, in which case you
159 won't need help!</para></listitem>
170 <term><filename>/etc/inetd.conf</filename></term>
171 <listitem><para>If the server is to be run by the
172 <command>inetd</command> meta-daemon, this file
173 must contain suitable startup information for the
179 <term><filename>/etc/rc</filename></term>
180 <listitem><para>or whatever initialization script your
183 <para>If running the server as a daemon at startup,
184 this file will need to contain an appropriate startup
185 sequence for the server.</para></listitem>
189 <term><filename>/etc/services</filename></term>
190 <listitem><para>If running the server via the
191 meta-daemon <command>inetd</command>, this file
192 must contain a mapping of service name (e.g., netbios-ssn)
193 to service port (e.g., 139) and protocol type (e.g., tcp).
198 <term><filename>/usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf</filename></term>
199 <listitem><para>This is the default location of
200 the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smb.conf</refentrytitle>
201 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> server
202 configuration file. Other common places that systems
203 install this file are <filename>/usr/samba/lib/smb.conf</filename>
204 and <filename>/etc/samba/smb.conf</filename>.</para>
206 <para>When run as a WINS server (see the
207 <smbconfoption><name>wins support</name></smbconfoption>
208 parameter in the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smb.conf</refentrytitle>
209 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> man page),
210 <command>nmbd</command>
211 will store the WINS database in the file <filename>wins.dat</filename>
212 in the <filename>var/locks</filename> directory configured under
213 wherever Samba was configured to install itself.</para>
215 <para>If <command>nmbd</command> is acting as a <emphasis>
216 browse master</emphasis> (see the <smbconfoption><name>local master</name></smbconfoption>
217 parameter in the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smb.conf</refentrytitle>
218 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> man page, <command>nmbd</command>
219 will store the browsing database in the file <filename>browse.dat
220 </filename> in the <filename>var/locks</filename> directory
221 configured under wherever Samba was configured to install itself.
228 <title>SIGNALS</title>
230 <para>To shut down an <command>nmbd</command> process it is recommended
231 that SIGKILL (-9) <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> be used, except as a last
232 resort, as this may leave the name database in an inconsistent state.
233 The correct way to terminate <command>nmbd</command> is to send it
234 a SIGTERM (-15) signal and wait for it to die on its own.</para>
236 <para><command>nmbd</command> will accept SIGHUP, which will cause
237 it to dump out its namelists into the file <filename>namelist.debug
238 </filename> in the <filename>/usr/local/samba/var/locks</filename>
239 directory (or the <filename>var/locks</filename> directory configured
240 under wherever Samba was configured to install itself). This will also
241 cause <command>nmbd</command> to dump out its server database in
242 the <filename>log.nmb</filename> file.</para>
244 <para>The debug log level of nmbd may be raised or lowered
245 using <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smbcontrol</refentrytitle>
246 <manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> (SIGUSR[1|2] signals
247 are no longer used since Samba 2.2). This is to allow
248 transient problems to be diagnosed, whilst still running
249 at a normally low log level.</para>
254 <title>VERSION</title>
256 <para>This man page is correct for version 3.0 of
257 the Samba suite.</para>
261 <title>SEE ALSO</title>
263 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>inetd</refentrytitle>
264 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>, <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smbd</refentrytitle>
265 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>, <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smb.conf</refentrytitle>
266 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>, <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smbclient</refentrytitle>
267 <manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>, <citerefentry><refentrytitle>testparm</refentrytitle>
268 <manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>, <citerefentry><refentrytitle>testprns</refentrytitle>
269 <manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>, and the Internet
270 RFC's <filename>rfc1001.txt</filename>, <filename>rfc1002.txt</filename>.
271 In addition the CIFS (formerly SMB) specification is available
272 as a link from the Web page <ulink noescape="1" url="http://samba.org/cifs/">
273 http://samba.org/cifs/</ulink>.</para>
277 <title>AUTHOR</title>
279 <para>The original Samba software and related utilities
280 were created by Andrew Tridgell. Samba is now developed
281 by the Samba Team as an Open Source project similar
282 to the way the Linux kernel is developed.</para>
284 <para>The original Samba man pages were written by Karl Auer.
285 The man page sources were converted to YODL format (another
286 excellent piece of Open Source software, available at <ulink url="ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/">
287 ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/</ulink>) and updated for the Samba 2.0
288 release by Jeremy Allison. The conversion to DocBook for
289 Samba 2.2 was done by Gerald Carter. The conversion to DocBook
290 XML 4.2 for Samba 3.0 was done by Alexander Bokovoy.</para>