path: root/docs/manpages/nmbd.8

.\"     Title: nmbd
.\"    Author: [see the "AUTHOR" section]
.\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets v1.74.0 <http://docbook.sf.net/>
.\"      Date: 05/10/2010
.\"    Manual: System Administration tools
.\"    Source: Samba 3.4
.\"  Language: English
.\"
.TH "NMBD" "8" "05/10/2010" "Samba 3\&.4" "System Administration tools"
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.SH "Name"
nmbd \- NetBIOS name server to provide NetBIOS over IP naming services to clients
.SH "Synopsis"
.fam C
.HP \w'\ 'u
\FCnmbd\F[] [\-D] [\-F] [\-S] [\-a] [\-i] [\-o] [\-h] [\-V] [\-d\ <debug\ level>] [\-H\ <lmhosts\ file>] [\-l\ <log\ directory>] [\-p\ <port\ number>] [\-s\ <configuration\ file>]
.fam
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.PP
This program is part of the
\fBsamba\fR(7)
suite\&.
.PP
\FCnmbd\F[]
is a server that understands and can reply to NetBIOS over IP name service requests, like those produced by SMB/CIFS clients such as Windows 95/98/ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP and LanManager clients\&. It also participates in the browsing protocols which make up the Windows "Network Neighborhood" view\&.
.PP
SMB/CIFS clients, when they start up, may wish to locate an SMB/CIFS server\&. That is, they wish to know what IP number a specified host is using\&.
.PP
Amongst other services,
\FCnmbd\F[]
will listen for such requests, and if its own NetBIOS name is specified it will respond with the IP number of the host it is running on\&. Its "own NetBIOS name" is by default the primary DNS name of the host it is running on, but this can be overridden by the
\m[blue]\fBnetbios name\fR\m[]
in
\FCsmb\&.conf\F[]\&. Thus
\FCnmbd\F[]
will reply to broadcast queries for its own name(s)\&. Additional names for
\FCnmbd\F[]
to respond on can be set via parameters in the
\fBsmb.conf\fR(5)
configuration file\&.
.PP
\FCnmbd\F[]
can also be used as a WINS (Windows Internet Name Server) server\&. What this basically means is that it will act as a WINS database server, creating a database from name registration requests that it receives and replying to queries from clients for these names\&.
.PP
In addition,
\FCnmbd\F[]
can act as a WINS proxy, relaying broadcast queries from clients that do not understand how to talk the WINS protocol to a WINS server\&.
.SH "OPTIONS"
.PP
\-D
.RS 4
If specified, this parameter causes
\FCnmbd\F[]
to operate as a daemon\&. That is, it detaches itself and runs in the background, fielding requests on the appropriate port\&. By default,
\FCnmbd\F[]
will operate as a daemon if launched from a command shell\&. nmbd can also be operated from the
\FCinetd\F[]
meta\-daemon, although this is not recommended\&.
.RE
.PP
\-F
.RS 4
If specified, this parameter causes the main
\FCnmbd\F[]
process to not daemonize, i\&.e\&. double\-fork and disassociate with the terminal\&. Child processes are still created as normal to service each connection request, but the main process does not exit\&. This operation mode is suitable for running
\FCnmbd\F[]
under process supervisors such as
\FCsupervise\F[]
and
\FCsvscan\F[]
from Daniel J\&. Bernstein\'s
\FCdaemontools\F[]
package, or the AIX process monitor\&.
.RE
.PP
\-S
.RS 4
If specified, this parameter causes
\FCnmbd\F[]
to log to standard output rather than a file\&.
.RE
.PP
\-i
.RS 4
If this parameter is specified it causes the server to run "interactively", not as a daemon, even if the server is executed on the command line of a shell\&. Setting this parameter negates the implicit daemon mode when run from the command line\&.
\FCnmbd\F[]
also logs to standard output, as if the
\fB\-S\fR
parameter had been given\&.
.RE
.PP
\-h|\-\-help
.RS 4
Print a summary of command line options\&.
.RE
.PP
\-H <filename>
.RS 4
NetBIOS lmhosts file\&. The lmhosts file is a list of NetBIOS names to IP addresses that is loaded by the nmbd server and used via the name resolution mechanism
\m[blue]\fBname resolve order\fR\m[]
described in
\fBsmb.conf\fR(5)
to resolve any NetBIOS name queries needed by the server\&. Note that the contents of this file are
\fINOT\fR
used by
\FCnmbd\F[]
to answer any name queries\&. Adding a line to this file affects name NetBIOS resolution from this host
\fIONLY\fR\&.
.sp
The default path to this file is compiled into Samba as part of the build process\&. Common defaults are
\FC/usr/local/samba/lib/lmhosts\F[],
\FC/usr/samba/lib/lmhosts\F[]
or
\FC/etc/samba/lmhosts\F[]\&. See the
\fBlmhosts\fR(5)
man page for details on the contents of this file\&.
.RE
.PP
\-d|\-\-debuglevel=level
.RS 4
\fIlevel\fR
is an integer from 0 to 10\&. The default value if this parameter is not specified is 0\&.
.sp
The higher this value, the more detail will be logged to the log files about the activities of the server\&. At level 0, only critical errors and serious warnings will be logged\&. Level 1 is a reasonable level for day\-to\-day running \- it generates a small amount of information about operations carried out\&.
.sp
Levels above 1 will generate considerable amounts of log data, and should only be used when investigating a problem\&. Levels above 3 are designed for use only by developers and generate HUGE amounts of log data, most of which is extremely cryptic\&.
.sp
Note that specifying this parameter here will override the
\m[blue]\fB\%smb.conf.5.html#\fR\m[]
parameter in the
\FCsmb\&.conf\F[]
file\&.
.RE
.PP
\-V|\-\-version
.RS 4
Prints the program version number\&.
.RE
.PP
\-s|\-\-configfile <configuration file>
.RS 4
The file specified contains the configuration details required by the server\&. The information in this file includes server\-specific information such as what printcap file to use, as well as descriptions of all the services that the server is to provide\&. See
\FCsmb\&.conf\F[]
for more information\&. The default configuration file name is determined at compile time\&.
.RE
.PP
\-l|\-\-log\-basename=logdirectory
.RS 4
Base directory name for log/debug files\&. The extension
\fB"\&.progname"\fR
will be appended (e\&.g\&. log\&.smbclient, log\&.smbd, etc\&.\&.\&.)\&. The log file is never removed by the client\&.
.RE
.PP
\-p <UDP port number>
.RS 4
UDP port number is a positive integer value\&. This option changes the default UDP port number (normally 137) that
\FCnmbd\F[]
responds to name queries on\&. Don\'t use this option unless you are an expert, in which case you won\'t need help!
.RE
.SH "FILES"
.PP
\FC/etc/inetd\&.conf\F[]
.RS 4
If the server is to be run by the
\FCinetd\F[]
meta\-daemon, this file must contain suitable startup information for the meta\-daemon\&.
.RE
.PP
\FC/etc/rc\F[]
.RS 4
or whatever initialization script your system uses)\&.
.sp
If running the server as a daemon at startup, this file will need to contain an appropriate startup sequence for the server\&.
.RE
.PP
\FC/etc/services\F[]
.RS 4
If running the server via the meta\-daemon
\FCinetd\F[], this file must contain a mapping of service name (e\&.g\&., netbios\-ssn) to service port (e\&.g\&., 139) and protocol type (e\&.g\&., tcp)\&.
.RE
.PP
\FC/usr/local/samba/lib/smb\&.conf\F[]
.RS 4
This is the default location of the
\fBsmb.conf\fR(5)
server configuration file\&. Other common places that systems install this file are
\FC/usr/samba/lib/smb\&.conf\F[]
and
\FC/etc/samba/smb\&.conf\F[]\&.
.sp
When run as a WINS server (see the
\m[blue]\fBwins support\fR\m[]
parameter in the
\fBsmb.conf\fR(5)
man page),
\FCnmbd\F[]
will store the WINS database in the file
\FCwins\&.dat\F[]
in the
\FCvar/locks\F[]
directory configured under wherever Samba was configured to install itself\&.
.sp
If
\FCnmbd\F[]
is acting as a
\fI browse master\fR
(see the
\m[blue]\fBlocal master\fR\m[]
parameter in the
\fBsmb.conf\fR(5)
man page,
\FCnmbd\F[]
will store the browsing database in the file
\FCbrowse\&.dat \F[]
in the
\FCvar/locks\F[]
directory configured under wherever Samba was configured to install itself\&.
.RE
.SH "SIGNALS"
.PP
To shut down an
\FCnmbd\F[]
process it is recommended that SIGKILL (\-9)
\fINOT\fR
be used, except as a last resort, as this may leave the name database in an inconsistent state\&. The correct way to terminate
\FCnmbd\F[]
is to send it a SIGTERM (\-15) signal and wait for it to die on its own\&.
.PP
\FCnmbd\F[]
will accept SIGHUP, which will cause it to dump out its namelists into the file
\FCnamelist\&.debug \F[]
in the
\FC/usr/local/samba/var/locks\F[]
directory (or the
\FCvar/locks\F[]
directory configured under wherever Samba was configured to install itself)\&. This will also cause
\FCnmbd\F[]
to dump out its server database in the
\FClog\&.nmb\F[]
file\&.
.PP
The debug log level of nmbd may be raised or lowered using
\fBsmbcontrol\fR(1)
(SIGUSR[1|2] signals are no longer used since Samba 2\&.2)\&. This is to allow transient problems to be diagnosed, whilst still running at a normally low log level\&.
.SH "VERSION"
.PP
This man page is correct for version 3 of the Samba suite\&.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.PP

\fBinetd\fR(8),
\fBsmbd\fR(8),
\fBsmb.conf\fR(5),
\fBsmbclient\fR(1),
\fBtestparm\fR(1),
\fBtestprns\fR(1), and the Internet RFC\'s
\FCrfc1001\&.txt\F[],
\FCrfc1002\&.txt\F[]\&. In addition the CIFS (formerly SMB) specification is available as a link from the Web page
http://samba\&.org/cifs/\&.
.SH "AUTHOR"
.PP
The original Samba software and related utilities were created by Andrew Tridgell\&. Samba is now developed by the Samba Team as an Open Source project similar to the way the Linux kernel is developed\&.
.PP
The original Samba man pages were written by Karl Auer\&. The man page sources were converted to YODL format (another excellent piece of Open Source software, available at
ftp://ftp\&.icce\&.rug\&.nl/pub/unix/) and updated for the Samba 2\&.0 release by Jeremy Allison\&. The conversion to DocBook for Samba 2\&.2 was done by Gerald Carter\&. The conversion to DocBook XML 4\&.2 for Samba 3\&.0 was done by Alexander Bokovoy\&.