[Samba] Can connect directly, but not browse samba server from Windows Workgroup network

[Konstantin Gredeskoul]

Dear Samba gurus,

I have a Fedora 8 linux server, running samba 3.0.28a-0.fc8.  I am
doing the simplest thing of all - exposing a public read-only share
within MS Workgroup environment. My server has a fixed local IP
address (192.168.1.200) and it's on the same subnet as the rest of the
machines.  The server and machines are connected to a 24 port CISCO
switch.

My problem is that I can connect to my samba share from any windows
computer, by typing it's IP address: \\192.168.1.200\share - and this
works perfectly.

But I do not see my samba server when I browser the workgroup from a
windows machine.  I would like to set it up so that the users don't
need to type the IP address when they connect, and rather see the
server in their network neighborhood.  But no matter what I do, I can
not see the server listed.

Here's my /etc/samba/smb.conf:

[global]
       security = share
       workgroup = MYGROUP
       server string = Samba Server
       netbios name = MYSERVER
       comment = My Server
       dns proxy = no
       load printers = no

[share]
       path = /data
       read only = Yes
       browseable = Yes
       public = Yes
       guest ok = yes

The samba server does not show up in the "nmblookup" either, but all
other machines do:

> nmblookup MYGROUP
querying MYGROUP on 192.168.1.255
192.168.1.118 MYGROUP <00>
192.168.1.107 MYGROUP <00>
192.168.1.101 MYGROUP <00>
192.168.1.104 MYGROUP <00>
192.168.1.105 MYGROUP <00>
192.168.1.112 MYGROUP <00>
192.168.1.109 MYGROUP <00>
192.168.1.111 MYGROUP <00>
192.168.1.110 MYGROUP <00>
192.168.1.117 MYGROUP <00>
192.168.1.115 MYGROUP <00>
192.168.1.106 MYGROUP <00>

Also, running smbclient against my server shows expected output:

[deploy at arderon tmp]$ smbclient -L 192.168.1.200
Password:
Domain=[MYGROUP] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 3.0.28a-0.fc8]

       Sharename       Type      Comment
       ---------       ----      -------
       Share      Disk      My Server
       IPC$            IPC       IPC Service (Samba Server)
Domain=[MYGROUP] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 3.0.28a-0.fc8]

       Server               Comment
       ---------            -------
       MYSEVER           My Server

       Workgroup            Master
       ---------            -------
       MYGROUP            MYSERVER
       MYSERVER           KASUGAI


Any idea what could be happening here? Is there some UDP blocking going on?

-- 
Thanks
Konstantin

blog » http://tektastic.com
music » http://polygroovers.com
gtalk » kigster