[Samba] Linux update knobbles Samba

[John H Terpstra]

Dave,

You got my attention because of your reply regarding a brush-off someone else 
received.  I respect that you spoke up. It does all of us good to be reminded 
that we receive requests from all an sundry users.

On Tuesday 01 July 2008 21:37:31 David Outteridge wrote:
> Hello People,
>
> I do hope that this is not a really old problem that everyone is
> totally sick of hearing; it is a pain in the neck problem for me right
> now.  I am just a Samba user.  Help will be much appreciated 8-)
>
> I have been using Mandriva 2007 Linux and have installed Mandriva 2008;
> Samba has stopped working as described below.  What is wrong?

Any number of things could be at fault.

> * The hardware is a local LAN controlled by an Actiontec DSL gateway
> The computers on the LAN are LinuxServer (192.168.0.3) and XPHomeClient
> (192.168.0.99)

OK - info noted.

> * XPHomeClient has not been altered from its Mandriva 2007 configuration
> except that the IP address, 192.168.0.3, of LinuxServer has been put into
> WINS.  This enables me to refer to LinuxServer by name on XPHomeClient.

What do you mean by WINS? What is your understanding of what WINS is and does?

Just what you have said above suggests that your comprehension of WINS is 
mistaken.  WINS is the Windows Internet Name Service.  It is a service that 
needs to be run on a server in order to provide name resolution for NetBIOS 
names.  

Windows machines have NetBIOS names _IF_ they are configured to use NetBIOS 
over TCP/IP.  Fortunately, that is the default in most situations - but not 
all!

NetBIOS names can be resolved to an IP address via broadcast protocols that 
are part of the NetBIOS over TCP/IP protocols implementation.  WINS is simply 
a means of avoiding much UDP-based broadcast traffic.

So how did you put the IP address of the LinuxServer into WINS? Where did you 
do this?

I think that what you have said is that you added the following to your 
smb.conf file [globals] section:

	wins server = 192.168.0.3

If that is correct, you may just have broken your NetBIOS name resolution 
process a little, in that now the Samba server will try to send directed name 
resolution requests to the address 192.168.0.3 over UDP - calls that will 
have to time out if a WINS server does not exist at that address.

If you want Samba to be your WINS server, the correct entry is:
	
	wins support = Yes

_AND_  your Windows client TCP/IP stack needs to be configured to use the WINS 
server.  This may help to make things work better - if that addresses the 
core problem - and that has not yet been established.

> * Samba on LinuxServer appears to be running well, as described below.
> However, it appears that either samba or the OS is badly configured.
>
> ** testparm is error-free and shows the shares expected

That is a good start.

> ** Commands smbclient -L LinuxServer and smbclient -L XPHomeClient both
> show the shares expected.  smbclient -L XPHomeClient does not show a
> workgroup.

OK. The fact that you can query each system is a good sign.  What is the 
workgroup set to on the Windows XP Home system?  You can find out by rigth 
clicking on the "My Computer" Icon, then click on "Properties", then click 
on "Computer Name" (or something like it - this is Windows stuff, nothing to 
do with Samba).

> ** nmblookup -M CommonWorkgroup
> gets a positve response from XPHomeClient and the workgroup is found.  This
> appears to be correct, CommonWorkgroup is MSHOME.

Did you really use the name "CommonWorkgroup"? Hmmm, confusing!

> ** Commands smbclient LinuxServer/alistedshare and smbclient
> XPHomeClient/alistedshare both allow access to the referent shares, and
> put, get, and rm all work.  In other words, I can transfer files to and
> from XPHomeClient from LinuxServer.

It seems you have something working.

> * Now it goes wrong.
> First, I cannot access LinuxServer from XPHomeClient
>
> ** net view \\LinuxServer produces the message
> System error 53 has occurred.  The network path was not found.  So I cannot
> access LinuxServer from XPHomeClient at all.

And that simply means that the Windows system could not resolve the 
name "LinuxServer" to an IP Address.  What happens if you type in: 
\\192.168.0.3 ?

> ** Second, double-clicking on the Samba Browser button in Konqueror
> does not do anything; this would bring up information under Mandriva 2007. 

This is a Mandriva question - not a Samba issue.

> So I cannot access LinuxServer from the Konqueror browser running on
> LinuxServer. Do I need to suppress the password request that I get with
> smbclient?  How do I do that?

Question does not make sense!  But it does appear that you have a name 
resolution problem.  In other words, things are a bit broken.

Did you consider reading any of the documentation on the Samba web site?  The 
book, Samba3-ByExample, chapter 1 might have led you to a working 
installation without the frustration you clearly have right now.  You know, I 
spent months writing that book to help newcomers.

> * Other Things
>
> ** log.nmbd is showing a set of errors
> typified by the those below.  These appear to be coming from nmbd every ten
> minutes, rather than directly from anything that I do.  I established this
> by tailing log.nmbd.

The nmbd process is the NetBIOS name resolution program.  It does the 
UDP-based broadcast handling and it will operate as a WINS server when 
appropriately configured.

The error messages below are trying to tell you that it can not find a WINS 
server.  I wonder why?

> [2008/07/01 12:51:08, 0]
> nmbd/nmbd_incomingrequests.c:process_name_refresh_request(172)
> process_name_refresh_request: unicast name registration request received
> for name XPHomeClient<20> from IP 192.168.0.99 on subnet UNICAST_SUBNET.
> [2008/07/01 12:51:08, 0]
> nmbd/nmbd_incomingrequests.c:process_name_refresh_request(173) Error -
> should be sent to WINS server
> [2008/07/01 12:51:08, 0]
> nmbd/nmbd_incomingrequests.c:process_name_refresh_request(172)
> process_name_refresh_request: unicast name registration request received
> for name XPHomeClient<00> from IP 192.168.0.99 on subnet UNICAST_SUBNET.
> [2008/07/01 12:51:08, 0]
> nmbd/nmbd_incomingrequests.c:process_name_refresh_request(173) Error -
> should be sent to WINS server
> [2008/07/01 12:51:08, 0]
> nmbd/nmbd_incomingrequests.c:process_name_refresh_request(172)
> process_name_refresh_request: unicast name registration request received
> for name MSHOME<00> from IP 192.168.0.99 on subnet UNICAST_SUBNET.
> [2008/07/01 12:51:08, 0]
> nmbd/nmbd_incomingrequests.c:process_name_refresh_request(173) Error -
> should be sent to WINS server
>
> ** Using configuration options
> wins support = yes --- does not do anything that I can detect.

It helps to read the documentation.  It is documented.

> wins server = 192.168.0.99 --- does not do anything to the displayed output
> that I can detect; however, it slows down the response enormously - from
> instant to several seconds.

Ditto the documentation.

> ** /etc/hosts
> contains LinuxServer and XPHomeClient
>
> ** /etc/hosts.allow
> putting the IP address of XPHomeClient in this file does not do anything
> that I can detect.  net view \\LinuxServer does not work either way.

There are not enought hours in the day for all those who regularly respond on 
this list to help everyone that posts a request for help over their hurdles.  
The documentation was written with the intent that it would function as a 
first port of call.

http://www.samba.org/samba/docs/Samba3-HOWTO.pdf
http://www.samba.org/samba/docs/Samba3-ByExample.pdf

Both books are available from your nearest book store if you need them in 
printed form. They are also in HTML form on the web site.

If you still have a problem, email me directly - I'll help you further.

Cheers,
John T.

Author:
The Official Samba-3 HOWTO & Reference Guide, 2 Ed., ISBN: 0131882228
Samba-3 by Example, 2 Ed., ISBN: 0131882221X