Starting nmbd/smbd - to script or to use InetD

Anders C. Thorsen anders at aae.wisc.edu
Wed Dec 6 22:10:34 GMT 2000


On Thu, Dec 07, 2000 at 11:05:01AM +0100, Ulf Bertilsson wrote:
> > > What is the better ?
> > >
> > > Starting Nmbd/Smbd from InetD or by script ?
> > >
> > > Do this differ on platforms/Stacks ?
> > >
> > Starting from inetd would add an overhead any time a new connection is
> > made, I think, as smbd need to perform the whole startup 
> > procedure before
> > serving the request!
> 
> What service should be started first ?, and will Samba scale better if using
> InetD ?
> Sorry for posting this here, but I'm looking for the technical perpective on
> it.


it does _not_ make sense to run nmbd from inetd, as this takes care of 
browsing (i.e. sends data out when needed, etc).

I know nmbd is designed to be used as both, but inetd is rarely used [for 2.0.0+ versions atleast].

the nmbd man page also suggests that this is not reccomended.

Note: In my perspective is scales horrible in environments where samba
gets used a bit to spawn nmbd from inetd.


how to spawn smbd is more of a question of how your system works. I.e. with mainly permanent connections, inetd might work well, as the only times one will
connect is when opening the sharing (loggin in, or mapping) and when reconnectiong.


If you have lots of sharings which users write/read from using UNC notation,
I'd _strongly_ reccomend not using inetd mode, as smbd as standalone does
not perform too well on connections, inetd mode will be worse.

My recommendation is ofcourse to spawn nmbd -D and smbd -D as daemons,
in that order on boot.

-- 

--Anders

Anders C. Thorsen
PGP Key: http://www.aae.wisc.edu/~anders/anders-pgp.asc

----------------------------------------
Only two things are infinite.
The universe and human stupidity.
Although, I am unsure of the former.

Albert Einstein





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