%L, subnets and dns resolution Xmas problem

[laurent.menu at temic.fr]

Hi,

Using the %L macro in smb.conf is for me *very* usefull, I can setup as
many logical servers as I need and that's great : no need for new machines,
I can switch logical servers back and forth, it's a kind of System
Administrator dream :-)

*But* I've discovered a problem with the %L macro in a subnetted
environment :

- "hermes" is a Samba 1.9.18p10 server on a hpux 10.20 and is configured
like this:
     netbios name = hermes
     netbios aliases = tet59 tet30 mc752b tet58 am740b td446

Please  note :  tet59, tet30, mc752b, tet58, am740b and td446 are also
hermes aliases in the DNS. I call thos aliases "fake servers".

- I have a service like this :
     [public]
     ;fakeserver =  tet59 tet30 mc752b tet58 am740b td446
        comment = %L Public Zone
        path = /home/dos/%L/public
        public = yes
        writeable =yes
        create mask = 664
        directory mask = 775
that means I have a different "common" service for each fake server. I list
the corresponding shared disks below :
     \\tet59\public
     \\tet58\public
     \\tet30\public
     \\td446\public
     \\am740b\public
     \\mc752b\public
     \\hermes\public

- it works from win95 and NT4-SP3 as far as the names are resolved by
broadcast, the pc and the server are on the same subnet

- but if the client is in another subnet and the name (ie : tet59) is then
resolved by DNS, wether you chose \\tet59\public, \\tet58\public,
\\tet30\public, \\td446\public, \\am740b\public, \\mc752b\public or
\\hermes\public, it connects to \\hermes\public.


=====>  Actually it seems the %L macro is mapped to the real netbios
=====> name of the machine defined by smb.conf "netbios name ="
=====> configuration directive when the server is called from a pc
=====> resolving the server name with DNS. :-(


- using for example "smbclient -L tet59" from a samba box on a different
subnet works correctly (shows "tet59 Common Zone" as the service comment)

Please note I can't (and don't want to ;-) use WINS nor configure a lmhosts
table on the pc's

I did not join any log as there are no error status in them @ debug level 3.
Please tell me if you need some more information.


Another (less important :-) question : is there a maximum number of netbios
aliases for a samba server ?


Thank you for your help and merry christmas :-)


Laurent Menu