%L, subnets and dns resolution Xmas problem

[Florian G. Pflug]

On Fri, Dec 25, 1998 at 01:55:59AM +1100, laurent.menu at temic.fr wrote:
> 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
> 
Hi

The only solution I see, is to use network aliasing. You'd have to configure
as many virtual interfaces as you want virtual servers. Then you start a
nmbd & smbd for each interface with "interfaces =
<one-of-the-logical-interfaces>". 

                                              Greetings, Florian Pflug