[Samba] OK. there I am again!

[John Drescher]

For most of these answers the following links have a lot of information:
http://samba.org/samba/docs/man/Samba-HOWTO-Collection/NetworkBrowsing.html#id349177
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/systems/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.aix.fastconnect/doc/fastcon/winnetcon.htm
http://www.samba.org/cifs/docs/what-is-smb.html
http://us3.samba.org/samba/docs/man/Samba-Guide/primer.html#id386486

> Third: I read quite a lot about how to set up various servers, but not too
> many details on exactly what the SMB protocols do. I read something about
> elections, and I think that part is fairly clear to me, but I am quite
> curious about what several parties in the game are really doing. For
> instance, when a server comes up, how does the rest of the world know?

There are two ways that I know NetBIOS and WINS. The first way
(NetBIOS) is that the client broadcasts its name and ip address to the
broadcast address on the network subnet. The master browser on that
subnet listens for these broadcasts and creates a list of the machines
and then it replies to the client its ip adress and a second and
smaller list of the machines who contain the browse lists. So when a
client wants the browse list it will contact the master browser if it
can or one of the other backup browsers if the master does not answer.

> I
> commented out the remote announce line, so I guess that is not part of the
> mechanism.
This is only for networks with more than one subnet.

> Anyway, if the server is initially the only node in the network,
> this will not be significant anyway. If a client comes up, what happens?
>  Does
> it broadcast its presence throughout the network?
Yes.

> Do all servers respond?
No. Only the master browser.

> I
> also read something about browser nodes, but how are they established?
These other machines that are not the master browser that also hold a
copy of the browse list. Elections rule which machines will be
involved.

> How do
> they announce their presence?
Send a packet to the broadcast address.

> In general: is there any detail documentation on MS SMB protocols, not just
> the message format but rather the exact mechanisms? They may be described
> somewhere, but I haven't discovered them yet...
>
There is a lot of info scattered around the internet on this but for a
very well written single guide that has all the info you are looking
for I am not sure.

> I have more questions, but these are the most pressing ones at the moment.
> Thanks a lot in advance for any clues.
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-- 
John M. Drescher