[Samba] Home Lan computer browser(s)

[John H Terpstra]

On Thursday 12 June 2008 13:49:48 Chris Smith wrote:
> On Thursday 12 June 2008, Charlie wrote:
> > As I understand it, samba by default announces itself as an NT4.9
> > server on the network.
>
> Yes, according to man smb.conf.
>
> > Hopefully somebody will correct me if I'm wrong; I haven't actually
> > examined the source code.  But I think you have to set "announce
> > version = 5.9" if you really want to always win browser elections.
>
> The man page also indicates not to change the default of 4.9 except for
> a special case to appear downlevel (not uplevel). I'm not sure your
> assumption is correct and look for clarification as well.

I believe Charlie is correct.  The best way to find out what the default value 
is can be done by executing:

	testparm -sv | grep "announce version"

you will get the following output:

	announce version = 4.9

I have been slack in not updating the man page and the default value.  What 
has held me back from changing it is where you have NT4 PDC or BDC configs it 
should not be changed.  I have seen an NT4 network where setting this to 5.0 
or higher caused some network admin tools to break.  Since there are not many 
NT4 domains left it may make sense to bump this value up a notch.

Some time soon we should increase the default value to something between 5.0 
and 5.9.

I would like to hear feedback from anyone who is willing to experiment with 
this value and would like to know if there are any negative consequnces to 
setting it to a higher value.

- John T.