[Samba] rpc_pipe_open_ncalrpc: connect(/run/samba/ncalrpc/EPMAPPER) failed: No such file or directory

[Rowland Penny]

On Sun, 1 Oct 2023 08:41:01 +0300
Michael Tokarev via samba <samba at lists.samba.org> wrote:

> This question has already been asked in the past, but there was
> no answer.
> 
> The above message is logged quite often
> in /var/log/samba/log.samba-dcerpcd. This is a stand-alone anonymous
> read-only server.
> 
> Is it something to worry about?  It smells like samba isn't working
> properly.

This could be something as simple as the directory being created as
'/run/samba/ncalrpc/np/epmapper' and being searched for as
'/run/samba/ncalrpc/np/EPMAPPER'. Which may or may not matter,
depending on just what is supposed to end up in the 'emapper/EMAPPER'
directory. Interestingly, I have '/run/samba/ncalcrpc/np/emapper' and
'/run/samba/ncalrpc/EPMAPPER', I wonder if I should ?

To me, this sounds like a bug, should the directory be created as
'/run/samba/ncalrpc/np/EPMAPPER' or should it be searched for as
'/run/samba/ncalrpc/np/epmapper' ?

> 
> If yes, how can I fix it?

As a workaround, you could try setting 'log level = 0'.

> 
> If no, how can I stop samba from logging un-interesting messages?
> 
> What dcerpcd is used for to begin with?  I don't remember it running
> before (but iirc it is a new thing in 4.16).

Yes, it was introduced at 4.16.0 by the creation of the samba-dcerpcd
binary, which, if I understand it correctly, was created by removing
parts of the smbd binary and running them as a standalone binary. It
stands for 'Distributed Computing Environment/Remote Procedure Call',
you can find more info here:

http://www.dcerpc.org/

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/openspecs/windows_protocols/ms-rpce/290c38b1-92fe-4229-91e6-4fc376610c15

https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/DCERPC

Rowland