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11 <refentrytitle>nmbd</refentrytitle>
12 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
17 <refname>nmbd</refname>
18 <refpurpose>NetBIOS name server to provide NetBIOS
19 over IP naming services to clients</refpurpose>
23 <cmdsynopsis sepchar=" ">
24 <command moreinfo="none">nmbd</command>
25 <arg rep="norepeat" choice="opt">-D</arg>
26 <arg rep="norepeat" choice="opt">-F</arg>
27 <arg rep="norepeat" choice="opt">-S</arg>
28 <arg rep="norepeat" choice="opt">-a</arg>
29 <arg rep="norepeat" choice="opt">-i</arg>
30 <arg rep="norepeat" choice="opt">-o</arg>
31 <arg rep="norepeat" choice="opt">-h</arg>
32 <arg rep="norepeat" choice="opt">-V</arg>
33 <arg rep="norepeat" choice="opt">-d <debug level></arg>
34 <arg rep="norepeat" choice="opt">-H <lmhosts file></arg>
35 <arg rep="norepeat" choice="opt">-l <log directory></arg>
36 <arg rep="norepeat" choice="opt">-n <primary netbios name></arg>
37 <arg rep="norepeat" choice="opt">-p <port number></arg>
38 <arg rep="norepeat" choice="opt">-s <configuration file></arg>
43 <title>DESCRIPTION</title>
44 <para>This program is part of the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>Samba</refentrytitle>
45 <manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry> suite.</para>
47 <para><command moreinfo="none">nmbd</command> is a server that understands
48 and can reply to NetBIOS over IP name service requests, like
49 those produced by SMB/CIFS clients such as Windows 95/98/ME,
50 Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP and LanManager clients. It also
51 participates in the browsing protocols which make up the
52 Windows "Network Neighborhood" view.</para>
54 <para>SMB/CIFS clients, when they start up, may wish to
55 locate an SMB/CIFS server. That is, they wish to know what
56 IP number a specified host is using.</para>
58 <para>Amongst other services, <command moreinfo="none">nmbd</command> will
59 listen for such requests, and if its own NetBIOS name is
60 specified it will respond with the IP number of the host it
61 is running on. Its "own NetBIOS name" is by
62 default the primary DNS name of the host it is running on,
63 but this can be overridden with the <emphasis>-n</emphasis>
64 option (see OPTIONS below). Thus <command moreinfo="none">nmbd</command> will
65 reply to broadcast queries for its own name(s). Additional
66 names for <command moreinfo="none">nmbd</command> to respond on can be set
67 via parameters in the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smb.conf</refentrytitle>
68 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> configuration file.</para>
70 <para><command moreinfo="none">nmbd</command> can also be used as a WINS
71 (Windows Internet Name Server) server. What this basically means
72 is that it will act as a WINS database server, creating a
73 database from name registration requests that it receives and
74 replying to queries from clients for these names.</para>
76 <para>In addition, <command moreinfo="none">nmbd</command> can act as a WINS
77 proxy, relaying broadcast queries from clients that do
78 not understand how to talk the WINS protocol to a WINS
83 <title>OPTIONS</title>
88 <listitem><para>If specified, this parameter causes
89 <command moreinfo="none">nmbd</command> to operate as a daemon. That is,
90 it detaches itself and runs in the background, fielding
91 requests on the appropriate port. By default, <command moreinfo="none">nmbd</command>
92 will operate as a daemon if launched from a command shell.
93 nmbd can also be operated from the <command moreinfo="none">inetd</command>
94 meta-daemon, although this is not recommended.
100 <listitem><para>If specified, this parameter causes
101 the main <command moreinfo="none">nmbd</command> process to not daemonize,
102 i.e. double-fork and disassociate with the terminal.
103 Child processes are still created as normal to service
104 each connection request, but the main process does not
105 exit. This operation mode is suitable for running
106 <command moreinfo="none">nmbd</command> under process supervisors such
107 as <command moreinfo="none">supervise</command> and <command moreinfo="none">svscan</command>
108 from Daniel J. Bernstein's <command moreinfo="none">daemontools</command>
109 package, or the AIX process monitor.
115 <listitem><para>If specified, this parameter causes
116 <command moreinfo="none">nmbd</command> to log to standard output rather
117 than a file.</para></listitem>
122 <listitem><para>If this parameter is specified it causes the
123 server to run "interactively", not as a daemon, even if the
124 server is executed on the command line of a shell. Setting this
125 parameter negates the implicit daemon mode when run from the
126 command line. <command moreinfo="none">nmbd</command> also logs to standard
127 output, as if the <constant>-S</constant> parameter had been
128 given. </para></listitem>
133 <term>-h|--help</term>
134 <listitem><para>Print a summary of command line options.
139 <term>-H <filename></term>
140 <listitem><para>NetBIOS lmhosts file. The lmhosts
141 file is a list of NetBIOS names to IP addresses that
142 is loaded by the nmbd server and used via the name
143 resolution mechanism <indexterm><primary>name resolve order</primary></indexterm><parameter moreinfo="none">name resolve order</parameter> described in <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smb.conf</refentrytitle>
144 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> to resolve any
145 NetBIOS name queries needed by the server. Note
146 that the contents of this file are <emphasis>NOT</emphasis>
147 used by <command moreinfo="none">nmbd</command> to answer any name queries.
148 Adding a line to this file affects name NetBIOS resolution
149 from this host <emphasis>ONLY</emphasis>.</para>
151 <para>The default path to this file is compiled into
152 Samba as part of the build process. Common defaults
153 are <filename moreinfo="none">/usr/local/samba/lib/lmhosts</filename>,
154 <filename moreinfo="none">/usr/samba/lib/lmhosts</filename> or
155 <filename moreinfo="none">/etc/samba/lmhosts</filename>. See the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>lmhosts</refentrytitle>
156 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> man page for details on the contents of this file.</para></listitem>
163 <listitem><para>Prints the version number for
164 <command moreinfo="none">smbd</command>.</para></listitem>
168 <term>-s <configuration file></term>
169 <listitem><para>The file specified contains the
170 configuration details required by the server. The
171 information in this file includes server-specific
172 information such as what printcap file to use, as well
173 as descriptions of all the services that the server is
174 to provide. See <filename moreinfo="none">smb.conf</filename> for more information.
175 The default configuration file name is determined at
176 compile time.</para></listitem>
180 <term>-d|--debug=debuglevel</term>
182 <para><replaceable>debuglevel</replaceable> is an integer
183 from 0 to 10. The default value if this parameter is
184 not specified is zero.</para>
186 <para>The higher this value, the more detail will be
187 logged to the log files about the activities of the
188 server. At level 0, only critical errors and serious
189 warnings will be logged. Level 1 is a reasonable level for
190 day to day running - it generates a small amount of
191 information about operations carried out.</para>
193 <para>Levels above 1 will generate considerable
194 amounts of log data, and should only be used when
195 investigating a problem. Levels above 3 are designed for
196 use only by developers and generate HUGE amounts of log
197 data, most of which is extremely cryptic.</para>
199 <para>Note that specifying this parameter here will
200 override the <indexterm><primary>log level</primary></indexterm><parameter moreinfo="none">log level</parameter> parameter
201 in the <filename moreinfo="none">smb.conf</filename> file.</para>
206 <term>-l|--logfile=logbasename</term>
207 <listitem><para>File name for log/debug files. The extension
208 <constant>".client"</constant> will be appended. The log file is
209 never removed by the client.
215 <term>-p <UDP port number></term>
216 <listitem><para>UDP port number is a positive integer value.
217 This option changes the default UDP port number (normally 137)
218 that <command moreinfo="none">nmbd</command> responds to name queries on. Don't
219 use this option unless you are an expert, in which case you
220 won't need help!</para></listitem>
231 <term><filename moreinfo="none">/etc/inetd.conf</filename></term>
232 <listitem><para>If the server is to be run by the
233 <command moreinfo="none">inetd</command> meta-daemon, this file
234 must contain suitable startup information for the
240 <term><filename moreinfo="none">/etc/rc</filename></term>
241 <listitem><para>or whatever initialization script your
244 <para>If running the server as a daemon at startup,
245 this file will need to contain an appropriate startup
246 sequence for the server.</para></listitem>
250 <term><filename moreinfo="none">/etc/services</filename></term>
251 <listitem><para>If running the server via the
252 meta-daemon <command moreinfo="none">inetd</command>, this file
253 must contain a mapping of service name (e.g., netbios-ssn)
254 to service port (e.g., 139) and protocol type (e.g., tcp).
259 <term><filename moreinfo="none">/usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf</filename></term>
260 <listitem><para>This is the default location of
261 the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smb.conf</refentrytitle>
262 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> server
263 configuration file. Other common places that systems
264 install this file are <filename moreinfo="none">/usr/samba/lib/smb.conf</filename>
265 and <filename moreinfo="none">/etc/samba/smb.conf</filename>.</para>
267 <para>When run as a WINS server (see the
268 <indexterm><primary>wins support</primary></indexterm><parameter moreinfo="none">wins support</parameter>
269 parameter in the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smb.conf</refentrytitle>
270 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> man page),
271 <command moreinfo="none">nmbd</command>
272 will store the WINS database in the file <filename moreinfo="none">wins.dat</filename>
273 in the <filename moreinfo="none">var/locks</filename> directory configured under
274 wherever Samba was configured to install itself.</para>
276 <para>If <command moreinfo="none">nmbd</command> is acting as a <emphasis>
277 browse master</emphasis> (see the <indexterm><primary>local master</primary></indexterm><parameter moreinfo="none">local master</parameter>
278 parameter in the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smb.conf</refentrytitle>
279 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> man page, <command moreinfo="none">nmbd</command>
280 will store the browsing database in the file <filename moreinfo="none">browse.dat
281 </filename> in the <filename moreinfo="none">var/locks</filename> directory
282 configured under wherever Samba was configured to install itself.
289 <title>SIGNALS</title>
291 <para>To shut down an <command moreinfo="none">nmbd</command> process it is recommended
292 that SIGKILL (-9) <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> be used, except as a last
293 resort, as this may leave the name database in an inconsistent state.
294 The correct way to terminate <command moreinfo="none">nmbd</command> is to send it
295 a SIGTERM (-15) signal and wait for it to die on its own.</para>
297 <para><command moreinfo="none">nmbd</command> will accept SIGHUP, which will cause
298 it to dump out its namelists into the file <filename moreinfo="none">namelist.debug
299 </filename> in the <filename moreinfo="none">/usr/local/samba/var/locks</filename>
300 directory (or the <filename moreinfo="none">var/locks</filename> directory configured
301 under wherever Samba was configured to install itself). This will also
302 cause <command moreinfo="none">nmbd</command> to dump out its server database in
303 the <filename moreinfo="none">log.nmb</filename> file.</para>
305 <para>The debug log level of nmbd may be raised or lowered
306 using <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smbcontrol</refentrytitle>
307 <manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> (SIGUSR[1|2] signals
308 are no longer used since Samba 2.2). This is to allow
309 transient problems to be diagnosed, whilst still running
310 at a normally low log level.</para>
315 <title>VERSION</title>
317 <para>This man page is correct for version 3.0 of
318 the Samba suite.</para>
322 <title>SEE ALSO</title>
324 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>inetd</refentrytitle>
325 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>, <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smbd</refentrytitle>
326 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>, <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smb.conf</refentrytitle>
327 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>, <citerefentry><refentrytitle>smbclient</refentrytitle>
328 <manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>, <citerefentry><refentrytitle>testparm</refentrytitle>
329 <manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>, <citerefentry><refentrytitle>testprns</refentrytitle>
330 <manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>, and the Internet
331 RFC's <filename moreinfo="none">rfc1001.txt</filename>, <filename moreinfo="none">rfc1002.txt</filename>.
332 In addition the CIFS (formerly SMB) specification is available
333 as a link from the Web page <ulink url="http://samba.org/cifs/">
334 http://samba.org/cifs/</ulink>.</para>
338 <title>AUTHOR</title>
340 <para>The original Samba software and related utilities
341 were created by Andrew Tridgell. Samba is now developed
342 by the Samba Team as an Open Source project similar
343 to the way the Linux kernel is developed.</para>
345 <para>The original Samba man pages were written by Karl Auer.
346 The man page sources were converted to YODL format (another
347 excellent piece of Open Source software, available at <ulink url="ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/">
348 ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/</ulink>) and updated for the Samba 2.0
349 release by Jeremy Allison. The conversion to DocBook for
350 Samba 2.2 was done by Gerald Carter. The conversion to DocBook
351 XML 4.2 for Samba 3.0 was done by Alexander Bokovoy.</para>