Frequently Asked Questions about the SAMBA Suite (FAQ version 1.9.15a, Samba version 1.09.15) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This FAQ was originally prepared by Karl Auer (Karl.Auer@anu.edu.au) and is currently maintained by Paul Blackman (ictinus@lake.canberra.edu.au). As Karl originally said, 'this FAQ was prepared with lots of help from numerous net.helpers', and that's the way I'd like to keep it. So if you find anything that you think should be in here don't hesitate to contact me. Thanks to Karl for the work he's done, and continuing thanks to Andrew Tridgell for developing Samba. Note: This FAQ is (and probably always will be) under construction. Some sections exist only as optimistic entries in the Contents page. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents * SECTION ONE: General information All about Samba - what it is, how to get it, related sources of information. * SECTION TWO: Compiling and installing Samba on a Unix host Common problems that arise when building and installing Samba under Unix. * SECTION THREE: Common client problems Common problems that arise when trying to communicate from a client computer to a Samba server. All problems which have symptoms you see at the client end will be in this section. * SECTION FOUR: Specific client problems This section covers problems that are specific to certain clients, such as Windows for Workgroups or Windows NT. Please check Section Three first! * SECTION FIVE: Specific client application problems This section covers problems that are specific to certain products, such as Windows for Workgroups or Windows NT. Please check Sections Three and Four first! * SECTION SIX: Miscellaneous All the questions that aren't classifiable into any other section. =============================================================================== SECTION ONE: General information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * 1: What is Samba? Samba is a suite of programs which work together to allow clients to access to a server's filespace and printers via the SMB (Session Message Block) protocol. Initially written for Unix, Samba now also runs on Netware, OS/2 and AmigaDOS. In practice, this means that you can redirect disks and printers to Unix disks and printers from Lan Manager clients, Windows for Workgroups 3.11 clients, Windows NT clients, Linux clients and OS/2 clients. There is also a generic Unix client program supplied as part of the suite which allows Unix users to use an ftp-like interface to access filespace and printers on any other SMB servers. This gives the capability for these operating systems to behave much like a LAN Server or Windows NT Server machine, only with added functionality and flexibility designed to make life easier for administrators. The components of the suite are (in summary): * smbd, the SMB server. This handles actual connections from clients, doing all the file, permission and username work * nmbd, the Netbios name server, which helps clients locate servers, doing the browsing work and managing domains as this capability is being built into Samba * smbclient, the Unix-hosted client program * smbrun, a little 'glue' program to help the server run external programs * testprns, a program to test server access to printers * testparms, a program to test the Samba configuration file for correctness * smb.conf, the Samba configuration file * smbprint, a sample script to allow a Unix host to use smbclient to print to an SMB server * documentation! DON'T neglect to read it - you will save a great deal of time! The suite is supplied with full source (of course!) and is GPLed. The primary creator of the Samba suite is Andrew Tridgell. Later versions incorporate much effort by many net.helpers. The man pages and this FAQ were originally written by Karl Auer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * 2: What is the current version of Samba? At time of writing, the current version was 1.9.15. If you want to be sure check the bottom of the change-log file. (ftp://samba.anu.edu.au/pub/samba/alpha/change-log) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * 3: Where can I get it? The Samba suite is available via anonymous ftp from samba.anu.edu.au. The latest and greatest versions of the suite are in the directory: /pub/samba/ Development (read "alpha") versions, which are NOT necessarily stable and which do NOT necessarily have accurate documentation, are available in the directory: /pub/samba/alpha Note that binaries are NOT included in any of the above. Samba is distributed ONLY in source form, though binaries may be available from other sites. Recent versions of some Linux distributions, for example, do contain Samba binaries for that platform. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * 4: What platforms are supported? Many different platforms have run Samba successfully. The platforms most widely used and thus best tested are Linux and SunOS. At time of writing, the Makefile claimed support for: * SunOS * Linux with shadow passwords * Linux without shadow passwords * SOLARIS * SOLARIS 2.2 and above (aka SunOS 5) * SVR4 * ULTRIX * OSF1 (alpha only) * OSF1 with NIS and Fast Crypt (alpha only) * OSF1 V2.0 Enhanced Security (alpha only) * AIX * BSDI * NetBSD * NetBSD 1.0 * SEQUENT * HP-UX * SGI * SGI IRIX 4.x.x * SGI IRIX 5.x.x * FreeBSD * NeXT 3.2 and above * NeXT OS 2.x * NeXT OS 3.0 * ISC SVR3V4 (POSIX mode) * ISC SVR3V4 (iBCS2 mode) * A/UX 3.0 * SCO with shadow passwords. * SCO with shadow passwords, without YP. * SCO with TCB passwords * SCO 3.2v2 (ODT 1.1) with TCP passwords * intergraph * DGUX * Apollo Domain/OS sr10.3 (BSD4.3) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * 5: How can I find out more about Samba? There are two mailing lists devoted to discussion of Samba-related matters. There is also the newsgroup, comp.protocols.smb, which has a great deal of discussion on Samba. There is also a WWW site 'SAMBA Web Pages' at http://samba.canberra.edu.au/pub/samba/samba.html, under which there is a comprehensive survey of Samba users. Another useful resource is the hypertext archive of the Samba mailing list. Send email to listproc@anu.edu.au. Make sure the subject line is blank, and include the following two lines in the body of the message: subscribe samba Firstname Lastname subscribe samba-announce Firstname Lastname Obviously you should substitute YOUR first name for "Firstname" and YOUR last name for "Lastname"! Try not to send any signature stuff, it sometimes confuses the list processor. The samba list is a digest list - every eight hours or so it regurgitates a single message containing all the messages that have been received by the list since the last time and sends a copy of this message to all subscribers. If you stop being interested in Samba, please send another email to listproc@anu.edu.au. Make sure the subject line is blank, and include the following two lines in the body of the message: unsubscribe samba unsubscribe samba-announce The From: line in your message MUST be the same address you used when you subscribed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * 6: Something's gone wrong - what should I do? [#] *** IMPORTANT! *** [#] DO NOT post messages on mailing lists or in newsgroups until you have carried out the first three steps given here! Firstly, see if there are any likely looking entries in this FAQ! If you have just installed Samba, have you run through the checklist in DIAGNOSIS.txt? It can save you a lot of time and effort. Secondly, read the man pages for smbd, nmbd and smb.conf, looking for topics that relate to what you are trying to do. Thirdly, if there is no obvious solution to hand, try to get a look at the log files for smbd and/or nmbd for the period during which you were having problems. You may need to reconfigure the servers to provide more extensive debugging information - usually level 2 or level 3 provide ample debugging info. Inspect these logs closely, looking particularly for the string "Error:". Fourthly, if you still haven't got anywhere, ask the mailing list or newsgroup. In general nobody minds answering questions provided you have followed the preceding steps. It might be a good idea to scan the archives of the mailing list, which are available through the Samba web site described in the previous section. If you successfully solve a problem, please mail the FAQ maintainer a succinct description of the symptom, the problem and the solution, so I can incorporate it in the next version. If you make changes to the source code, _please_ submit these patches so that everyone else gets the benefit of your work. This is one of the most important aspects to the maintainence of Samba. Send all patches to samba-bugs@samba.anu.edu.au, not Andrew Tridgell or any other individual. =============================================================================== SECTION TWO: Compiling and installing Samba on a Unix host ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =============================================================================== SECTION THREE: Common client problems ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * 1: I can't see the Samba server in any browse lists! *** Until the FAQ can be updated, please check the file: *** ftp://samba.anu.edu.au/pub/samba/BROWSING.txt *** for more information on browsing. If your GUI client does not permit you to select non-browsable servers, you may need to do so on the command line. For example, under Lan Manager you might connect to the above service as disk drive M: thusly: net use M: \\mary\fred The details of how to do this and the specific syntax varies from client to client - check your client's documentation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * 2: Some files that I KNOW are on the server doesn't show up when I view the directories from my client! If you check what files are not showing up, you will note that they are files which contain upper case letters or which are otherwise not DOS-compatible (ie, they are not legal DOS filenames for some reason). The Samba server can be configured either to ignore such files completely, or to present them to the client in "mangled" form. If you are not seeing the files at all, the Samba server has most likely been configured to ignore them. Consult the man page smb.conf(5) for details of how to change this - the parameter you need to set is "mangled names = yes". ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * 3: Some files on the server show up with really wierd filenames when I view the directories from my client! If you check what files are showing up wierd, you will note that they are files which contain upper case letters or which are otherwise not DOS-compatible (ie, they are not legal DOS filenames for some reason). The Samba server can be configured either to ignore such files completely, or to present them to the client in "mangled" form. If you are seeing strange file names, they are most likely "mangled". If you would prefer to have such files ignored rather than presented in "mangled" form, consult the man page smb.conf(5) for details of how to change the server configuration - the parameter you need to set is "mangled names = no". ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * 4: My client reports "cannot locate specified computer" or similar. This indicates one of three things: You supplied an incorrect server name, the underlying TCP/IP layer is not working correctly, or the name you specified cannot be resolved. After carefully checking that the name you typed is the name you should have typed, try doing things like pinging a host or telnetting to somewhere on your network to see if TCP/IP is functioning OK. If it is, the problem is most likely name resolution. If your client has a facility to do so, hardcode a mapping between the hosts IP and the name you want to use. For example, with Man Manager or Windows for Workgroups you would put a suitable entry in the file LMHOSTS. If this works, the problem is in the communication between your client and the netbios name server. If it does not work, then there is something fundamental wrong with your naming and the solution is beyond the scope of this document. If you do not have any server on your subnet supplying netbios name resolution, hardcoded mappings are your only option. If you DO have a netbios name server running (such as the Samba suite's nmbd program), the problem probably lies in the way it is set up. Refer to Section Two of this FAQ for more ideas. By the way, remember to REMOVE the hardcoded mapping before further tests :-) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * 5: My client reports "cannot locate specified share name" or similar. This message indicates that your client CAN locate the specified server, which is a good start, but that it cannot find a service of the name you gave. The first step is to check the exact name of the service you are trying to connect to (consult your system administrator). Assuming it exists and you specified it correctly (read your client's doco on how to specify a service name correctly), read on: * Many clients cannot accept or use service names longer than eight characters. * Many clients cannot accept or use service names containing spaces. * Some servers (not Samba though) are case sensitive with service names. * Some clients force service names into upper case. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * 6: My client reports "cannot find domain controller", "cannot log on to the network" or similar. Nothing is wrong - Samba does not implement the primary domain name controller stuff for several reasons, including the fact that the whole concept of a primary domain controller and "logging in to a network" doesn't fit well with clients possibly running on multiuser machines (such as users of smbclient under Unix). Having said that, several developers are working hard on building it in to the next major version of Samba. If you can contribute, send a message to samba-bugs! Seeing this message should not affect your ability to mount redirected disks and printers, which is really what all this is about. For many clients (including Windows for Workgroups and Lan Manager), setting the domain to STANDALONE at least gets rid of the message. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * 7: Printing doesn't work :-( Make sure that the specified print command for the service you are connecting to is correct and that it has a fully-qualified path (eg., use "/usr/bin/lpr" rather than just "lpr"). Make sure that the spool directory specified for the service is writable by the user connected to the service. In particular the user "nobody" often has problems with printing, even if it worked with an earlier version of Samba. Try creating another guest user other than "nobody". Make sure that the user specified in the service is permitted to use the printer. Check the debug log produced by smbd. Search for the printer name and see if the log turns up any clues. Note that error messages to do with a service ipc$ are meaningless - they relate to the way the client attempts to retrieve status information when using the LANMAN1 protocol. If using WfWg then you need to set the default protocol to TCP/IP, not Netbeui. This is a WfWg bug. If using the Lanman1 protocol (the default) then try switching to coreplus. Also not that print status error messages don't mean printing won't work. The print status is received by a different mechanism. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * 8: My programs install on the server OK, but refuse to work properly. There are numerous possible reasons for this, but one MAJOR possibility is that your software uses locking. Make sure you are using Samba 1.6.11 or later. It may also be possible to work around the problem by setting "locking=no" in the Samba configuration file for the service the software is installed on. This should be regarded as a strictly temporary solution. In earlier Samba versions there were some difficulties with the very latest Microsoft products, particularly Excel 5 and Word for Windows 6. These should have all been solved. If not then please let Andrew Tridgell know. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * 9: My "server string" doesn't seem to be recognized, my client reports the default setting, eg. "Samba 1.9.15p4", instead of what I have changed it to in the smb.conf file. You need to use the -C option in nmbd. The "server string" affects what smbd puts out and -C affects what nmbd puts out. In a future version these will probably be combined and -C will be removed, but for now use -C ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * 10: When I attempt to get a listing of available resources from the Samba server, my client reports "This server is not configured to list shared resources". Your guest account is probably invalid for some reason. Samba uses the guest account for browsing in smbd. Check that your guest account is valid. See also 'guest account' in smb.conf man page. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * 11: You get the message "you appear to have a trapdoor uid system" in your logs This can have several causes. It might be because you are using a uid or gid of 65535 or -1. This is a VERY bad idea, and is a big security hole. Check carefully in your /etc/passwd file and make sure that no user has uid 65535 or -1. Especially check the "nobody" user, as many broken systems are shipped with nobody setup with a uid of 65535. It might also mean that your OS has a trapdoor uid/gid system :-) This means that once a process changes effective uid from root to another user it can't go back to root. Unfortunately Samba relies on being able to change effective uid from root to non-root and back again to implement its security policy. If your OS has a trapdoor uid system this won't work, and several things in Samba may break. Less things will break if you use user or server level security instead of the default share level security, but you may still strike problems. The problems don't give rise to any security holes, so don't panic, but it does mean some of Samba's capabilities will be unavailable. In particular you will not be able to connect to the Samba server as two different uids at once. This may happen if you try to print as a "guest" while accessing a share as a normal user. It may also affect your ability to list the available shares as this is normally done as the guest user. Complain to your OS vendor and ask them to fix their system. =============================================================================== SECTION FOUR: Specific client problems ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * 1: Are any MacIntosh clients for Samba. In Rob Newberry's words (rob@eats.com, Sun, 4 Dec 1994): The answer is "No." Samba speaks SMB, the protocol used for Microsoft networks. The Macintosh has ALWAYS spoken Appletalk. Even with Microsoft "services for Macintosh", it has been a matter of making the server speak Appletalk. It is the same for Novell Netware and the Macintosh, although I believe Novell has (VERY LATE) released an extension for the Mac to let it speak IPX. In future Apple System Software, you may see support for other protocols, such as SMB -- Applet is working on a new networking architecture that will make it easier to support additional protocols. But it's not here yet. Now, the nice part is that if you want your Unix machine to speak Appletalk, there are several options. "Netatalk" and "CAP" are free, and available on the net. There are also several commercial options, such as "PacerShare" and "Helios" (I think). In any case, you'll have to look around for a server, not anything for the Mac. Depending on you OS, some of these may not help you. I am currently coordinating the effort to get CAP working with Native Ethertalk under Linux, but we're not done yet. Rob ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * 2: I am getting a "Session request failed (131,130)" error when I try to connect to my Win95 PC with smbclient. I am able to connect from the PC to the Samba server without problems. What gives? The following answer is provided by John E. Miller: I'll assume that you're able to ping back and forth between the machines by IP address and name, and that you're using some security model where you're confident that you've got user IDs and passwords right. The logging options (-d3 or greater) can help a lot with that. DNS and WINS configuration can also impact connectivity as well. Now, on to 'scope id's. Somewhere in your Win95 TCP/IP network configuration (I'm too much of an NT bigot to know where it's located in the Win95 setup, but I'll have to learn someday since I teach for a Microsoft Solution Provider Authorized Tech Education Center - what an acronym...) [Note: It's under Control Panel | Network | TCP/IP | WINS Configuration] there's a little text entry field called something like 'Scope ID'. This field essentially creates 'invisible' sub-workgroups on the same wire. Boxes can only see other boxes whose Scope IDs are set to the exact same value - it's sometimes used by OEMs to configure their boxes to browse only other boxes from the same vendor and, in most environments, this field should be left blank. If you, in fact, have something in this box that EXACT value (case-sensitive!) needs to be provided to smbclient and nmbd as the -i (lowercase) parameter. So, if your Scope ID is configured as the string 'SomeStr' in Win95 then you'd have to use smbclient -iSomeStr in connecting to it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * 3: How do I synchronize my PC's clock with my Samba server? To syncronize your PC's clock with your Samba server: * Copy timesync.pif to your windows directory * timesync.pif can be found at: http://samba.canberra.edu.au/pub/samba/binaries/miscellaneous/timesync.pif * Add timesync.pif to your 'Start Up' group/folder * Open the properties dialog box for the program/icon * Make sure the 'Run Minimized' option is set in program 'Properties' * Change the command line section that reads \\sambahost to reflect the name of your server. * Close the properties dialog box by choosing 'OK' Each time you start your computer (or login for Win95) your PC will synchronize it's clock with your Samba server. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * 4: Problems with WinDD, NTrigue, WinCenterPro etc All of the above programs are applications that sit on an NT box and allow multiple users to access the NT GUI applications from remote workstations (often over X). What has this got to do with Samba? The problem comes when these users use filemanager to mount shares from a Samba server. The most common symptom is that the first user to connect get correct file permissions and has a nice day, but subsequent connections get logged in as the same user as the first person to login. They find that they cannot access files in their own home directory, but that they can access files in the first users home directory (maybe not such a nice day after all?) Why does this happen? The above products all share a common heritage (and code base I believe). They all open just a single TCP based SMB connection to the Samba server, and requests from all users are piped over this connection. This is unfortunate, but not fatal. It means that if you run your Samba server in share level security (the default) then things will definately break as described above. The share level SMB security model has no provision for multiple user IDs on the one SMB connection. See security_level.txt in the docs for more info on share/user/server level security. If you run in user or server level security then you have a chance, but only if you have a recent version of Samba (at least 1.9.15p6). In older versions bugs in Samba meant you still would have had problems. If you have a trapdoor uid system in your OS then it will never work properly. Samba needs to be able to switch uids on the connection and it can't if your OS has a trapdoor uid system. You'll know this because Samba will note it in your logs. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * 5: Problem with printers under NT This info from Stefan Hergeth may be useful: A network-printer (with ethernetcard) is connected to the NT-Clients via our UNIX-Fileserver (SAMBA-Server), like the configuration told by Matthew Harrell (see WinNT.txt) 1.) If a user has choosen this printer as the default printer in his NT-Session and this printer is not connected to the network (e.g. switched off) than this user has a problem with the SAMBA- connection of his filesystems. It's very slow. 2.) If the printer is connected to the network everything works fine. 3.) When the smbd ist started with debug level 3, you can see that the NT spooling system try to connect to the printer many times. If the printer ist not connected to the network this request fails and the NT spooler is wasting a lot of time to connect to the printer service. This seems to be the reason for the slow network connection. 4.) Maybe it's possible to change this behaviour by setting different printer properties in the Print-Manager-Menu of NT, but i didn't try it yet. I hope this information will help in some way. Stefan Hergeth =============================================================================== SECTION FIVE: Specific client application problems ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * 1: MS Office Setup reports "Cannot change properties of the file named: X:\MSOFFICE\SETUP.INI" When installing MS Office on a Samba drive for which you have admin user permissions, ie. admin users = , you will find the setup program unable to complete the installation. To get around this problem, do the installation without admin user permissions The problem is that MS Office Setup checks that a file is rdonly by trying to open it for writing. Admin users can always open a file for writing, as they run as root. You just have to install as a non-admin user and then use "chown -R" to fix the owner. =============================================================================== SECTION SIX: Miscellaneous ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Maintained By Paul Blackman, Email:ictinus@lake.canberra.edu.au