nmbd(8)

NAME

   nmbd - NetBIOS name server to provide NetBIOS over IP naming services
   to clients

SYNOPSIS

   nmbd [-D|--daemon] [-F|--foreground] [-S|--log-stdout]
    [-i|--interactive] [-V] [-d <debug level>] [-H|--hosts <lmhosts file>]
    [-l <log directory>] [-p|--port <port number>]
    [-s <configuration file>] [--no-process-group]

DESCRIPTION

   This program is part of the samba(7) suite.

   nmbd is a server that understands and can reply to NetBIOS over IP name
   service requests, like those produced by SMB/CIFS clients such as
   Windows 95/98/ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP and LanManager
   clients. It also participates in the browsing protocols which make up
   the Windows "Network Neighborhood" view.

   SMB/CIFS clients, when they start up, may wish to locate an SMB/CIFS
   server. That is, they wish to know what IP number a specified host is
   using.

   Amongst other services, nmbd will listen for such requests, and if its
   own NetBIOS name is specified it will respond with the IP number of the
   host it is running on. Its "own NetBIOS name" is by default the primary
   DNS name of the host it is running on, but this can be overridden by
   the netbios name in smb.conf. Thus nmbd will reply to broadcast queries
   for its own name(s). Additional names for nmbd to respond on can be set
   via parameters in the smb.conf(5) configuration file.

   nmbd can also be used as a WINS (Windows Internet Name Server) server.
   What this basically means is that it will act as a WINS database
   server, creating a database from name registration requests that it
   receives and replying to queries from clients for these names.

   In addition, nmbd can act as a WINS proxy, relaying broadcast queries
   from clients that do not understand how to talk the WINS protocol to a
   WINS server.

OPTIONS

   -D|--daemon
       If specified, this parameter causes nmbd to operate as a daemon.
       That is, it detaches itself and runs in the background, fielding
       requests on the appropriate port. By default, nmbd will operate as
       a daemon if launched from a command shell. nmbd can also be
       operated from the inetd meta-daemon, although this is not
       recommended.

   -F|--foreground
       If specified, this parameter causes the main nmbd process to not
       daemonize, i.e. double-fork and disassociate with the terminal.
       Child processes are still created as normal to service each
       connection request, but the main process does not exit. This
       operation mode is suitable for running nmbd under process
       supervisors such as supervise and svscan from Daniel J. Bernstein's
       daemontools package, or the AIX process monitor.

   -S|--log-stdout
       If specified, this parameter causes nmbd to log to standard output
       rather than a file.

   -i|--interactive
       If this parameter is specified it causes the server to run
       "interactively", not as a daemon, even if the server is executed on
       the command line of a shell. Setting this parameter negates the
       implicit daemon mode when run from the command line.  nmbd also
       logs to standard output, as if the -S parameter had been given.

   -?|--help
       Print a summary of command line options.

   --usage
       Display brief usage message.

   -H|--hosts <filename>
       NetBIOS lmhosts file. The lmhosts file is a list of NetBIOS names
       to IP addresses that is loaded by the nmbd server and used via the
       name resolution mechanism name resolve order described in
       smb.conf(5) to resolve any NetBIOS name queries needed by the
       server. Note that the contents of this file are NOT used by nmbd to
       answer any name queries. Adding a line to this file affects name
       NetBIOS resolution from this host ONLY.

       The default path to this file is compiled into Samba as part of the
       build process. Common defaults are /usr/local/samba/lib/lmhosts,
       /usr/samba/lib/lmhosts or /etc/samba/lmhosts. See the lmhosts(5)
       man page for details on the contents of this file.

   -d|--debuglevel=level
       level is an integer from 0 to 10. The default value if this
       parameter is not specified is 0.

       The higher this value, the more detail will be logged to the log
       files about the activities of the server. At level 0, only critical
       errors and serious warnings will be logged. Level 1 is a reasonable
       level for day-to-day running - it generates a small amount of
       information about operations carried out.

       Levels above 1 will generate considerable amounts of log data, and
       should only be used when investigating a problem. Levels above 3
       are designed for use only by developers and generate HUGE amounts
       of log data, most of which is extremely cryptic.

       Note that specifying this parameter here will override the log
       level parameter in the smb.conf file.

   -V|--version
       Prints the program version number.

   -s|--configfile=<configuration file>
       The file specified contains the configuration details required by
       the server. The information in this file includes server-specific
       information such as what printcap file to use, as well as
       descriptions of all the services that the server is to provide. See
       smb.conf for more information. The default configuration file name
       is determined at compile time.

   -l|--log-basename=logdirectory
       Base directory name for log/debug files. The extension ".progname"
       will be appended (e.g. log.smbclient, log.smbd, etc...). The log
       file is never removed by the client.

   --option=<name>=<value>
       Set the smb.conf(5) option "<name>" to value "<value>" from the
       command line. This overrides compiled-in defaults and options read
       from the configuration file.

   -p|--port <UDP port number>
       UDP port number is a positive integer value. This option changes
       the default UDP port number (normally 137) that nmbd responds to
       name queries on. Don't use this option unless you are an expert, in
       which case you won't need help!

   --no-process-group
       Do not create a new process group for nmbd.

FILES

   /etc/inetd.conf
       If the server is to be run by the inetd meta-daemon, this file must
       contain suitable startup information for the meta-daemon.

   /etc/rc
       or whatever initialization script your system uses).

       If running the server as a daemon at startup, this file will need
       to contain an appropriate startup sequence for the server.

   /etc/services
       If running the server via the meta-daemon inetd, this file must
       contain a mapping of service name (e.g., netbios-ssn) to service
       port (e.g., 139) and protocol type (e.g., tcp).

   /usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf
       This is the default location of the smb.conf(5) server
       configuration file. Other common places that systems install this
       file are /usr/samba/lib/smb.conf and /etc/samba/smb.conf.

       When run as a WINS server (see the wins support parameter in the
       smb.conf(5) man page), nmbd will store the WINS database in the
       file wins.dat in the var/locks directory configured under wherever
       Samba was configured to install itself.

       If nmbd is acting as a
        browse master (see the local master parameter in the smb.conf(5)
       man page, nmbd will store the browsing database in the file
       browse.dat in the var/locks directory configured under wherever
       Samba was configured to install itself.

SIGNALS

   To shut down an nmbd process it is recommended that SIGKILL (-9) NOT be
   used, except as a last resort, as this may leave the name database in
   an inconsistent state. The correct way to terminate nmbd is to send it
   a SIGTERM (-15) signal and wait for it to die on its own.

   nmbd will accept SIGHUP, which will cause it to dump out its namelists
   into the file namelist.debug in the /usr/local/samba/var/locks
   directory (or the var/locks directory configured under wherever Samba
   was configured to install itself). This will also cause nmbd to dump
   out its server database in the log.nmb file.

   The debug log level of nmbd may be raised or lowered using
   smbcontrol(1) (SIGUSR[1|2] signals are no longer used since Samba 2.2).
   This is to allow transient problems to be diagnosed, whilst still
   running at a normally low log level.

VERSION

   This man page is correct for version 3 of the Samba suite.

SEE ALSO

   inetd(8), smbd(8), smb.conf(5), smbclient(1), testparm(1), and the
   Internet RFC's rfc1001.txt, rfc1002.txt. In addition the CIFS (formerly
   SMB) specification is available as a link from the Web page
   http://samba.org/cifs/.

AUTHOR

   The original Samba software and related utilities were created by
   Andrew Tridgell. Samba is now developed by the Samba Team as an Open
   Source project similar to the way the Linux kernel is developed.

   The original Samba man pages were written by Karl Auer. The man page
   sources were converted to YODL format (another excellent piece of Open
   Source software, available at ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/) and
   updated for the Samba 2.0 release by Jeremy Allison. The conversion to
   DocBook for Samba 2.2 was done by Gerald Carter. The conversion to
   DocBook XML 4.2 for Samba 3.0 was done by Alexander Bokovoy.

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