Network and Samba Help
Configuring networks and Samba can finish off even the keenest and most experienced technicians. This doesn't have to be the way of things. Networks for domestic use or for business use can be configured quickly and easily. Since YaST2 came along it's much easier to configure network cards and complete networks. If you want to search for other things have a look at the FAQs page
Most people have trouble with Windows NT4/W2k and Win 95/98. There is an FAQ for this at the Samba site so you might want to click on this link and have a look. If you can't figure it out try the stuff you can read below. This is written by Andrew Tridgell so if something's wrong you can blame yourself :-) Since Samba 2.0 came along things have changed quite a bit. See the bottom of the page for more info on this.
"This
following description contains a list of tests you can perform to
validate your Samba server. It also tells you what the likely
cause of the problem is if it fails any one of these steps. If it
passes all these tests then it is probably working fine. You
should do ALL the tests, in the order shown. I have tried to
carefully choose them so later tests only use capabilities
verified in the earlier tests. I would welcome additions to this
set of tests. Please mail them to
samba-bugs@samba.org If you send me an email saying "it
doesn't work" and you have not followed this test procedure
then you should not be surprised if I ignore your email.
ASSUMPTIONS
In all of the tests I assume you have a Samba server called
BIGSERVER and a PC called ACLIENT. I also assume the PC is
running windows for workgroups with a recent copy of the
microsoft tcp/ip stack. Alternatively, your PC may be running
Windows 95 or Windows NT (Workstation or Server).
The procedure is similar for other types of clients.
I also assume you know the name of an available share in your
smb.conf. I will assume this share is called "tmp". You
can add a "tmp" share like by adding the following to
smb.conf:
[tmp]
comment = temporary files
path = /tmp
read only = yes
THESE TESTS ASSUME VERSION 1.9.16 OR LATER OF THE SAMBA SUITE.
SOME COMMANDS SHOWN DID NOT EXIST IN EARLIER VERSIONS
Please pay attention to the error messages you receive. If any
error message reports that your server is being unfriendly you
should first check that you IP name resolution is correctly set
up. eg: Make sure your /etc/resolv.conf
file points to name servers that really do exist. Also, if you do
not have DNS server access for name resolution please check that
the settings for your smb.conf file results in "dns proxy =
no". The best way to check this is with "testparm
smb.conf"
TEST 1:
In the directory in which you store your smb.conf file, run the
command "testparm smb.conf". If it reports any errors
then your smb.conf configuration file is faulty. Note: Your
smb.conf file may be located in: /etc Or in: /usr/local/samba/lib
TEST 2:
run the command "ping BIGSERVER" from the PC and
"ping ACLIENT" from the unix box. If you don't get a
valid response then your TCP/IP software is not correctly
installed. Note that you will need to start a "dos
prompt" window on the PC to run ping. If you get a message
saying "host not found" or similar then your DNS
software or /etc/hosts file is not correctly setup. It is
possible to run samba without DNS entries for the server and
client, but I assume you do have correct entries for the
remainder of these tests. Another reason why ping might fail is
if your host is running firewall software. You will need to relax
the rules to let in the workstatio in question, perhaps by
allowing access from another subnet (on Linux this is done via
the ipfwadm program.)
TEST 3:
Run the command "smbclient -L BIGSERVER" on the unix
box. You should get a list of available shares back. If you get a
error message containing the string "Bad password" then
you probably have either an incorrect "hosts allow",
"hosts deny" or "valid users" line in your
smb.conf, or your guest account is not valid. Check what your
guest account is using "testparm" and temporarily
remove any "hosts allow", "hosts deny",
"valid users" or "invalid users" lines. If
you get a "connection refused" response then the smbd
server could not be running. If you installed it in inetd.conf
then you probably edited that file incorrectly. If you installed
it as a daemon then check that it is running, and check that the
netbios-ssn port is in a LISTENstate using "netstat
-a". If you get a "session request failed" then
the server refused the connection. If it says "Your server
software is being unfriendly" then it's probably because you
have invalid command line parameters to smbd, or a similar fatal
problem with the initial startup of smbd. Also check your config
file (smb.conf) for syntax errors with "testparm" and
that the various directories where samba keeps its log and lock
files exist.
There are a number of reasons for which smbd may refuse or
decline a session request. The most common of these involve one
or more of the following smb.conf file entries:
hosts deny = ALL
hosts allow = xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/yy
bind interfaces only = Yes
In the above, no allowance has been made for any session requests
that will automatically translate to the loopback adaptor address
127.0.0.1. To solve this problem change these lines to: hosts
deny = ALL hosts allow = xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/yy 127. Do NOT use the
"bind interfaces only" parameter where you may wish to
use the samba password change facility, or where smbclient may
need to access local service for name resolution or for local
resource connections. (Note: the "bind interfaces only"
parameter deficiency where it will not allow connections to the
loopback address will be fixed soon). Another common cause of
these two errors is having something already running on port 139,
such as Samba (ie: smbd is running from inetd already) or
something like Digital's Pathworks. Check your inetd.conf file
before trying to start smbd as a daemon, it can avoid a lot of
frustration! And yet another possible cause for failure of TEST 3
is when the subnet mask and / or broadcast address settings are
incorrect. Please check that the network interface IP Address /
Broadcast Address / Subnet Mask settings are correct and that
Samba has correctly noted these in the log.nmb file.
TEST 4:
Run the command "nmblookup -B BIGSERVER __SAMBA__". You
should get the IP address of your Samba server back. If you don't
then nmbd is incorrectly installed. Check your inetd.conf if you
run it from there, or that the daemon is running and listening to
udp port 137. One common problem is that many inetd
implementations can't take many parameters on the command line.
If this is the case then create a
one-line script that contains the right parameters and run that
from inetd.
TEST 5:
run the command "nmblookup -B ACLIENT '*'"
You should get the PCs IP address back. If you don't then the
client software on the PC isn't installed correctly, or isn't
started, or you got the name of the PC wrong.
TEST 6:
Run the command "nmblookup -d 2 '*'"
This time we are trying the same as the previous test but are
trying it via a broadcast to the default broadcast address. A
number of Netbios/TCPIP hosts on the network should respond,
although Samba may not catch all of the responses in the short
time it listens. You should see "got a positive name query
response" messages from several hosts. If this doesn't give
a similar result to the previous test then nmblookup isn't
correctly getting your broadcast address through its automatic
mechanism. In this case you should experiment use the
"interfaces" option in smb.conf to manually configure
your IP address, broadcast and netmask. If your PC and server
aren't on the same subnet then you will need to use the -B option
to set the broadcast address to the that of the PCs subnet. This
test will probably fail if your subnet mask and broadcast address
are not correct. (Refer to TEST 3 notes above).
TEST 7:
Run the command "smbclient '\\BIGSERVER\TMP'". You
should then be prompted for a password. You should use the
password of the account you are logged into the unix box with. If
you want to test with another account then add the -U option to
the command line. Once you enter the password you should get the
"smb>" prompt. If you don't then look at the error
message. If it says "invalid network name" then the
service "tmp" is not correctly setup in your smb.conf.
If it says "bad password" then the likely causes are:
- you have shadow passords (or some other password system) but
didn't compile in support for them in smbd
- your "valid users" configuration is incorrect
- you have a mixed case password and you haven't enabled the
"password level" option at a high enough level
- the "path =" line in smb.conf is incorrect. Check it
with testparm
- you enabled password encryption but didn't create the SMB
encrypted
password file
Once connected you should be able to use the commands
"dir" "get" "put" etc. Type
"help " for instructions. You should especially check
that the amount of free disk space shown is correct when you type
"dir".
TEST 8:
On the PC type the command "net view \\BIGSERVER". You
will need to do this from within a "dos prompt" window.
You should get back a list of available shares on the server. If
you get a "network name not found" or similar error
then netbios name resolution is not working. This is usually
caused by a problem in
nmbd. To overcome it you could do one of the following (you only
need to choose one of them):
- fixup the nmbd installation
- add the IP address of BIGSERVER to the "wins server"
box in the advanced tcp/ip setup on the PC.
- enable windows name resolution via DNS in the advanced section
of the tcp/ip setup
- add BIGSERVER to your lmhosts file on the PC.
If you get a "invalid network name" or "bad
password error" then the same fixes apply as they did for
the "smbclient -L" test above. In particular, make sure
your "hosts allow" line is correct (see the man pages)
If you get "specified computer is not receiving
requests" or similar it probably means that the host is not
contactable via tcp services. Check to see if the host is running
tcp wrappers, and if so add an entry in the hosts.allow file for
your client (or subnet, etc.)
TEST 9:
Run the command "net use x: \\BIGSERVER\TMP". You
should be prompted for a password then you should get a
"command completed successfully" message. If not then
your PC software is incorrectly installed or your smb.conf is
incorrect. make sure your "hosts allow" and other
config lines in smb.conf are correct.
It's also possible that the server can't work out what user name
to connect you as. To see if this is the problem add the line
"user = USERNAME" to the [tmp] section of smb.conf
where "USERNAME" is the username corresponding to the
password you typed. If you find this fixes things you may need
the username mapping option.
TEST 10:
From file manager try to browse the server. Your samba server
should appear in the browse list of your local workgroup (or the
one you specified in smb.conf). You should be able to double
click on the name of the server and get a list of shares. If you
get a "invalid password" error when you do then you are
probably running WinNT and it is refusing to browse a server that
has no encrypted password capability and is in user level
security mode. In this case either set "security =
server" AND "password server = Windows_NT_Machine"
in your smb.conf file, or enable encrypted passwords AFTER
compiling in support for encrypted passwords (refer to the
Makefile).
Still having troubles?
Try the mailing list or newsgroup, or use the tcpdump-smb utility
to sniff the problem. The official samba mailing list can be
reached at samba@samba.org. To find out more about samba and how
to subscribe to the mailing list check out the samba web page at http://samba.org/samba <- Click here Also look at the other
docs in the Samba package!"
Hope this helps :-)
Configuring Samba 2.0 and Above with a Web Browser
Since Samba 2.0 came along configuration has changed from a black screen with keyboard to a nice GUI which can be used with Mozilla. To find out about this open up a terminal window and type "man swat". If you want to go ahead and configure Samba you need to start the GUI. You can do this by typing "inetd" in the terminal window followed by "ps ax|grep inetd". You will then see a list of process (ps) numbers. Type in "kill -1 number of the process". For example "kill -1 657". This will make sure that inetd is working and that you have closed it down. Next open up your web broswer and type in http://localhost:901. You should now see a small box in the middle of the screen. Type in a password and user name (first time) make sure that you write it down. After clicking on OK you should now see the Samba GUI (and wonder why you bothered with NT).
From here on you have to make up your own mind about how to configure your shares and printers. The Samba GUI provides a large amount of online help. Good luck !