samba - Mar 2002 - Can we still use Samba if routers have netbeui/netbios turned off?

Samba is working perfect on our main subnet, but it won't for any
additional subnets on this domain.  We use NT authentication and my system
is an RS/6000.  I just found out that our routers for these additional
subnets have netbeui/netbios turned off.  Network Admin. said it's because
they're set not to allow broadcasting (and they're not going to start),
and
turning netbeui/netbios on would create additional traffic.  As it is, I'm
wanting NT PDC to perform all authentication, and if user belongs to the
workgroup that's set in smb.conf, they can map shares on my system (basic
setup).  I was trying to avoid having to create a user account in Unix for
each user (because usernames will exceed 8-character username limitation
set by AIX and we'll have to totally change our naming convention), but I
don't know what my options are if the Network Admin. won't change the
router settings.  He wondered if we could tie netbios w/ IP, so it would
pass through the routers.  I was under the impression that Samba already
embeds netbios within IP (I thought that's how we can connect with a Win95
client with it's netbios disabled).  Is this not the case, is there any
setting in smb.conf that will do this?  Thanks for any advice.

Darin DeCounter

Atex Assistant System Administrator
Las Vegas Review-Journal
702-387-5230
ddecounter@lvrj.com

As long as you dont care about being able to see the names of the machines 
across the router/domain in your network neighborhood you will not have any 
problems. If you use wins you will even be able to see them in Net Hood. 
The shares live in standard tcp/ip ports 137-139 so long as your router 
passes them you will have no problems. All the machine participating in the 
shares must know where and can get to their authentication servers.

At 09:12 AM 3/6/2002 -0800, Darin DeCounter wrote:
Samba is working perfect on our main subnet, but it won't for any
additional subnets on this domain. We use NT authentication and my system
is an RS/6000. I just found out that our routers for these additional
subnets have netbeui/netbios turned off. Network Admin. said it's because
they're set not to allow broadcasting (and they're not going to start),
and
turning netbeui/netbios on would create additional traffic. As it is, I'm
wanting NT PDC to perform all authentication, and if user belongs to the
workgroup that's set in smb.conf, they can map shares on my system (basic
setup). I was trying to avoid having to create a user account in Unix for
each user (because usernames will exceed 8-character username limitation
set by AIX and we'll have to totally change our naming convention), but I
don't know what my options are if the Network Admin. won't change the
router settings. He wondered if we could tie netbios w/ IP, so it would
pass through the routers. I was under the impression that Samba already
embeds netbios within IP (I thought that's how we can connect with a Win95
client with it's netbios disabled). Is this not the case, is there any
setting in smb.conf that will do this? Thanks for any advice.

Please do not take this the wrong way, but it sounds like to me that you
are very unfamiliar with the netbios protocol. You should do some studying
on this topic and you should answer your own questions. 

NetBIOS can use many different transport protocols and TCP is one of them.
This is where the term NBT comes from .... NetBIOS over TCP.

and hopefully you understand that TCP is part of the IP stack/suite.

Most IP routers do not route broadcasted traffic which was kept in mind
when impletmenting NetBIOS over TCP. This is the main purpose behind a
WINS server !! It is the KEY is cross subnet browsing. 

R T F M !!

Steve


On Wed, 6 Mar 2002, Darin DeCounter wrote:
> Samba is working perfect on our main subnet, but it won't for any
> additional subnets on this domain.  We use NT authentication and my system
> is an RS/6000.  I just found out that our routers for these additional
> subnets have netbeui/netbios turned off.  Network Admin. said it's
because
> they're set not to allow broadcasting (and they're not going to
start), and
> turning netbeui/netbios on would create additional traffic.  As it is,
I'm
> wanting NT PDC to perform all authentication, and if user belongs to the
> workgroup that's set in smb.conf, they can map shares on my system
(basic
> setup).  I was trying to avoid having to create a user account in Unix for
> each user (because usernames will exceed 8-character username limitation
> set by AIX and we'll have to totally change our naming convention), but
I
> don't know what my options are if the Network Admin. won't change
the
> router settings.  He wondered if we could tie netbios w/ IP, so it would
> pass through the routers.  I was under the impression that Samba already
> embeds netbios within IP (I thought that's how we can connect with a
Win95
> client with it's netbios disabled).  Is this not the case, is there any
> setting in smb.conf that will do this?  Thanks for any advice.
> 
> Darin DeCounter
> 
> Atex Assistant System Administrator
> Las Vegas Review-Journal
> 702-387-5230
> ddecounter@lvrj.com
> 
> 
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