samba - May 1999 - Can't connect to samba from foreign network --- 'Gethostbyaddr failed' error in log.smb

I have a samba server at ip address
	aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd

I can connect to it from clients on subnets aaa.bbb.eee. and
aaa.bbb.fff.

I can't connect to it from clients on ggg.hhh.

smb.conf has
	hosts deny = all
	hosts allow = localhost, aaa.bbb., ggg.hhh.

The client can successfully 'ping mysambaserver' (resolves to
aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd).  Doing 'net view \\mysambaserver' fails with
'network path not found', and coincident with this the following
error message appears in mysambaserver's log.smb:
	Gethostbyaddr failed for ggg.hhh.kkk.lll
This is different from the client's address of ggg.hhh.iii.jjj

Note that clients on ggg.hhh. connect quite gracefully to
native nt shares on aaa.bbb.

I'm suspicious that this might be the key to the problem, but
I really don't know what's going on here.

By the way, log.smb is filled with a slew of 'Gethostbyaddr failed'
messages, from lots of ip addresses on aaa.bbb. and ggg.hhh.
I assume these are somehow associated with browsing, because
these would definitely not be (human) clients trying to connect.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for any ideas.

     Frank R.Brown
     Frank.R.Brown@MailAndNews

Send reply to:  	list.Frank@MailAndNews.com
From:           	"Frank R. Brown" <list.Frank@MailAndNews.com>
To:             	Multiple recipients of list <samba@samba.org>
Subject:        	Can't connect to samba from foreign network ---
'Gethostbyaddr failed' error in log.smb
Date sent:      	Fri, 28 May 1999 08:46:49 +1000

Where does reverse dns come in to samba's ability/willingness to
accept a connection?

I'm going nuts here trying to get samba to accept connections from
the same nt clients on a foreign network that can without issue to
shares on an nt server.

The straw I'm chasing now is the issue of reverse dns because of
some (to my mind) cryptic references to it in (to my mind)
unrelated parts of the samba doc, and because of the
'Gethostbyaddr failed' messages in the log file.

So what is it the nt servers got that samba hasn't got?  I can't
figure out what to enable (some kind of ip/netbios name
recognition?), without having some clue to what's missing.
What does samba need in a configuration like this to do its
job?

Thanks for any advice.

I wrote:
> I have a samba server at ip address
> 	aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd
> 
> I can connect to it from clients on subnets aaa.bbb.eee. and
> aaa.bbb.fff.
> 
> I can't connect to it from clients on ggg.hhh.
> 
> smb.conf has
> 	hosts deny = all
> 	hosts allow = localhost, aaa.bbb., ggg.hhh.
> 
> The client can successfully 'ping mysambaserver' (resolves to
> aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd).  Doing 'net view \\mysambaserver' fails with
> 'network path not found', and coincident with this the following
> error message appears in mysambaserver's log.smb:
> 	Gethostbyaddr failed for ggg.hhh.kkk.lll
> This is different from the client's address of ggg.hhh.iii.jjj
> 
> Note that clients on ggg.hhh. connect quite gracefully to
> native nt shares on aaa.bbb.
>...
     Frank R.Brown
     Frank.R.Brown@MailAndNews

I figured out what my problem was:

The pc's on the foreign network were not configured to
	"Enable DNS for Windows Resolution",
whereas the pc's on the local network were.  I explicitly
rely on DNS for netbios resolution of the unix hostnames.

The 'Gethostbyaddr failed" error messages were a red herring.

For me the practical problem is I know of no quick netbios
name resolution test (e.g., for ip I can do 'ping hostname',
and I'll see the ip hostname resolution even if the host is
down, or otherwise ignoring ping requests).  Does anyone
know how I can ask 'Hey, Mr. local client.  At what ip address
do you think such-and-such a netbios host resides?

Anyway, I enabled dns as part of the netbios name resolution,
and now the samba shares work fine.


I wrote:
> I have a samba server at ip address
> 	aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd
> 
> I can connect to it from clients on subnets aaa.bbb.eee. and
> aaa.bbb.fff.
> 
> I can't connect to it from clients on ggg.hhh.
> 
> smb.conf has
> 	hosts deny = all
> 	hosts allow = localhost, aaa.bbb., ggg.hhh.
> 
> The client can successfully 'ping mysambaserver' (resolves to
> aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd).  Doing 'net view \\mysambaserver' fails with
> 'network path not found', and coincident with this the following
> error message appears in mysambaserver's log.smb:
> 	Gethostbyaddr failed for ggg.hhh.kkk.lll
> This is different from the client's address of ggg.hhh.iii.jjj
>...
     Frank R.Brown
     Frank.R.Brown@MailAndNews