samba - Apr 2002 - Fundamental question about the SMB protocol

I realize this may seem like a lame question, but I'm not an expert on the
SMB/CIFS protocol, so I'd be very grateful if someone could help me.

We're considering putting a Samba server on a Linux/390 system, but the new
networking mechanism under IBM's VM OS doesn't support multicasting yet.
I understand that the SMB/CIFS protocol depends,
at least partially, on multicasting, so I'm wondering if what I want to do
is even possible.

Is it possible to use Samba on a LAN that doesn't support multicast?  If so,
what capabilities would be lost?  The clients would be on the other side of a
router-type system.

Thanks much.

"Hall, Ken (ECSS)" wrote:
> 
> I realize this may seem like a lame question, but I'm not an expert on
the SMB/CIFS protocol, so I'd be very grateful if someone could help me.
> 
> We're considering putting a Samba server on a Linux/390 system, but the
new networking mechanism under IBM's VM OS doesn't support multicasting
yet.  I understand that the SMB/CIFS protocol depends,
> at least partially, on multicasting, so I'm wondering if what I want to
do is even possible.
Samba relies on broadcasting for interopablity with clients that don't
use a wins server.
> Is it possible to use Samba on a LAN that doesn't support multicast? 
If so, what capabilities would be lost?  The clients would be on the other side
of a router-type system.
Just set a common wins server and all will be good, broadcast traffic is
no longer required.

Andrew Bartlett

-- 
Andrew Bartlett                                 abartlet@pcug.org.au
Manager, Authentication Subsystems, Samba Team  abartlet@samba.org
Student Network Administrator, Hawker College   abartlet@hawkerc.net
http://samba.org     http://build.samba.org     http://hawkerc.net

As I understand from reading this list, you need a WINS server anyway if the
server and clients are not on the same segment or LAN, correct?

Since there won't be any clients on the LAN containing the server, I'd
need a WINS server anyway, and it sounds like the multicasting issue is moot.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Andrew Bartlett [mailto:abartlet@pcug.org.au]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2002 4:49 PM
> To: Hall, Ken (ECSS)
> Cc: samba@samba.org
> Subject: Re: [Samba] Fundamental question about the SMB protocol
> 
> 
> "Hall, Ken (ECSS)" wrote:
> > 
> > I realize this may seem like a lame question, but I'm not 
> an expert on the SMB/CIFS protocol, so I'd be very grateful 
> if someone could help me.
> > 
> > We're considering putting a Samba server on a Linux/390 
> system, but the new networking mechanism under IBM's VM OS 
> doesn't support multicasting yet.  I understand that the 
> SMB/CIFS protocol depends,
> > at least partially, on multicasting, so I'm wondering if 
> what I want to do is even possible.
> 
> Samba relies on broadcasting for interopablity with clients that don't
> use a wins server.
> 
> > Is it possible to use Samba on a LAN that doesn't support 
> multicast?  If so, what capabilities would be lost?  The 
> clients would be on the other side of a router-type system.
> 
> Just set a common wins server and all will be good, broadcast 
> traffic is
> no longer required.
> 
> Andrew Bartlett
> 
>