Well, I read quite a few documents; thanks for pointing them out... And I got "it" working... The most important point I learned is P_a_t_i_e_n_c_e! You really have to wait a few minutes after having modified your smb.conf and restarted samba. And you have plenty of time to reboot your client, I am not sure whether you really need this, but anyway... it really takes quite some minutes before even the most limited changes have trickled through a (not really big) network. In general, I started removing lines from the "inherited" smb.conf, all lines of which I did not understand the purpose, and then restarting samba and the client, and see what happened. I still have some questions, though... First of all: what is a domain name in Samba? I only saw a workgroup name as the parameter. Just to try, I changed it into something completely different, and after some time I saw it appear as a workgroup. But then I could also enter it as a domain name (on W98 stations, anyway), and I could really log in to it. Even though I now have a PDC on the domain LIEMERS-MUSEUM, and a BDC (without a PDC) on the domain LIEMERS2MUSEUM, it seems to work. So my conjecture for the moment is that the domain name equals the workgroup name. Right? Second: in my inherited smb.conf, I have a share [users]. I do not know what it is for, but if I comment it out, the workgroup LIEMERS2MUSEUM vanishes from the Workgroups in the network Environment. So I guess it serves some purpose but which one? Third: I read quite a lot about how to set up various servers, but not too many details on exactly what the SMB protocols do. I read something about elections, and I think that part is fairly clear to me, but I am quite curious about what several parties in the game are really doing. For instance, when a server comes up, how does the rest of the world know? I commented out the remote announce line, so I guess that is not part of the mechanism. Anyway, if the server is initially the only node in the network, this will not be significant anyway. If a client comes up, what happens? Does it broadcast its presence throughout the network? Do all servers respond? I also read something about browser nodes, but how are they established? How do they announce their presence? In general: is there any detail documentation on MS SMB protocols, not just the message format but rather the exact mechanisms? They may be described somewhere, but I haven't discovered them yet... I have more questions, but these are the most pressing ones at the moment. Thanks a lot in advance for any clues.
Although I have been very busy recently at work (I am working 14hr days all week) I have not forgotten about the problems you were having. I was thinking about emailing you Today to ask if you made progress. Anyways, I am very happy that you stuck with this read the docs and made some very good progress. I have no time to answer this in its entirety but I will try some now and some this weekend if I can. On 8/10/07, joop gerritse <jjge@xs4all.nl> wrote:> Well, I read quite a few documents; thanks for pointing them out... And I > got "it" working... > > The most important point I learned is P_a_t_i_e_n_c_e! You really have to wait > a few minutes after having modified your smb.conf and restarted samba. And > you have plenty of time to reboot your client, I am not sure whether you > really need this, but anyway... it really takes quite some minutes before > even the most limited changes have trickled through a (not really big) > network. >If you are talking about network browsing. Yes this stuff takes a few minutes minimum as packets are broadcast from clients and master browsers listen for these broadcasts and create a list of the clients that send packets.> > In general, I started removing lines from the "inherited" smb.conf, all lines > of which I did not understand the purpose, and then restarting samba and the > client, and see what happened. >This is good.> I still have some questions, though... > > First of all: what is a domain name in Samba? I only saw a workgroup name as > the parameter. > Just to try, I changed it into something completely different, > and after some time I saw it appear as a workgroup. But then I could also > enter it as a domain name (on W98 stations, anyway), and I could really log > in to it. > Even though I now have a PDC on the domain LIEMERS-MUSEUM, and a BDC (without > a PDC) on the domain LIEMERS2MUSEUM, it seems to work. So my conjecture for > the moment is that the domain name equals the workgroup name. Right? >That is correct.> > Second: in my inherited smb.conf, I have a share [users]. I do not know what > it is for, but if I comment it out, the workgroup LIEMERS2MUSEUM vanishes > from the Workgroups in the network Environment. So I guess it serves some > purpose but which one? >You do not need a users share or any shares for a machine to show up in the browse lists.> > Third:<snip> Sorry that is too difficult to answer without taking a lot of time which I do not have at the moment.. John
For most of these answers the following links have a lot of information: http://samba.org/samba/docs/man/Samba-HOWTO-Collection/NetworkBrowsing.html#id349177 http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/systems/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.aix.fastconnect/doc/fastcon/winnetcon.htm http://www.samba.org/cifs/docs/what-is-smb.html http://us3.samba.org/samba/docs/man/Samba-Guide/primer.html#id386486> Third: I read quite a lot about how to set up various servers, but not too > many details on exactly what the SMB protocols do. I read something about > elections, and I think that part is fairly clear to me, but I am quite > curious about what several parties in the game are really doing. For > instance, when a server comes up, how does the rest of the world know?There are two ways that I know NetBIOS and WINS. The first way (NetBIOS) is that the client broadcasts its name and ip address to the broadcast address on the network subnet. The master browser on that subnet listens for these broadcasts and creates a list of the machines and then it replies to the client its ip adress and a second and smaller list of the machines who contain the browse lists. So when a client wants the browse list it will contact the master browser if it can or one of the other backup browsers if the master does not answer.> I > commented out the remote announce line, so I guess that is not part of the > mechanism.This is only for networks with more than one subnet.> Anyway, if the server is initially the only node in the network, > this will not be significant anyway. If a client comes up, what happens? > Does > it broadcast its presence throughout the network?Yes.> Do all servers respond?No. Only the master browser.> I > also read something about browser nodes, but how are they established?These other machines that are not the master browser that also hold a copy of the browse list. Elections rule which machines will be involved.> How do > they announce their presence?Send a packet to the broadcast address.> In general: is there any detail documentation on MS SMB protocols, not just > the message format but rather the exact mechanisms? They may be described > somewhere, but I haven't discovered them yet... >There is a lot of info scattered around the internet on this but for a very well written single guide that has all the info you are looking for I am not sure.> I have more questions, but these are the most pressing ones at the moment. > Thanks a lot in advance for any clues. > -- > To unsubscribe from this list go to the following URL and read the > instructions: https://lists.samba.org/mailman/listinfo/samba >-- John M. Drescher