Hi, guys. I’m working night & day on the 2nd edition of Linux
Phrasebook, specifically on the Samba chapter, & I have a few questions
that hopefully someone can answer.
So, back when I wrote the 1st edition, in 2005, I covered nmblookup.
Then Samba 3 came out, & now Samba 4 is out. I’m trying to figure out
what I should say about nmblookup, as I’m not sure how much it’s
still used.
The man page for nmbd says this: “nmbd is a server that understands
and can reply to NetBIOS over IP name service requests, like those
produced by SMB/CIFS clients such as Windows 95/98/ME, Windows NT,
Windows 2000, Windows XP and LanManager clients. It also participates in
the browsing protocols which make up the Windows Network Neighborhood
view.”
Then I found this: “nmblookup is used to query NetBIOS names and map
them to IP addresses in a network using NetBIOS over TCP/IP queries. The
options allow the name queries to be directed at a particular IP
broadcast area or to a particular machine. All queries are done over
UDP.”
On someone else’s site, I read this: “MS Windows 2000 and later
versions can be configured to operate with no NetBIOS over TCP/IP.
Samba-3 and later versions also support this mode of operation. When the
use of NetBIOS over TCP/IP has been disabled, the primary means for
resolution of MS Windows machine names is via DNS and Active
Directory.”
And finally, there’s this: “Use of raw SMB over TCP/IP (No NetBIOS
layer) can be done only with Active Directory domains.”
OK, so as I’m reading it, only really old Windows versions would use
NetBIOS over TCP/IP. Newer versions of Windows (post-XP, basically)
would probably NOT use NetBIOS over IP, & would instead just use SMB
over TCP/IP. So here are my questions: nmblookup uses NetBIOS over
TCP/IP, so it’s completely useless when a network is just using SMB
over TCP/IP, right? And in those cases, DNS & Active Directory is used
instead? And since nmblookup’s job is finding the Master Browser, that
job becomes nonexistent when you’re running SMB over TCP/IP, because
there’s no Master Browser with NetBIOS, right?
But how many of you would do that on your home LAN or small network? You
surely wouldn’t go to all the trouble of setting up Samba as an Active
Directory Domain Controller on a machine just to connect to a few
machines to share files or printers, right? Wouldn’t you just use the
old skool method, with NetBIOS over TCP/IP? Which, btw, would mean you
could use nmblookup?
I will appreciate any help or direction anyone can give me on this
stuff. I will definitely mention you in the Acknowledgments section of
the book!
Tks!
Scott
--
R. Scott Granneman
sc...@granneman.com ~ www.granneman.com
Contact info: granneman.tel
“If Hitler invaded hell, I would make at least a favorable reference
to the devil in the House of Commons.”
---Winstone Churchill
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