This file contains a list of tests you can perform to validate your Samba server. It also tells you what the likely cause of the problem is if it fails any one of these steps. If it passes all these tests then it is probably working fine.
You should do ALL the tests, in the order shown. I have tried to carefully choose them so later tests only use capabilities verified in the earlier tests.
If you send me an email saying "it doesn't work" and you have not followed this test procedure then you should not be surprised if I ignore your email.
In all of the tests I assume you have a Samba server called BIGSERVER and a PC called ACLIENT both in workgroup TESTGROUP. I also assume the PC is running windows for workgroups with a recent copy of the microsoft tcp/ip stack. Alternatively, your PC may be running Windows 95 or Windows NT (Workstation or Server).
The procedure is similar for other types of clients.
I also assume you know the name of an available share in your smb.conf. I will assume this share is called "common". You can add a "common" share like by adding the following to smb.conf:
[common] comment = Shared Windows Area path = /w/common read only = no public = yes
This also assumes all the samba binaries are in /usr/local/samba/bin
Also the user you are testing under is a valid Samba user.
To add a user run smbpasswd -a user-name
THESE TESTS ASSUME VERSION 2.0.6 OR LATER OF THE SAMBA SUITE. SOME
COMMANDS SHOWN DID NOT EXIST IN EARLIER VERSIONS
Please pay attention to the error messages you receive. If any error message reports that your server is being unfriendly you should first check that you IP name resolution is correctly set up. eg: Make sure your /etc/resolv.conf file points to name servers that really do exist.
Also, if you do not have DNS server access for name resolution please check that the settings for your smb.conf file results in "dns proxy = no". The best way to check this is with "testparm smb.conf"
Run the command "testparm". If it reports any errors then your smb.conf configuration file is faulty.
Note: Your smb.conf file will be located in: /usr/local/samba/lib
run the command "ping BIGSERVER" from the PC and "ping ACLIENT" from the unix box. If you don't get a valid response then your TCP/IP software is not correctly installed.
Note that you will need to start a "dos prompt" window on the PC to run ping.
If you get a message saying "host not found" or similar then your DNS software or /etc/hosts file is not correctly setup. It is possible to run samba without DNS entries for the server and client, but I assume you do have correct entries for the remainder of these tests.
Another reason why ping might fail is if your host is running firewall software. You will need to relax the rules to let in the workstation in question, perhaps by allowing access from another subnet.
Run the command "smbclient -L BIGSERVER" on the unix box. You should get a list of available shares back.
#/usr/local/samba/bin/smbclient -L pluto added interface ip=192.168.10.1 bcast=192.168.10.255 nmask=255.255.255.0 password: Anonymous login successful Domain=[REMOTE] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 2.2.8] Sharename Type Comment --------- ---- ------- premvet Disk Premvet Data common Disk Windows Common Area IPC$ IPC IPC Service (Samba (2.2.8) Server on pluto) ADMIN$ Disk IPC Service (Samba (2.2.8) Server on pluto) main Printer Server Comment --------- ------- PLUTO Samba (2.2.8) Server on pluto XANTH Samba (2.2.8) Server or xanth Workgroup Master --------- ------- REMOTE XANTH
If you get "Session setup failed" or "NT STATUS LOGIN FAILURE" just after entering the password the chances are the user you are testing from is NOT a valid samba user. Use 'smbpasswd -a' to add one. A blank password should give you guest access.
If you get a error message containing the string "Bad password" then you probably have either an incorrect "hosts allow", "hosts deny" or "valid users" line in your smb.conf, or your guest account is not valid. Check what your guest account is using "testparm" and temporarily remove any "hosts allow", "hosts deny", "valid users" or "invalid users" lines.
If you get a "connection refused" response then the smbd server may not be running. If you installed it in inetd.conf then you probably edited that file incorrectly. If you installed it as a daemon then check that it is running, and check that the netbios-ssn port is in a LISTEN state using "netstat -a".
If you get a "session request failed" then the server refused the connection. If it says "Your server software is being unfriendly" then its probably because you have invalid command line parameters to smbd, or a similar fatal problem with the initial startup of smbd. Also check your config file (smb.conf) for syntax errors with "testparm" and that the various directories where samba keeps its log and lock files exist.
There are a number of reasons for which smbd may refuse or decline a session request. The most common of these involve one or more of the following smb.conf file entries:
hosts deny = ALL hosts allow = xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/yy bind interfaces only = Yes
In the above, no allowance has been made for any session requests that will automatically translate to the loopback adaptor address 127.0.0.1. To solve this problem change these lines to:
hosts deny = ALL hosts allow = xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/yy 127.Do NOT use the "bind interfaces only" parameter where you may wish to use the samba password change facility, or where smbclient may need to access local service for name resolution or for local resource connections. (Note: the "bind interfaces only" parameter deficiency where it will not allow connections to the loopback address will be fixed soon).
Another common cause of these two errors is having something already running on port 139, such as Samba (ie: smbd is running from inetd already) or something like Visionfs. Check your inetd.conf file before trying to start smbd as a daemon, it can avoid a lot of frustration!
To check if something is listening on port 139, and there should be i
# fgrep 139 /etc/services nb-ssn 139/tcp nbssn netbios-session # netstat -a | grep nb-ssn tcp 0 0 *.nb-ssn *.* LISTEN
And yet another possible cause for failure of TEST 3 is when the subnet mask and / or broadcast address settings are incorrect. Please check that the network interface IP Address / Broadcast Address / Subnet Mask settings are correct and that Samba has correctly noted these in the log.nmb file.
Run the command "nmblookup -B BIGSERVER __SAMBA__". You should get the IP address of your Samba server back.
If you don't then nmbd is incorrectly installed. Check your inetd.conf if you run it from there, or that the daemon is running and listening to udp port 137.
One common problem is that many inetd implementations can't take many parameters on the command line. If this is the case then create a one-line script that contains the right parameters and run that from inetd.
run the command "nmblookup -B ACLIENT '*'"
You should get the PCs IP address back. If you don't then the client software on the PC isn't installed correctly, or isn't started, or you got the name of the PC wrong.
# /usr/local/samba/bin/nmblookup -B winpc '*' querying * on 192.168.10.100 192.168.10.100 *<00>
If ACLIENT doesn't resolve via DNS then use the IP address of the client in the above test.
Run the command "nmblookup -d 2 '*'"
This time we are trying the same as the previous test but are trying it via a broadcast to the default broadcast address. A number of Netbios/TCPIP hosts on the network should respond, although Samba may not catch all of the responses in the short time it listens. You should see "got a positive name query response" messages from several hosts.
# /usr/local/samba/bin/nmblookup -d 2 '*' added interface ip=192.168.10.1 bcast=192.168.10.255 nmask=255.255.255.0 querying * on 192.168.10.255 Got a positive name query response from 192.168.10.15 ( 192.168.10.15 ) Got a positive name query response from 192.168.10.100 ( 192.168.10.100 ) Got a positive name query response from 192.168.10.1 ( 192.168.10.1 ) 192.168.10.15 *<00> 192.168.10.100 *<00> 192.168.10.1 *<00>
If this doesn't give a similar result to the previous test then nmblookup isn't correctly getting your broadcast address through its automatic mechanism. In this case you should experiment use the "interfaces" option in smb.conf to manually configure your IP address, broadcast and netmask.
If your PC and server aren't on the same subnet then you will need to use the -B option to set the broadcast address to the that of the PCs subnet.
This test will probably fail if your subnet mask and broadcast address are not correct. (Refer to TEST 3 notes above).
Run the command "smbclient //BIGSERVER/COMMON". You should then be
prompted for a password. You should use the password of the account
you are logged into the unix box with. If you want to test with
another account then add the -U
Note: It is possible to specify the password along with the username
as follows:
smbclient //bigserver/common -Ujohndoe%secret
Once you enter the password you should get the "smb>" prompt. If you
don't then look at the error message. If it says "invalid network
name" then the service "common" is not correctly setup in your smb.conf.
If it says "bad password" then the likely causes are:
- you have shadow passords (or some other password system) but didn't
compile in support for them in smbd
- your "valid users" configuration is incorrect
- you have a mixed case password and you haven't enabled the "password
level" option at a high enough level
- the "path =" line in smb.conf is incorrect. Check it with testparm
- you enabled password encryption but didn't create the SMB encrypted
password file
Once connected you should be able to use the commands "dir" "get"
"put" etc. Type "help
On the PC type the command "net view \\BIGSERVER". You will need to do
this from within a "dos prompt" window. You should get back a list of
available shares on the server.
If you get a "network name not found" or similar error then netbios
name resolution is not working. This is usually caused by a problem in
nmbd. To overcome it you could do one of the following (you only need
to choose one of them):
- fixup the nmbd installation
- add the IP address of BIGSERVER to the "wins server" box in the
advanced tcp/ip setup on the PC.
- enable windows name resolution via DNS in the advanced section of
the tcp/ip setup
- add BIGSERVER to your lmhosts file on the PC.
If you get a "invalid network name" or "bad password error" then the
same fixes apply as they did for the "smbclient -L" test above. In
particular, make sure your "hosts allow" line is correct (see the man
pages)
Also, do not overlook that fact that when the workstation requests the
connection to the samba server it will attempt to connect using the
name with which you logged onto your Windows machine. You need to make
sure that an account exists on your Samba server with that exact same
name and password.
If you get "specified computer is not receiving requests" or similar
it probably means that the host is not contactable via tcp services.
Check to see if the host is running tcp wrappers, and if so add an entry in
the hosts.allow file for your client (or subnet, etc.)
Run the command "net use x: \\BIGSERVER\TMP". You should be prompted
for a password then you should get a "command completed successfully"
message. If not then your PC software is incorrectly installed or your
smb.conf is incorrect. make sure your "hosts allow" and other config
lines in smb.conf are correct.
It's also possible that the server can't work out what user name to
connect you as. To see if this is the problem add the line "user =
USERNAME" to the [tmp] section of smb.conf where "USERNAME" is the
username corresponding to the password you typed. If you find this
fixes things you may need the username mapping option.
Run the command "nmblookup -M TESTGROUP" where TESTGROUP is the name
of the workgroup that your Samba server and Windows PCs belong to. You
should get back the IP address of the master browser for that
workgroup.
If you don't then the election process has failed. Wait a minute to
see if it is just being slow then try again. If it still fails after
that then look at the browsing options you have set in smb.conf. Make
sure you have "preferred master = yes" to ensure that an election is
held at startup.
From file manager try to browse the server. Your samba server should
appear in the browse list of your local workgroup (or the one you
specified in smb.conf). You should be able to double click on the name
of the server and get a list of shares. If you get a "invalid
password" error when you do then you are probably running WinNT and it
is refusing to browse a server that has no encrypted password
capability and is in user level security mode. In this case either set
"security = server" AND "password server = Windows_NT_Machine" in your
smb.conf file, or enable encrypted passwords AFTER compiling in support
for encrypted passwords (refer to the Makefile).
Try the mailing list or newsgroup, or use the tcpdump-smb utility to
sniff the problem. The official samba mailing list can be reached at
samba@samba.org. To find out more about samba and how to
subscribe to the mailing list check out the samba web page at
http://samba.org/samba
Also look at the other docs in the Samba package!
# /usr/local/samba/bin/smbclient //pluto/common
password:
added interface ip=192.168.10.1 bcast=192.168.10.255 nmask=255.255.255.0
Anonymous login successful
Domain=[REMOTE] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 2.2.8]
smb: \>
TEST 8:
TEST 9:
TEST 10:
# /usr/local/samba/bin/nmblookup -M REMOTE
querying REMOTE on 192.168.10.255
192.168.10.1 REMOTE<1d>
TEST 11:
Still having troubles?