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netbios-ns 137/udp

If you use NIS, NIS+, or LDAP to distribute services maps, they will be consulted instead of the /etc/services file. However, the steps just shown are worth going through, because systems sometimes fall back on /etc/services.

Next, edit your /etc/inetd.conf file and add two lines such as the following:

netbios-ssn stream tcp nowait root /usr/local/samba/bin/smbd smbd

netbios-ns dgram udp wait root /usr/local/samba/bin/nmbd nmbd

The exact syntax of /etc/inetd.conf varies between Linux distributions. Look at the other entries in inetd.conf for a guide.

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Tip

Some distributions already have entries such as netbios_ns (note the underscore) in /etc/services. You must edit /etc/services or /etc/inetd.conf to make them consistent.

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Some distributions use xinetd instead of inetd. Consult the xinetd manual for configuration information.

On many systems, you need to use the interfaces option in smb.conf to specify the IP addresses and netmasks of your interfaces. Run ifconfig as root if you do not know this information. nmbd tries to determine it at runtime, but fails on some systems.

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Warning

On many distributions, a maximum of five arguments are allowed on command lines in inetd.conf. One way to avoid hitting this limit is to omit the spaces between options and arguments (e.g., write -fname instead of -f name). If you absolutely can't stay within the five-option limit, create a one-line script that invokes the command and start the script from inetd.

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Having enabled Samba operation in inetd, you have to restart inetd. To do this, just send it a HUP, like this:

linux:~ # killall -HUP inetd

Starting the Samba daemons with default compilations. If you installed Samba from a source code distribution, you need a script that starts and stops the daemons. You may be able to find and copy such a script from a Samba binary package for your distribution—but check the directory names to make sure they correspond to where you actually built and installed the files. Alternatively, we'll show you how to write and install your own script.

When started from a script, smbd and nmbd must be started with the -D option, so that they will detach themselves and run as daemons.

After you have tested the script and you are sure it works, create the appropriate symbolic links in your /etc/rcN.d directories to start Samba in the run level you normally run in, and stop Samba when changing to other run levels.

This information applies to systems on which Samba has been compiled locally using the Samba default arguments to the configure command. To start the server as a daemon, you should create a script something like this one, perhaps calling it startsmb:

#!/bin/sh

/usr/local/samba/bin/smbd -D

/usr/local/samba/bin/winbindd

/usr/local/samba/bin/nmbd -D

Make it executable with

linux:~ # chmod +x startsmb

You can then run startsmb by hand, and add it to a system rc script.

If your smb.conf file is error-free, it is rare for the daemons to fail to run. Still, you might want to run a ps ax command and check that they are in the list of active processes. If not, take a look at the Samba logfiles, log.smbd and log.nmbd, for error messages.

To stop Samba, send a kill signal to the nmbd and smbd processes. On Debian, you can use the killall command, sending them the SIGTERM signal:

# killall -TERM smbd nmbd

Controlling Samba execution on Debian Linux. The samba script can be used to start, stop, or restart Samba.

linux:~ # /etc/init.d/samba start

Controlling Samba execution on SUSE and Red Hat Linux. SUSE Linux implements individual control over each Samba daemon. A Samba control script that can be conveniently executed from the command line is shown in Example 15-1. This can be located in the directory /sbin in a file called samba. This type of control script should be owned by user root and group root, and set so that only root can execute it.

Example 15-1. A useful Samba control script for SUSE Linux

#!/bin/bash