NMBD(8)			  System Administration tools		       NMBD(8)



NAME
       nmbd - NetBIOS name server to provide NetBIOS over IP naming services
       to clients

SYNOPSIS
       nmbd [-D|--daemon] [-F|--foreground] [-S|--log-stdout]
	[-i|--interactive] [-V] [-d <debug level>] [-H|--hosts <lmhosts file>]
	[-l <log directory>] [-p|--port <port number>]
	[-s <configuration file>] [--no-process-group]

DESCRIPTION
       This program is part of the samba(7) suite.

       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.

       SMB/CIFS clients, when they start up, may wish to locate an SMB/CIFS
       server. That is, they wish to know what IP number a specified host is
       using.

       Amongst other services, nmbd will listen for such requests, and if its
       own NetBIOS name is specified it will respond with the IP number of the
       host it is running on. Its "own NetBIOS name" is by default the primary
       DNS name of the host it is running on, but this can be overridden by
       the netbios name in smb.conf. Thus nmbd will reply to broadcast queries
       for its own name(s). Additional names for nmbd to respond on can be set
       via parameters in the smb.conf(5) configuration file.

       nmbd can also be used as a WINS (Windows Internet Name Server) server.
       What this basically means is that it will act as a WINS database
       server, creating a database from name registration requests that it
       receives and replying to queries from clients for these names.

       In addition, nmbd can act as a WINS proxy, relaying broadcast queries
       from clients that do not understand how to talk the WINS protocol to a
       WINS server.

OPTIONS
       -D|--daemon
	   If specified, this parameter causes nmbd to operate as a daemon.
	   That is, it detaches itself and runs in the background, fielding
	   requests on the appropriate port. By default, nmbd will operate as
	   a daemon if launched from a command shell. nmbd can also be
	   operated from the inetd meta-daemon, although this is not
	   recommended.

       -F|--foreground
	   If specified, this parameter causes the main nmbd process to not
	   daemonize, i.e. double-fork and disassociate with the terminal.
	   Child processes are still created as normal to service each
	   connection request, but the main process does not exit. This
	   operation mode is suitable for running nmbd under process
	   supervisors such as supervise and svscan from Daniel J. Bernstein's
	   daemontools package, or the AIX process monitor.

       -S|--log-stdout
	   If specified, this parameter causes nmbd to log to standard output
	   rather than a file.

       -i|--interactive
	   If this parameter is specified it causes the server to run
	   "interactively", not as a daemon, even if the server is executed on
	   the command line of a shell. Setting this parameter negates the
	   implicit daemon mode when run from the command line.	 nmbd also
	   logs to standard output, as if the -S parameter had been given.

       -?|--help
	   Print a summary of command line options.

       --usage
	   Display brief usage message.

       -H|--hosts <filename>
	   NetBIOS lmhosts file. The lmhosts file is a list of NetBIOS names
	   to IP addresses that is loaded by the nmbd server and used via the
	   name resolution mechanism name resolve order described in
	   smb.conf(5) to resolve any NetBIOS name queries needed by the
	   server. Note that the contents of this file are NOT used by nmbd to
	   answer any name queries. Adding a line to this file affects name
	   NetBIOS resolution from this host ONLY.

	   The default path to this file is compiled into Samba as part of the
	   build process. Common defaults are /usr/local/samba/lib/lmhosts,
	   /usr/samba/lib/lmhosts or /etc/samba/lmhosts. See the lmhosts(5)
	   man page for details on the contents of this file.

       -d|--debuglevel=level
	   level is an integer from 0 to 10. The default value if this
	   parameter is not specified is 0.

	   The higher this value, the more detail will be logged to the log
	   files about the activities of the server. At level 0, only critical
	   errors and serious warnings will be logged. Level 1 is a reasonable
	   level for day-to-day running - it generates a small amount of
	   information about operations carried out.

	   Levels above 1 will generate considerable amounts of log data, and
	   should only be used when investigating a problem. Levels above 3
	   are designed for use only by developers and generate HUGE amounts
	   of log data, most of which is extremely cryptic.

	   Note that specifying this parameter here will override the log
	   level parameter in the smb.conf file.

       -V|--version
	   Prints the program version number.

       -s|--configfile=<configuration file>
	   The file specified contains the configuration details required by
	   the server. The information in this file includes server-specific
	   information such as what printcap file to use, as well as
	   descriptions of all the services that the server is to provide. See
	   smb.conf for more information. The default configuration file name
	   is determined at compile time.

       -l|--log-basename=logdirectory
	   Base directory name for log/debug files. The extension ".progname"
	   will be appended (e.g. log.smbclient, log.smbd, etc...). The log
	   file is never removed by the client.

       --option=<name>=<value>
	   Set the smb.conf(5) option "<name>" to value "<value>" from the
	   command line. This overrides compiled-in defaults and options read
	   from the configuration file.

       -p|--port <UDP port number>
	   UDP port number is a positive integer value. This option changes
	   the default UDP port number (normally 137) that nmbd responds to
	   name queries on. Don't use this option unless you are an expert, in
	   which case you won't need help!

       --no-process-group
	   Do not create a new process group for nmbd.

FILES
       /etc/inetd.conf
	   If the server is to be run by the inetd meta-daemon, this file must
	   contain suitable startup information for the meta-daemon.

       /etc/rc
	   or whatever initialization script your system uses).

	   If running the server as a daemon at startup, this file will need
	   to contain an appropriate startup sequence for the server.

       /etc/services
	   If running the server via the meta-daemon inetd, this file must
	   contain a mapping of service name (e.g., netbios-ssn) to service
	   port (e.g., 139) and protocol type (e.g., tcp).

       /usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf
	   This is the default location of the smb.conf(5) server
	   configuration file. Other common places that systems install this
	   file are /usr/samba/lib/smb.conf and /etc/samba/smb.conf.

	   When run as a WINS server (see the wins support parameter in the
	   smb.conf(5) man page), nmbd will store the WINS database in the
	   file wins.dat in the var/locks directory configured under wherever
	   Samba was configured to install itself.

	   If nmbd is acting as a
	    browse master (see the local master parameter in the smb.conf(5)
	   man page, nmbd will store the browsing database in the file
	   browse.dat in the var/locks directory configured under wherever
	   Samba was configured to install itself.

SIGNALS
       To shut down an nmbd process it is recommended that SIGKILL (-9) NOT be
       used, except as a last resort, as this may leave the name database in
       an inconsistent state. The correct way to terminate nmbd is to send it
       a SIGTERM (-15) signal and wait for it to die on its own.

       nmbd will accept SIGHUP, which will cause it to dump out its namelists
       into the file namelist.debug in the /usr/local/samba/var/locks
       directory (or the var/locks directory configured under wherever Samba
       was configured to install itself). This will also cause nmbd to dump
       out its server database in the log.nmb file.

       The debug log level of nmbd may be raised or lowered using
       smbcontrol(1) (SIGUSR[1|2] signals are no longer used since Samba 2.2).
       This is to allow transient problems to be diagnosed, whilst still
       running at a normally low log level.

VERSION
       This man page is part of version 4.10.16 of the Samba suite.

SEE ALSO
       inetd(8), smbd(8), smb.conf(5), smbclient(1), testparm(1), and the
       Internet RFC's rfc1001.txt, rfc1002.txt. In addition the CIFS (formerly
       SMB) specification is available as a link from the Web page
       https://www.samba.org/cifs/.

AUTHOR
       The original Samba software and related utilities were created by
       Andrew Tridgell. Samba is now developed by the Samba Team as an Open
       Source project similar to the way the Linux kernel is developed.



Samba 4.10.16			  11/17/2023			       NMBD(8)