I have Samba set up to share files between a Linux box and a Win98 box. It works fine except for a small browse problem. The Linux box is the local master browser. I verified this both from the Linux log file (/var/log/messages) and from the Win98 box using c:\>nbtstat -a <linux box>.

The /var/lib/samba/browse.dat file on the Linux box includes the following:
"HOME" c0001000 "LINUX" "HOME"
"LINUX" 40059a23 "Samba 2.2.5" "HOME"

HOME is the workgroup. Linux is the Linux box. There is no entry for the Win98 box. The Win98 box also does not appear in Network Neighborhood or LinNeighborhood. What might cause the Win98 box from not being being added to the browse.dat file on the Linux box even though file sharing works fine? Thanks.

Answer in this case is the firewall. By turnng on and off the the firewall I now realize that my SuSEfirewall2 is blocking the communication needed for nmbd to add the Win98 box to browse.dat.

I tried to run the firewall with ports 137:139 open but still the browse.dat file did not get updated to include the Win98 box. Even if I add the Win98 box manually it is removed after an automatic refresh.

Now my question is how to configure the firewall. Thanks for any replies.

I think you need all three ports 137,138, and 139 accepting connections.