IP address lookup of samba clients

poblano · 10-22-2006, 03:52 PM

I am running Samba on my Linux desktop to back up data to a network share. Unfortunately I can't seem to mount by hostname - only by IP address:

root@brixton=> smbclient -L localhost -N
Domain=[WORKGROUP] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 3.0.23c-1.fc5]

Sharename Type Comment
--------- ---- -------
IPC$ IPC IPC Service (BLAG Linux and GNU)
tmp Disk
www Disk
home Disk
print$ Disk Printer Drivers
printer Printer printer
Domain=[WORKGROUP] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 3.0.23c-1.fc5]

Server Comment
--------- -------
BEEFY Bethany's Compaq Presario
BRIXTON BLAG Linux and GNU
LAPDOG Mary's Dell Laptop
MAXY
TREY Compaq Presario

Workgroup Master
--------- -------
WORKGROUP BRIXTON

root@brixton=> mount -o username=pablo //trey/backups /mnt
mount error: could not find target server. TCP name trey/backups not found
No ip address specified and hostname not found

This operation works fine if I use an IP address instead of a hostname. My question is this: is there a way to find out the IP addresses associated with the servers on the network without walking over to each PC and typing "ipconfig" at the command line? Alternatively, is there a way to perform the above mount command by hostname instead of IP address?

Thanks in advance...

fordeck · 10-23-2006, 10:09 AM

I believe you can set samba up as a "WINS" server. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I think all you have to do is edit your smb.conf with the following lines in the global section:

Code:

wins support = yes
name reslove order = wins lmhosts hosts bcast

All so if your hosts that have shares on them have static ip address's you can add an entry in the /etc/hosts file for them. However if your using DHCP this won't work.

Let us know if this helps.

timmeke · 10-23-2006, 10:15 AM

To translate IP addresses to hostnames and vice-versa, you should look into using "nslookup", "dig" or "host". If the servers are defined in DNS, that is.

Also, on Linux, you're supposed to type "ifconfig", not "ipconfig" (Windows).

poblano · 10-23-2006, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by timmeke

To translate IP addresses to hostnames and vice-versa, you should look into using "nslookup", "dig" or "host". If the servers are defined in DNS, that is.

Unfortunately, the servers in question are not in DNS, but rather are DHCP clients on a small home LAN.

Quote:

Originally Posted by timmeke

Also, on Linux, you're supposed to type "ifconfig", not "ipconfig" (Windows).

My desktop is a Linux box, but everything else on our LAN is a Windows PC, hence the use of ipconfig. Since the IP addresses are served up via DHCP, my goal is to reference hosts by name and not by IP if at all possible.

poblano · 10-23-2006, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fordeck

I believe you can set samba up as a "WINS" server. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I think all you have to do is edit your smb.conf with the following lines in the global section:

Code:

wins support = yes
name reslove order = wins lmhosts hosts bcast

All so if your hosts that have shares on them have static ip address's you can add an entry in the /etc/hosts file for them. However if your using DHCP this won't work.

Let us know if this helps.

Thanks for the reply. I'll definitely try WINS authentication first, and will revert to static IP addresses as a last resort.

andrewdodsworth · 10-23-2006, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fordeck

I believe you can set samba up as a "WINS" server. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I think all you have to do is edit your smb.conf with the following lines in the global section:

Code:

wins support = yes
name reslove order = wins lmhosts hosts bcast

Slight typo, should read :

Code:

wins support = yes
name resolve order = wins lmhosts hosts bcast

timmeke · 10-24-2006, 01:52 AM

Well, in that case, Wins indeed seems a good approach.

Alternatively, you could try to find out which leases are issued by the DHCP server (the DHCP server temporarily "leases" an IP address to the client). You may need to turn on the get-lease-hostname parameter in your dhcpd.conf, which is not recommended for large networks and may slow down DHCPD performance significantly.
See also
http://www.howtoforge.com/dhcp_serve...x_debian_sarge
and the file /var/lib/dhcp3/dhcpd.leases
for instance.
The Wins approach is probably easier and safer, so I'd try that first.

poblano · 10-24-2006, 06:29 PM

I changed my smb.conf file to turn on WINS but still couldn't mount a network share by name:

Code:

root@brixton=> mount -o username=pablo //trey/backups /mnt
mount error: could not find target server. TCP name trey/backups not found
No ip address specified and hostname not found

I could, however, look up IP addresses on my network, which might prove a reasonable workaround:

Code:

pablo@brixton=> nmblookup trey
querying trey on 192.168.0.255
192.168.0.5 trey<00>
pablo@brixton=> nmblookup beefy
querying beefy on 192.168.0.255
192.168.0.3 beefy<00>

Thanks to everyone for the helpful replies.

fordeck · 10-25-2006, 08:21 AM

Check your windows clients to make sure the "WINS" server is assigned in your TCP/IP properties.