Can't See Samba server in network neighbourhood

Hello you all

I have finally got Samba up and running and i am able to log in from a windows box to the linux box thats running samba. I can see all the shared drives. The issue is that I can not see the linux box in the network neighbourhood in windows. What am i missing.

I have given the windows box a static ip of 192.168.1.110
and the linux box is eth0: 192.168.1.2

please help.

I am unclear about your problem. How do you manage to login in to the linux box if you cannot see it in your network neighborhood? The only thing I can think of at this stage is that your linux box and the windows box are on different workgroups. Make sure both are on the same one.

I'm having the same problem. I can see my box on the w2k network neighbourhood but can't access it by double-clicking the icon. I CAN however access and browse the shares by using the servers IP address. I read somewhere, and I think that I need to open the netbios ports on my firewall? I'm sure if this will do it and I'm not exactly sure the best way to go about doing this - if this is the problem.

workgroup in windows 98 is set to logon to a domain.
I have set the domain name up in sbm.conf to be the same as login domain for windows, should i be setting the workgroup name up in linux somewhere else???

name resolution.... you must have a wins server or host file entries to browse via network neighborhood.

T3 - could you please elaborate? Where do I set these up?

It's a windows thing - you need either WINS running on a windows server or adjust the hosts file on the local windows machine to include the name of your server and the ip address. You can just search for "hosts" on windows and you'll find it

thanks madturki

I edited the hosts file in windows and added the ip address and the hostname of the linux box , rebooted and logged into windows with samba user and passwd - open up network neighbourhood - and still i see NOTHING - only the icon for Entire Network - i click on this and it says
"unable to browse the network"

please help i am stumped

Hers is my smb.conf in case this will help solve my problem

# Creation Date: 2003/10/26

# Global parameters
[global]
workgroup = XXX
netbios name = samba
server string = Samba Server
encrypt passwords = Yes
#username map = /usr/local/samba/lib/usermap
log file = /var/log/samba.%m
max log size = 50
time server = Yes
deadtime = 30
mangled stack = 100
directory mask = 775
domain admin group = root
add user script = /usr/sbin/useradd -d /dev/null -g machines -s /bin/false -M %u
logon script = %G.bat
logon path = \\samba\profiles\%U
logon drive = H:
logon home = \\samba\home\.profile
domain logons = Yes
os level = 66
preferred master = True
domain master = True
dns proxy = No
wins support = Yes
guest account = pcguest
hosts allow = 192.168.1. 127.

[home]
comment = Home Directories
path = /home/%u
read only = No
guest ok = Yes
browseable = No

[netlogon]
comment = Network Logon Service
path = /var/lib/samba/netlogon
guest ok = Yes

[profiles]
path = /shares/ntprofile
read only = No
create mask = 0700
directory mask = 0700

[cdrom]
path = /cdrom
guest ok = Yes

[root]
path = /
valid users = root
read only = No
browseable = No

[management]
comment = Management
path = /shares/management
valid users = root, @management
read only = No
create mask = 0770
directory mask = 0770

[administration]
comment = Administration
path = /shares/administration
valid users = root, @management, @administration
read only = No
create mask = 0770
directory mask = 0770

[instructors]
path = /shares/instructors
valid users = root, @management, @administration, @instructors
read only = No
create mask = 0770
directory mask = 0770

[students]
path = /shares/students
valid users = root, @management, @administration, @instructors, @students
read only = No
create mask = 0770
directory mask = 0770

#[printers]
# comment = All Printers
# path = /var/spool/samba
# printable = Yes
# browseable = No

#[laserjet]
# comment = lj
# path = /var/spool/samba
# read only = No
# guest ok = Yes
# printable = Yes
# printer name = laserjet

all windows oses use what is called the "windows browser service" to provide an easy method of listing (what you see in network neighborhood) available computers in your workgroup and also distributing resources (in the case of printers).

More detail. When you open network neighborhood what exactly are you looking at? one might guess that you are broadcasting for available resources, and available computers/servers/etc are responding back... unfortunately that would cause an enormous amount of traffic and duplication on your network (every windows host would broacast out all the time to maintain thier own list of resources??? way to much traffic, plus is a duplication of effort).

Instead, each workgroup uses a "master browser" computer to maintain a single list of all avail resources, and client computers connect to the master browser for a listing (double clicking on net neighborhood). who gets to be master browser? an "election" process that occurs online decides... typicall a PDC, or server computer will be master by default, but you can change registry settings on any windows or samba box to raise or lower thier ranking.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tre...t4/tcpappi.asp

above link is required reading, and will fill in the gaps of what I have told you already.

ANYHOW - back to your dilemma. first , start by checking the event log on your windows client that cant connect (right mouse click my computer - manage - event viewer). you may already have clues in thier like "cant contact master browser .xxx). you can connect by ip address but not thru net neiborhood. that means you have connectivity and are authenticating, but are not getting the "browse list" from your workgroups master broswer. thier is no real answer to fixing that... you must understand the process and troubleshoot.

I mentioned the host file entries or WINS because those to name translation methods are another very imp component of windows networking to understand. more detail. whenever you use the \\computername\sharname command or the NET USE command to map a network drive, you are specifying the NETBIOS name of the computer you would like to connect to. computer names mean nothing with regard to netowrking ( you cant address something to COMPUTER1 then send it out on the network??? it need an address to be networkd), so your computer must have a method of translating these "friendly" names into ip addresses. how does this happen? your computer first tries to contact what is called a WINS Server. this is a winodws or samba "service" or server that provides mappings/translations from netbios names (computernames) to ip addresses. if that doesnt work, your computer then checks its own hosts file (c:\window\system32\drivers\hosts on a windows box \etc\hosts on a linux box) to see if it has an entry (such as: computer1 10.1.1.16) to translate and provide the ip address. for effective networking, every computer (windows and linux) must have a host file entry for every other computer on your network.

Samba includes a WINS server out of the box. read up on that.

also check the microsoft technet sight to understand wins.

question... why is it so important that you use network neighborhood? as noted above, why not use the \\ or net use command to map drives and such?

here is my client computers host file....

~~~~~~~~~`
# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
127.0.0.1 localhost
10.1.1.3 tpc003
10.1.1.5 tpc001
10.1.1.6 tpc005
10.1.1.7 tpc007
10.1.1.8 tpc008
10.1.1.9 tpc004
10.2.1.254 ls001
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

T3

thanx a million for the discussion pertaining to my dilemma. I will do some serious reading up.

question... why is it so important that you use network neighborhood? as noted above, why not use the \\ or net use command to map drives and such?

ANSWER: I am replicating a current system onto better machines and I started from scratch so that i could learn the process - and currently in the existing system - one is able to open network neighbourhood and see the samba server as well as all the printers available. But since my log in scripts for samba work great - the only thing left is the printers to add - and i should be able to add them via \\ or net use - RIGHT??????

you could also run an internal dns server (your linux server) then u can acces by name

eye

>The issue is that I can not see the linux box in the network neighbourhood in windows.
>192.168.1.110 and the linux box is eth0: 192.168.1.2

both with a netmask of 255.255.255.0 right?


>workgroup in windows 98 is set to logon to a domain.
Do you actually have a domain and a domain controller server?

For networking at home you are better using a workgroup.

A workgroup and a domain are different things. You use one
or the other.

> name resolution.... you must have a wins server or host file
>entries to browse via network neighborhood.

An entry in the hosts or lmhosts file will not make a server
appear in network neighbourhood. Hosts just maps names to
ip addresses, it only works on names you type in.

If you are talking about a windows domain then I don't know.
In a setup with a workgroup you don't need a wins server.

>your computer first tries to contact what is called a WINS Server
Not unless it has specifically been configured to use a wins
server. If it has been set to be part of a workgroup as normal
then it will talk to the browse master.

Name resoloution through wins is diferent to name resoloution
through NETBIOS.

Windows networking give me a headache.

I was having this problem as well, I could log into my samba server from win2k, and map a network drive to it, but I couldn't see it in 'my network places'. t3's answer (and a lot of other searching) helped me out alot and I un-commented this out of the default smb.conf

local master = no

and restarted samba and it worked. Just thought I would share. BTW I edited my /etc/sysconfig/network and /etc/hosts files and added my name to them (not localhost) so now my samba computer name is buzz and it shows up as buzz in the network neighbourhood. Hope that helps some people.