Unable to ping netbios names from linux

Hi,

I'm running Redhat 9.0 and have another windows xp.

I have set up samba on linux and I'am able to share
linux directories with my windows xp. I can also
ping the linux server from then windows xp but I can't
do the reverse. I can't ping xp from linux by name.

I have set up xp to use the ip of the linux server for
its WINS server.

smb.conf is set with the following:
wins support = yes
wins proxy = yes

>From what I've read this should be sufficient to be
able to let linux ping netbios names. Since that
doesn't work I've also tried populating lmhosts with
ip and netbios name of xp and pass it with -H arg to
nmbd.

That still didn't work.

Any help would be very much appreciated.
Thank you

Budyanto Himawan wrote:

> I have set up samba on linux and I'am able to share
> linux directories with my windows xp. I can also
> ping the linux server from then windows xp but I can't
> do the reverse. I can't ping xp from linux by name.
>
> I have set up xp to use the ip of the linux server for
> its WINS server.
>
> smb.conf is set with the following:
> wins support = yes
> wins proxy = yes
>
> >From what I've read this should be sufficient to be
> able to let linux ping netbios names. Since that
> doesn't work I've also tried populating lmhosts with
> ip and netbios name of xp and pass it with -H arg to
> nmbd.

Ordinarily, NetBIOS names are used only by Samba and related tools, which
ping is not. Thus, registering the NetBIOS name of the XP box won't let
you address it by name from Linux. In most cases, you can get it working
by adding "wins" to the list of name-resolution methods on the "hosts"
line in /etc/nsswitch.conf. Chances are this line looks like the
following right now:

hosts: files nisplus nis dns

Try changing it to read as follows:

hosts: files nisplus nis dns wins

What this does is to tell Linux to use NetBIOS name resolution ("wins")
after all other resolution methods ("file" for /etc/hosts, "nisplus" and
"nis" for NIS+ and NIS, and "dns" for DNS). If I understand correctly,
"wins" is actually a bit of a misnomer because a WINS server isn't
actually required (it'll work off of broadcasts). I haven't looked into
this in great depth, though. My guess is it takes some data from the
smb.conf file, like the workgroup name.

Other approaches to resolving this problem include adding the name and
static IP address of the XP box to your local DNS server, adding the name
and static IP address of the XP box to your Linux system's /etc/hosts
file, and using the Samba "wins hook" parameter to link Samba with your
DNS server to dynamically update the DNS server with NetBIOS names. (This
last option is ugly and tedious to set up.)

--
Rod Smith, (E-Mail Removed)
http://www.rodsbooks.com
Author of books on Linux, FreeBSD, and networking

Rod Smith wrote:
> Budyanto Himawan wrote:
>
>
>>I have set up samba on linux and I'am able to share
>>linux directories with my windows xp. I can also
>>ping the linux server from then windows xp but I can't
>>do the reverse. I can't ping xp from linux by name.
>>
>>I have set up xp to use the ip of the linux server for
>>its WINS server.
>>
>>smb.conf is set with the following:
>>wins support = yes
>>wins proxy = yes
>>
>> >From what I've read this should be sufficient to be
>>able to let linux ping netbios names. Since that
>>doesn't work I've also tried populating lmhosts with
>>ip and netbios name of xp and pass it with -H arg to
>>nmbd.
>
>
> Ordinarily, NetBIOS names are used only by Samba and related tools, which
> ping is not. Thus, registering the NetBIOS name of the XP box won't let
> you address it by name from Linux. In most cases, you can get it working
> by adding "wins" to the list of name-resolution methods on the "hosts"
> line in /etc/nsswitch.conf. Chances are this line looks like the
> following right now:
>
> hosts: files nisplus nis dns
>
> Try changing it to read as follows:
>
> hosts: files nisplus nis dns wins
>

Thanks you. This works. I had to enter ip to name mapping in lmhosts
though and run winbindd which comes with samba. This is quite complicated.

Putting just the names into /etc/hosts does work too and it seems much
simpler.

Thanks

> What this does is to tell Linux to use NetBIOS name resolution ("wins")
> after all other resolution methods ("file" for /etc/hosts, "nisplus" and
> "nis" for NIS+ and NIS, and "dns" for DNS). If I understand correctly,
> "wins" is actually a bit of a misnomer because a WINS server isn't
> actually required (it'll work off of broadcasts). I haven't looked into
> this in great depth, though. My guess is it takes some data from the
> smb.conf file, like the workgroup name.
>
> Other approaches to resolving this problem include adding the name and
> static IP address of the XP box to your local DNS server, adding the name
> and static IP address of the XP box to your Linux system's /etc/hosts
> file, and using the Samba "wins hook" parameter to link Samba with your
> DNS server to dynamically update the DNS server with NetBIOS names. (This
> last option is ugly and tedious to set up.)
>