Samba server not 'broadcasting' its presence?

mjc506 · 2010-07-03 23:31:52

Hiya, 1st post here, so I apologise if I breach one of the rules I've forgotten.

I've got samba-server set up on my main machine, but when I try to access the samba shares (through nautilus' 'Network' link) I can only see a 'Windows Network' entry, and clicking that brings up an error message: 'Failed to retrieve share list from server'. Accessing the shared locations on the filesystem works fine.

From other machines (Windows 7, XP, and Ubuntu) I can see (ie, they are listed in the gui) the other machines on the network, but not the shares on my main machine. However, if I tell the other machines to go to smb://<myip> the shares show up fine, and I can access files etc etc.

No messages in the logs about samba, other than during startup and when another machine connects.

iptables is set to allow all outgoing connections, and ports 137-139 and 145 incoming, so it shouldn't be blocking anything.

I must be honest and say that I have no real idea of the underlying mechanics of samba, but it sounds to me like whatever 'I am at <ip> with <shares>' broadcasts are being blocked/ignored/just not happening.

Any ideas?

mcsilva · 2010-07-04 22:13:34

Are all the computers in the same subnet?
WORKGROUP is the same in all computers?

mjc506 · 2010-07-06 18:48:21

Yup, all the same subnet and all WORKGROUP.

ewaller · 2010-07-06 19:55:49

It can take a while. I assume you still have connection problems after many minutes.

Anything interesting in the system logs of the Windows machines about SMB (I think Microsoft calls it the event viewer [At least it was on XP]) Look for things like voting for domain master and such things. Anything of interest in your Samba logs?

mjc506 · 2010-07-07 18:12:16

Yeah, my machine is up 24/7, and the other machines have all been on for a few hours at least. The windows samba shares show up immediately too. Nothing in any of the logs, windows or linux. Good point about domain master - win7 appears to think it's some kind of deity for most other stuff too... I'll grab a wireshark log and see if I can get anything.

zenlord · 2010-07-08 13:09:11

I assume you have set up your networkdevice to broadcast on the network?
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Con … _Static_IP

When I installed my mediaserver, I had to add a 'multicast'-route to my eth0-config, like this:

# /etc/rc.conf
eth0="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(eth0)
gateway="default gw 192.168.0.1"
multicast="-net 239.0.0.0 netmask 255.0.0.0 eth0"
ROUTES=(!gateway multicast)

This should make it possible for my ps3 to find the mediaserver on the network. I have no idea how that works - if I would, I would have changed my setup into using 'netcfg' instead of 'network'...

HTH

/EDIT: I just remembered that 'avahi-daemon' is a daemon that does just that: broadcasting services on the network. You might want to try that out.

Last edited by zenlord (2010-07-08 13:27:39)

hokasch · 2010-07-08 14:06:06

Only skimmed it, but this article looks like a good overview.

if I would, I would have changed my setup into using 'netcfg' instead of 'network'...

you could add "-net 239.0.0.0 netmask 255.0.0.0 eth0" to the gateway line in the network profile, or make use of POST/PRE_UP (route add -net ...).

mjc506 · 2010-07-09 19:37:56

Thanks for those links.

I've kinda cheated, and used the gnome network manager, although this works fine in *buntu. I've tried with the above style setup, but there's been no change unfortunately. I also have avahi installed and running with a samba entry. (Which is correct - borrowed from when this machine was running ubuntu)

I've been reading up a bit, and apparently samba should broadcast with netbios? Or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

Arch Linux

#1 2010-07-03 23:31:52

Samba server not 'broadcasting' its presence?

#2 2010-07-04 22:13:34

Re: Samba server not 'broadcasting' its presence?

#3 2010-07-06 18:48:21

Re: Samba server not 'broadcasting' its presence?

#4 2010-07-06 19:55:49

Re: Samba server not 'broadcasting' its presence?

#5 2010-07-07 18:12:16

Re: Samba server not 'broadcasting' its presence?

#6 2010-07-08 13:09:11

Re: Samba server not 'broadcasting' its presence?

#7 2010-07-08 14:06:06

Re: Samba server not 'broadcasting' its presence?

#8 2010-07-09 19:37:56

Re: Samba server not 'broadcasting' its presence?

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