Configuring NETBIOS/Samba

[Tom Taylor]

Hi,

I'm using Fedora Core 1, dual booted with Windows XP, on a small house 
network (5-6 PCs). The router, a Linksys 4 port is managing DHCP, and 
we're all on Class C.

I'm trying to get Fedora to share folders with the Windows machines, as 
well as just interact via hostnames. If I type 'ping windowsbox', it 
cannot find the IP in Fedora, whereas it will find it easily in XP. 
Presumably this is due to some sort of NETBIOS DNS lookup.

I have configured the workgroup in Samba, and the hostname of the 
machine is 'tom'.

So, what do I need to configure to allow my fedora box to see my windows 
machines through DNS? I should also mention that they change IPs 
regularly, so keeping the whole network static and using /etc/hosts is 
not an option.

I've tried the ol' Google, but to no avail. Maybe I was searching for 
the wrong thing.

Thanks!

--
Tom Taylor
<tom(a)tomtaylor.co.uk&gt;

[Roger Grosswiler]

If you really want this, you can (not very, but still) easily install the
bind-dns-server on your linux-box with the linux-dhcp-server (preferable)
as dynamic-dns-server. i do so with my servers at home, this works very
fine and is not that hard...
howto for dhcp-server-config:
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-9-Manual/custom-guide/s1-dhc...
howto for bind
:http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=80095&highlight=ddns
(seems not that bad...)
so you will get your ips updated, if you customize also your
dhclient-script on your clients (linux-clients only) and tell all your
clients where to find your dns-server...
HTH
Roger
>  I'm using Fedora Core 1, dual booted with Windows XP, on a small house
>  network (5-6 PCs). The router, a Linksys 4 port is managing DHCP, and
>  we're all on Class C.
>
>  I'm trying to get Fedora to share folders with the Windows machines, as
>  well as just interact via hostnames. If I type 'ping windowsbox', it
>  cannot find the IP in Fedora, whereas it will find it easily in XP.
>  Presumably this is due to some sort of NETBIOS DNS lookup. 
yes, it seems so, you
have your samba-server also configured as
netbios-server?
>  I have configured the workgroup in Samba, and the hostname of the
>  machine is 'tom'.
>
>  So, what do I need to configure to allow my fedora box to see my windows
>  machines through DNS?
> I should also mention that they change IPs 
but in this case, you should forget about
the linksys-server-functionality.
>  regularly, so keeping the whole network static and using /etc/hosts
> is
>  not an option.
>
>  I've tried the ol' Google, but to no avail. Maybe I was searching for
>  the wrong thing.
>
>  Thanks!
>
>  --
>  Tom Taylor
>  <tom(a)tomtaylor.co.uk&gt;
>
>
>  --
>  fedora-list mailing list
>  fedora-list(a)redhat.com
>  To unsubscribe: http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
>

[Tom Taylor]

Roger Grosswiler wrote:
>  If you really want this, you can (not very, but still) easily install
> the
>  bind-dns-server on your linux-box with the linux-dhcp-server (preferable)
>  as dynamic-dns-server. i do so with my servers at home, this works very
>  fine and is not that hard...
>  howto for dhcp-server-config:
>
> http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-9-Manual/custom-guide/s1-dhc...
>  howto for bind
>
> :http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=80095&highlight=ddns
>  (seems not that bad...)
>  so you will get your ips updated, if you customize also your
>  dhclient-script on your clients (linux-clients only) and tell all your
>  clients where to find your dns-server...
>  HTH
>  Roger 
Thanks Roger, but I feel this solution is a little over the top for my 
home network. Surely there must be a way of doing NETBIOS DNS lookup 
under Fedora? That's all I really want! :)

--
Tom Taylor
<tom(a)tomtaylor.co.uk&gt;

[Pedro Fernandes Macedo]

Tom Taylor wrote:

>  I'm using Fedora Core 1, dual booted with Windows XP, on a small
> house 
>  network (5-6 PCs). The router, a Linksys 4 port is managing DHCP, and 
>  we're all on Class C.
>  I'm trying to get Fedora to share folders with the Windows machines, 
>  as well as just interact via hostnames. If I type 'ping windowsbox', 
>  it cannot find the IP in Fedora, whereas it will find it easily in XP. 
>  Presumably this is due to some sort of NETBIOS DNS lookup. 
It's a netbios name lookup... instead of using dns , m$ decided that a 
broadcast was better than using dns to resolve local names... If memory 
serves me well , there's a daemon called Lisa that tries to do the same 
thing....

>  I have configured the workgroup in Samba, and the hostname of the 
>  machine is 'tom'.
>
>  So, what do I need to configure to allow my fedora box to see my 
>  windows machines through DNS? I should also mention that they change 
>  IPs regularly, so keeping the whole network static and using 
>  /etc/hosts is not an option. 
As mentioned by Roger, you can setup your box to run a dhcp server and a 
dns server... But , as it is a dual boot machine , I dont recommend 
that, because if you were on windows xp , the other machines wont get a 
ip and will be unable to resolve names (unless you configure two or 
three dns servers on /etc/resolv.conf or in windows), unless you 
configure a dns and dhcp server on windows also...

Pedro Macedo

[Tom Taylor]

Pedro Fernandes Macedo wrote:

>  It's a netbios name lookup... instead of using dns , m$ decided
> that a
>  broadcast was better than using dns to resolve local names... If memory 
>  serves me well , there's a daemon called Lisa that tries to do the same 
>  thing.... 
I couldn't find any information on this - can you point me in the right 
direction?

>  As mentioned by Roger, you can setup your box to run a dhcp server
> and a 
>  dns server... But , as it is a dual boot machine , I dont recommend 
>  that, because if you were on windows xp , the other machines wont get a 
>  ip and will be unable to resolve names (unless you configure two or 
>  three dns servers on /etc/resolv.conf or in windows), unless you 
>  configure a dns and dhcp server on windows also... 
Yeah, I'm afraid this solution won't really be viable. All I need is a 
simple peer to peer DNS lookup.

Thanks,

--
Tom Taylor
<tom(a)tomtaylor.co.uk&gt;

[Pedro Fernandes Macedo]

On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 14:33:46 +0000, Tom Taylor <fedora> escreveu:

>  De: Tom Taylor <fedora>
>  Data: Tue, 27 Jan 2004 14:33:46 +0000
>  Para: fedora-list(a)redhat.com
>  Assunto: Re: Configuring NETBIOS/Samba
>  
>  Pedro Fernandes Macedo wrote:
>  
>    > It's a netbios name lookup... instead of using dns , m$ decided that a
>  > broadcast was better than using dns to resolve local names... If memory 
>  > serves me well , there's a daemon called Lisa that tries to do the same 
>  > thing....
>  
>  I couldn't find any information on this - can you point me in the right 
>  direction?
>   
Tom ,

I didnt find any info on LISA on google... It's part of the kdenetwork package..
I've just checked and there&#347; a GUI to configure it... It's hidden in KDE
Control center (kcontrol) , under "internet & network" ,  "local
network browsing". There's a wizard to help you configuring it.... 

--------------------
Pedro Fernandes Macedo

[Alexander Dalloz]

Am Mo, den 26.01.2004 schrieb Tom Taylor um 13:59:
>  Hi,
>  
>  I'm using Fedora Core 1, dual booted with Windows XP, on a small house 
>  network (5-6 PCs). The router, a Linksys 4 port is managing DHCP, and 
>  we're all on Class C.
>  
>  I'm trying to get Fedora to share folders with the Windows machines, as 
>  well as just interact via hostnames. If I type 'ping windowsbox', it 
>  cannot find the IP in Fedora, whereas it will find it easily in XP. 
>  Presumably this is due to some sort of NETBIOS DNS lookup. 
No, 'ping windowsbox' will only work if the Linux PC can resolve the
Windows PC over /etc/hosts or querying a DNS server. Obviously you do
not have either, no DNS server running in local net nor a valid entry
for you local PCs in the /etc/hosts file. You can ping the Windows box
itself as it knows his own name.

>  I have configured the workgroup in Samba, and the hostname of the 
>  machine is 'tom'. 
Samba uses NMB for name resolution. So you have to tell one PC, either
the Fedora on or a Windows one - best the one which is always accessible
- to be master browser in your net. There is an option in smb.conf to do
so on samba side. Consult the manual. 

>  So, what do I need to configure to allow my fedora box to see my
> windows 
>  machines through DNS? I should also mention that they change IPs 
>  regularly, so keeping the whole network static and using /etc/hosts is 
>  not an option. 
If you want DNS resolution you will have to run an DNS server like bind
with dynamic updates. But you will not need that just for file sharing.
Why do the IPs change?

>  I've tried the ol' Google, but to no avail. Maybe I was
> searching for 
>  the wrong thing.
>  
>  Thanks!
>  
>  --
>  Tom Taylor 
Alexander


-- 
Alexander Dalloz | Enger, Germany | GPG key 1024D/ED695653 1999-07-13
Fedora GNU/Linux Core 1 (Yarrow) on Athlon CPU kernel 2.4.22-1.2149.nptl
Sirendipity 15:18:38 up 2 days, 22:56, load average: 1.07, 1.15, 1.10 
                   [ Γνωθι σ'αυτον - gnothi seauton ]

[Jason Dixon]

On Tue, 2004-01-27 at 09:25, Alexander Dalloz wrote:

>  > I'm trying to get Fedora to share folders with the Windows
> machines, as 
>  > well as just interact via hostnames. If I type 'ping windowsbox', it 
>  > cannot find the IP in Fedora, whereas it will find it easily in XP. 
>  > Presumably this is due to some sort of NETBIOS DNS lookup.
>  
>  No, 'ping windowsbox' will only work if the Linux PC can resolve the
>  Windows PC over /etc/hosts or querying a DNS server. Obviously you do
>  not have either, no DNS server running in local net nor a valid entry
>  for you local PCs in the /etc/hosts file. You can ping the Windows box
>  itself as it knows his own name. 
I think you're wrong here, but I can't test it currently.  The
Samba-3.0.0 manpage for winbindd suggests this can be done through
configuration of your smb.conf and nsswitch.conf, using the winbind
options.


-- 
Jason Dixon, RHCE
DixonGroup Consulting
http://www.dixongroup.net

[Mike Chambers]

On Tue, 2004-01-27 at 08:25, Alexander Dalloz wrote:

>  If you want DNS resolution you will have to run an DNS server like
> bind
>  with dynamic updates. But you will not need that just for file sharing.
>  Why do the IPs change? 
He can also try here, as this may be of some assistance..

http://thekelleys.org.uk/dnsmasq/doc.html

--- 
Mike Chambers 
Madisonville, KY 

2.4.22-1.2163.nptl #1 Fri Jan 16 13:16:46 EST 2004 i686 GNU/Linux 
09:56:13 up 2 days, 22:16, 1 user, load average: 2.25, 2.13, 1.93