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Troubleshooting Samba for MPE/iX Server

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This section covers a list of tests you can perform to validate or diagnose your Samba for MPE/iX server. If your server passes all these tests, it is probably working fine.

Prerequisites

In all of the tests it is assumed you have a Samba for MPE/iX server 1.19.16p9 or later running on your HP e3000. It is also assumed that the PC is running Windows for Workgroups, Windows 95 or Windows NT with a recent copy of the Microsoft TCP/IP stack. All these tests should be done with Windows for Workgroups (WfW), Windows 95,Windows 98 and Windows NT clients, as they all use different SMB's for file operations.

You need to have a sample share called "public" for testing purposes. Check to see if you have "public" share in smb.conf file: 

  [public]
     comment = files are shared
     path = /SAMBA/SHR/public
     read only = yes

Troubleshooting Procedures

Please follow these tests for diagnosing your Samba for MPE/iX server.

TEST 1:

In the directory in which you store your smb.conf file, run the command testparm smb.conf.

If it reports any errors, your smb.conf configuration file is faulty.

TEST 2:

On the client side; open MS-DOS prompt and run "ping SAMBAIXSERVER" from the PC and "ping CLIENTPC" from the HP e3000 system. If you don't get a valid response, your TCP/IP software is not correctly installed.

If you get a message saying "host not found" or similar, your DNS software or hostname is not correctly set up.

Ping might fail, if your host is running firewall software. You will need to relax the rules to let in the workstation in question, perhaps by allowing access from another subnet.

TEST 3:

Run the command "smbclient -L SAMBAIXSERVER" on the HP e3000 system. You should get a list of available shares back.

If you get a "connection refused" response, then the SMBD server could not be running.

If you get a "session request failed," the server refused the connection to SMBD. Check your config file (smb.conf) for syntax errors with "testparm" as well as the various directories where Samba for MPE/iX keeps its log and lock files.Another common cause of these two errors is having something already running on port 139 (as in the case of NBMON/NBDAEMON) or SMBD already running under INETD.

And yet another possible cause for failure of TEST 3 is when the subnet mask and/or broadcast address settings are incorrect. Check to see whether the network interface IP Address/Broadcast Address/Subnet Mask settings are correct and Samba for MPE/iX has correctly noted these settings in the log.nmb file.

TEST 4:

Run the command "nmblookup -B SAMBAIXSERVER __SAMBA__" on the HP e3000. You should get the IP address of your Samba for MPE/iX server.

If you don't get the IP address, NMBD is incorrectly installed. Check your INETD, if you run it from there, or check to see whether the daemon is running and listening to UDP port 137.

Check your INETD entries related to nmbd, as discussed earlier.

TEST 5:

Run the command "nmblookup -B CLIENTPC '*'" on the HP e3000.

You should get the PCs IP address. If you don't get the PCs IP address, the client software on the PC is not installed correctly, the PC is not started, or you have the name of the PC wrong.

TEST 6:

Run the command "nmblookup -d 2 '*'" on the HP e3000.

This time try the same as the previous test, but try it via a broadcast to the default broadcast address. A number of NetBIOS/TCPIP hosts on the network should respond, although Samba for MPE/iX may not catch all of the responses in the short time it listens. You should see "got a positive name query response" messages from several hosts.

If this doesn't give a similar result to the previous test, nmblookup isn't correctly getting your broadcast address through its automatic mechanism. In this case you should experiment using the "interfaces" option in smb.conf to manually configure your IP address, broadcast and netmask.

If your PC, and server aren't on the same subnet, you will need to use the -B option to set the broadcast address to that of the PC's subnet.

This test will probably fail if your subnet mask and broadcast address are not correct. (Refer to TEST 3 notes).

TEST 7:

On the PC, type the command "net view \\SAMBAIXSERVER". You will need to do this from within a "DOS prompt" window. You should get a list of available shares on the server.

If you get a "network name not found" or similar error NetBIOS name resolution is not working. This is usually caused by a problem in NMBD. To overcome the error, you could do one of the following (you only need to choose one):

  • Fix the NMBD installation.

  • Add the IP address of SAMBAIXSERVER to the "wins server" system in the advanced TCP/IP setup on the PC.

  • Enable Windows name resolution via DNS in the advanced section of the TCP/IP setup.

  • Add SAMBAIXSERVER to your lmhosts file on the PC.

TEST 8:

Run the command "net use x: \\SAMBAIXSERVER\Public". You should get a "command completed successfully" message. If not, your PC software is incorrectly installed or your smb.conf is incorrect.

TEST 9:

Run the following command to test the print services.

  • smbclient '\\sambaserver\lp' -P -c "print testfile"

If printing itself is a problem check the /usr/local/samba/lib/printcap file. Format of the file is simple.

printername | printer description

Printername must equal one of the printer names to which you normally print using MPE/iX. The description can be any free text.

LP|HP Laserjet in printing room

On the PC:

  • net use lpt1: \\sambaserver\lp as guest

Print test page/pages to the printer connected to the Samba for MPE/iX server. At the command prompt type "copy test.txt \\sambaixserver\lp".

TEST 10:

Some other tests, along with the ones mentioned previously, might be useful. These tests can be done to check the behavior of the Samba for MPE/iX server with these security policies:

  1. Configure Samba for MPE/iX in User security mode:

    • Map a PC username to a valid MPE/iX username.account with passwords

    • Verify file and print access work

    • Verify files created by PC user are owned by correct MPE/iX username and account

    • Verify full file read and create access to the user's default home share.

  2. Configure Samba for MPE/iX in Share security mode and set passwords on file shares.

    • Verify that the file and print access from PC users works.

  3. Configure Samba for MPE/iX in Server security mode, pointing user validation to a NT server.

    • Verify that the users logged into the Windows NT domain being used as a validation server have the appropriate access to shares and printing on Samba for MPE/iX.

  4. Perform PC connectivity and file/print access tests with SMBD and NMBD in daemon mode (for example, started from MPE/iX jobs JSMB and JNMB) as well as started from INETD as services.

  5. Verify that all functionality works when the daemons or services are running as the default mgr.samba. If any functionality does not work, check to see if any changes are needed in the default capabilities of mgr.samba.

Using Logfiles of Samba for MPE/iX

In case of problems, check for the job listings for useful error messages and also look into the Samba for MPE/iX log file /usr/local/samba/var/log.smb and log.nmb for hints. You can control the amount of log messages with the "debug level" directive inside the config file smb.conf.

Increasing the log level to 3 or 4 can shed light on the cause of most problems. This also may lead to a large amount of details to be logged into these files. You may have to increase the size of your log file if your debug level is more than 3.

NOTE: Before using the logging feature of Samba for MPE/iX, make sure you check the IT Resource Center (ITRC) for information on any possible Samba for MPE/iX problems, URL: http://us-support.external.hp.com/.



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