Routing NetBIOS with Linux - page 3

Introduction

Once our smb.conf file has been created we can consider which daemons we need running.
nmbdnbfw can be viewed as a drop-in replacement for nmbd, enabling backend-to-outside access, and smbdnbfw can be viewed as a drop-in replacement for smbd, enabling outside-to-backend access. To start the required daemons at boot time, let's create or edit a startup script to start the daemons. Change the lines in your /etc/init.d/samba to say this:

                start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --exec /usr/sbin/nmbdnbfw -- -D -a
                start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --exec /usr/sbin/smbdnbfw -- -D

Make sure the required daemons are running, and then try to browse the Network Neighborhood. All being well, you should now be able to do so.

Conclusion

For me, this has been yet another situation in which Linux has been able to sort out issues another operating system has been incapable of surmounting. I have also become more familiar with samba, which is useful.

It has also given me a much better insight into how Microsoft Networking really works, what its limitations are and how Linux can help get around them.