This file contains a list of tests you can perform to validate your Samba server. It also tells you what the likely cause of the problem is if it fails any one of these steps. If it passes all these tests then it is probably working fine.
You should do ALL the tests, in the order shown. I have tried to carefully choose them so later tests only use capabilities verified in the earlier tests.
I would welcome additions to this set of tests. Please mail them to 
Andrew.Tridgell@anu.edu.au
If you send me an email saying "it doesn't work" and you have not followed this test procedure then you should not be surprised if I ignore your email.
In all of the tests I assume you have a Samba server called BIGSERVER and a PC called ACLIENT. I also assume the PC is running windows for workgroups with a recent copy of the microsoft tcp/ip stack. The procedure is similar for other types of clients.
I also assume you know the name of a available share in your smb.conf. I will assume this share is called "tmp". You can add a "tmp" share like by adding the following to smb.conf:
[tmp] comment = temporary files path = /tmp read only = yes
These tests also assume version 1.9.14 or later of the samba suite. If you have version 1.9.13 then see "NOTE 1" below.
run the command "testparm". If it reports any errors then your smb.conf configuration file is faulty.
run the command "ping BIGSERVER" from the PC and "ping ACLIENT" from the unix box. If you don't get a valid response then your TCP/IP software is not correctly installed.
Note that you will need to start a "dos prompt" window on the PC to run ping.
If you get a message saying "host not found" or similar then your DNS software or /etc/hosts file is not correctly setup. It is possible to run samba without DNS entries for the server and client, but I assume you do have correct entries for the remainder of these tests.
run the command "smbclient -L BIGSERVER -U%" on the unix box. You should get a list of available shares back.
If you get a error message containing the string "Bad password" then you probably have either an incorrect "hosts allow", "hosts deny" or "valid users" line in your smb.conf, or your guest account is not valid. Check what your guest account is using "testparm" and temporarily remove any "hosts allow", "hosts deny", "valid users" or "invalid users" lines.
If you get a "connection refused" response then the smbd server could not be run. If you installed it in inetd.conf then you probably edited that file incorrectly. If you installed it as a daemon then check that it is running, and check that the netbios-ssn port is in a LISTEN state using "netstat -a".
run the command "nmbd -L __SAMBA__ -B BIGSERVER". You should get a bunch of info back including the string "got a positive name query response". You should also see a message "got a positive node status response" and below that a list of netbios names. The name BIGSERVER should be included in that list.
If you don't then nmbd is incorrectly installed. Check your inetd.conf if yu run it from there, or that the daemon is running and listening to udp port 137.
One common problem is that many inetd implementations can't take many parameters on the command line. If this is the case then create a one-line script that contains the right parameters and run that from inetd.
run the command "nmbd -L ACLIENT -B ACLIENT"
You should get a "positive name query response" from the PC. If you don't then the client software on the PC isn't installed correctly, or isn't started, or you got the name of the PC wrong. Note that you probably won't get a "node status response" from the PC due to a bug in the microsoft netbios nameserver implementation (it responds to the wrong port number).
run the command "nmbd -L ACLIENT"
This time we are trying the same as the previous test but are trying it via a broadcast to the default broadcast address. If this doesn't give the same result as the previous test then nmbd isn't correctly getting your broadcast address. You should experiment with the -B option, trying different broadcast addresses until your find the one that works. It will most likely be something like a.b.c.255 as microsoft tcpip stacks only listen on 1's based broadcast addresses.
Once you have it right you should add the -B option the the command line of nmbd in inetd.conf or in the script you use to start nmbd as a daemon. Once you do this go back to the "nmbd -L __SAMBA__ -B BIGSERVER" test to make sure you have it running properly.
If your PC and server aren't on the same subnet then you will need to use -B to set the broadcast address to the that of the PCs subnet.
run the command "nmbd -M -"
this should find a master browser on your network. If you don't have one then browsing won't work with samba. See the file BROWSING.txt for details. Note that you may need the -B option to the command if the previous test showed that the default broadcast is incorrect.
run the command "smbclient '\\BIGSERVER\TMP'". You should then be prompted for a password. You should use the password of the account you are logged into the unix box with. If you want to test with another account then add the -U <accountname> option to the command line.
Once you enter the password you should get the "smb>" prompt. If you don't then look at the error message. If it says "invalid network name" then the service "tmp" is not correctly setup in your smb.conf.
If it says "bad password" then the likely causes are:
Once connected you should be able to use the commands "dir" "get" "put" etc. Type "help <command>" for instructions. You should especially check that the amount of free disk space shown is correct when you type "dir".
On the PC type the command "net view \\BIGSERVER". You will need to do this from within a "dos prompt" window. You should get back a list of available shares on the server.
If you get a "network name not found" or similar error then netbios name resolution is not working. This is usually caused by a problem in nmbd. To overcome it you could do one of the following (you only need to choose one of them):
If you get a "invalid network name" or "bad password error" then the same fixes apply as they did for the "smbclient -L" test above. In particular, make sure your "hosts allow" line is correct (see the man pages)
run the command "net use x: \\BIGSERVER\TMP". You should be prompted for a password then you should get a "command completed successfully" message. If not then your PC software is incorrectly installed or your smb.conf is incorrect. make sure your "hosts allow" and other config lines in smb.conf are correct.
It's also possible that the server can't work out what user name to connect you as. To see if this is the problem add the line "user = USERNAME" to the [tmp] section of smb.conf where "USERNAME" is the username corresponding to the password you typed. If you find this fixes things you may need the username mapping option.
From file manager try to browse the server. Your samba server should appear in the browse list of your local workgroup (or the one you specified in the Makefile). You should be able to double click on the name of the server and get a list of shares. If you get a "invalid password" error when you do then you are probably running WinNT and it is refusing to browse a server that has no encrypted password capability and is in user level security mode.
Try the mailing list or newsgroup comp.protocols.smb, or use the tcpdump-smb utility to sniff the problem.
NOTE 1: If you have version 1.9.13 of Samba then the "nmbd -L ACLIENT -B ACLIENT" test may fail if your client doesn't export any shares. To fix this either export a share or change the "lookup_type" in nameserv.c from ' ' to 0 and recompile.
ictinus@lake.canberra.edu.au
Andrew.Tridgell@anu.edu.au