Connecting to a samba share?

[bab1]

tault@ubuntu:~$ ping THAULTSERV.local
ping: unknown host THAULTSERV.local


tault@ubuntu:~$ ping 192.168.0.111
PING 192.168.0.111 (192.168.0.111) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.0.111: icmp_req=1 ttl=64 time=18.6 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.111: icmp_req=2 ttl=64 time=1.27 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.111: icmp_req=3 ttl=64 time=1.21 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.111: icmp_req=4 ttl=64 time=1.19 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.111: icmp_req=5 ttl=64 time=4.49 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.111: icmp_req=6 ttl=64 time=1.18 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.111: icmp_req=7 ttl=64 time=1.77 ms
^C
--- 192.168.0.111 ping statistics ---
7 packets transmitted, 7 received, 0% packet loss, time 6007ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 1.189/4.257/18.664/5.985 ms

tault@ubuntu:~$ ping thaultserv
PING thaultserv (66.152.109.110) 56(84) bytes of data.
^C
--- thaultserv ping statistics ---
27 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 26208ms



thault@ThaultServ:~$ sudo service avahi-daemon restart
avahi-daemon: unrecognized service

The first block is the pings. pinging THAULTSERV.local didn't work. Pinging the LAN address of the server worked. Pinging thaultserv ended in packets dissapearing.

also the server doesn't have avahi.

It's pretty obvious at this point that you do not have DNS services that map the hostname (or hostname.local) to an IP address. You do have IP addressing however.

At this point you can fix the /etc/hosts file if you have immutable (non-changing) IP addresses and thus use hostnames. Or you can use NETBIOS name services via broadcast. Either one will provide you with the ability to interact with the Samba server using an assigned name. I do not recommend installing avahi at all.

Previously you said you assigned IP addresses via the router. Do you use a reserved address for this Samba server (THAULTSERV I suppose)?

Post the output of the following from THAULTSERV so we can advise on the proper way to go on this issue.

cat /etc/hosts

cat /etc/network/interfaces

To summarize, you can use either DNS hosts or NETBIOS broadcasts to allow browsing of the network shares one THAULTSERV. The DNS hosts method traditionally uses fixed IP addressing while the NETBIOS method can use dynamic IP addressing (DHCP).

It is interesting to note that the DNS hostname is converted internally to a NETBIOS name by Samba. I don't see any reason to use this extra step on a small LAN as Samba uses the NETBIOS name in the end anyway.

[Morbius1]

tault@ubuntu:~$ ping THAULTSERV.local
ping: unknown host THAULTSERV.local
...


thault@ThaultServ:~$ sudo service avahi-daemon restart
avahi-daemon: unrecognized service

The first block is the pings. pinging THAULTSERV.local didn't work. Pinging the LAN address of the server worked. Pinging thaultserv ended in packets dissapearing.

also the server doesn't have avahi.

First: I don't know which version of the server you are using so start the service instead of restarting it just to make sure it is in fact missing:

sudo service avahi-daemon start

Second: If it's truly missing install it:

sudo apt-get install avahi-daemon

Third: Then see if it's running:

sudo service avahi-daemon status

If it's not running start it. If for some reason it refuses to start reboot the box.

Go through the exact same thing on the client machine. Then try the ping again. It would be a shame if avahi is disabled on your network since among other things CUPS now uses it to automatically discover and create local print queues for all enabled network printers.

Question: Did you at any time ever receive an error message that looked something like this:

Network service discovery disabled - current network has a .local domain, which is not recommended + incompatible with Avahi network. The service has been disabled.

If you did then that would explain why avahi isn't starting. The problem is the DNS server - or rather how it was configured - by your ISP. You can correct this only by changing the DNS servers to something like OpenDNS or Google's DNS which is something you might not be willing to do. You can also modify a system file to override it's desire to shut down avahi but I try to avoid things that might be reset after an update in the future.

Another way to verify this is by running the following command:

host -t SOA local

If your ISP is not the culprit it should come back with this:

Host local not found: 3(NXDOMAIN)

If your ISP is capturing the .local assignment it will come back with something like this:

local has SOA record...

Side note: Based on your other post it appears you also use OSX. In OSX avahi is called Bonjour and Bonjour faces the same dilemma as avahi but it handless it seamlessly so .local can be used regarless of how the ISP was configured.

[thault]

tault@ubuntu:~$ cat /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 ubuntu

# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
::1     ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters
ff02::3 ip6-allhosts

tault@ubuntu:~$ cat /etc/network/interfaces
# interfaces(5) file used by ifup(8) and ifdown(8)
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

We use DHCP, so netbios looks to be the better option.

[bab1]

tault@ubuntu:~$ cat /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 ubuntu

# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
::1     ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters
ff02::3 ip6-allhosts

This is what I expected to see.

tault@ubuntu:~$ cat /etc/network/interfaces
# interfaces(5) file used by ifup(8) and ifdown(8)
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

This is NOT what I expected to see.

We use DHCP, so netbios looks to be the better option.

To use NETBIOS names you have to edit the /etc/samba/smb.conf file to add one line and modify another. To open up the file for editting you do this

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

...then look for the line in the [global] section that looks like this (it's about the 56th line down in the smb.conf file)

;   name resolve order = lmhosts host wins bcast

You edit that line and add a line above it so it now looks like this

netbios name = THAULTSERV
name resolve order = bcast

...now save the edited file and close nano.

The restart the Samba service

sudo service smbd restart

After a few minutes you should be able to see THAULTSERV by browsing the network shares.

FYI -- This will not make pinging by name work. You need DNS hostnames working for ping to be successful.

[thault]

is this what it should look like?

# What naming service and in what order should we use to resolve host names
# to IP addresses
    netbios name = THAULTSERV
;   name resolve order = bcast

[bab1]

is this what it should look like?

# What naming service and in what order should we use to resolve host names
# to IP addresses
    netbios name = THAULTSERV
;   name resolve order = bcast

Remove the semicolon from the second line.

[thault]

I made the changes, the only thing that shows up in browse networks is windows network.

[bab1]

I made the changes, the only thing that shows up in browse networks is windows network.

Click on that. The share will eventually show up as a stand alone share but for now it is located by "windows network">>workgroup>>share