Note: The information contained in this article is structured as help information for the System Management Interface Tool (SMIT) and is not intended for general reading.
NetBIOS for AIX is a product that provides connectivity between AIX and other systems that support NetBIOS. The NetBIOS protocols provide AIX systems with fully compatible implementations of industry standard versions of NetBIOS.
Using NetBIOS, you can write AIX applications that are transparently interoperable with existing NetBIOS applications running under DOS, OS/2, UNIX, and Novell Netware.
Starts all of the NetBIOS software components installed on the machine that are currently stopped. The system starts the software in the appropriate order. This option also starts all of the configured LANAs.
A LANA is a local area network adapter.
Stops all of the NetBIOS software components installed on the machine that are currently running. The system stops the software in the appropriate order. This option also stops all of the configured LANAs.
A LANA is a local area network adapter.
Allows you to view the NetBIOS LANA, adapter, or session status.
A LANA is a local area network adapter.
Allows you to start a specific LANA, list all LANA configurations, and add, change, or remove a LANA configuration.
A LANA is a local area network adapter.
Allows you to turn NetBIOS tracing on or off, and allows you to view or write current trace entries to a file.
Use this option to trace LANA activity. The trace buffer is 64 K bytes. Once this buffer is full, the entries are overwritten, starting with the oldest entry. Each trace requires 32 bytes for the header information and 32 bytes for each trace entry.
Displays status information, such as LANA number, status, NetBIOS protocol, and transport protocol, for all of the configured LANAs in the system.
Displays status information for the local adapter. Information includes the adapter address, reporting period, free commands, configured commands, names in the table, pending sessions, and configured session.
Displays all current and pending sessions on the local adapter.
Starts or stops the appropriate NetBIOS software for a configured LANA.
Allows you to view information for the configured LANAs. The information includes the LANA number, status, NetBIOS protocol, transport protocol, and interface.
Adds LANA configuration data that runs on either the RFC 1001/1002 or NetBEUI protocol. NetBIOS uses these protocols to communicate on the network. This option allows you to input the configuration data that NetBIOS needs to run the LANA. You should configure at least one LANA if you intend to use NetBIOS applications on your system.
You must stop all other LANAs before you can add a LANA.
When you add a LANA configuration, a TPI module configuration is also added. The TPI data uses the XTI naming convention.
Modifies the configuration information of a LANA. You must stop all LANAs before you can modify a LANA.
Deletes the configuration information of a LANA. If you delete a LANA configuration, all corresponding TPI configurations are also deleted.
You must stop all LANAs before you can delete a LANA.
Starts the appropriate NetBIOS software for a specific configured LANA.
Stops the appropriate NetBIOS software for a specific configured LANA.
Identifies the NetBIOS protocols and device used by NetBIOS. Values range from 0 to 255. The default value is the lowest unconfigured LANA number.
Allows you to specify the number of NetBIOS sessions available to NetBIOS for all NetBIOS applications using the specified LANA. You must enter a value from 1 to 32,767. The maximum number of sessions is related to the application that is using NetBIOS. The default is 254 sessions.
Allows you to specify the number of NetBIOS commands available to NetBIOS applications using the specified LANA. You must enter a value from 1 to 65,535. The default is 254 commands.
Displays a menu of the TCP/IP interfaces on this system. Each TCP/IP interface is listed with its corresponding IP address and netmask. NetBIOS uses the interface you configure for this LANA to communicate with the TCP/IP transport protocols. Each TCP/IP interface can be configured only once.
Select the interfaces that are already configured on your system. Press F4 to view a list of the the interfaces configured on this system.
Allows you to specify the number of minutes between keep alive packets. RFC 1001/1002 periodically sends keep alive packets to the remote node to verify that the NetBIOS session is still active.
The default value is 1 minute. If you do not want the RFC 1001/1002 to send keep alive packets, enter a value of 0 to turn off this option.
Specify the NetBIOS Name Server (NBNS) address. This address is the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the NBNS that provides NetBIOS name services to the Mixed (M) and Hyper (H) nodes.
An IP address consists of four decimal numbers separated by periods. Each number can range from 0 to 255. This address is used by Internet Protocols to send packets to and from this machine on the network. The IP address is in the /etc/hosts file.
NetBIOS supports three types of nodes: Broadcast (B), Mixed (M), and Hyper (H).
Broadcast nodes use UDP datagrams and TCP connections to resolve NetBIOS names. They do not use NetBIOS Name Server (NBNS).
Mixed and Hyper nodes use a combination of Broadcast node functionality and the NBNS. Mixed nodes use broadcast services first and Hyper nodes use NBNS first. Then, depending on the command and the result of the command, the node issues a packet to the other service if needed.
Mixed and Hyper nodes function as Broadcast nodes if the NBNS is not on the network.
Broadcast is the default node type.
Select the LLC Type II device name for NetBIOS/ix to use to provide the Data Link Provider Interface (DLPI) for the Logical Link Control (LLC) layer. The LLC Type II device name is used by the NetBEUI compatible NetBIOS protocol and conforms to the ISO 8802/2 and IEEE 802.2 standards.
Press F4 to view a list of the known LLC type II devices for this system.
Specifies the point at which the system attaches itself to a network device. This parameter is used for Data Link Provider Interface (DLPI) style 2 devices and the LLC 802.2 Streams Protocol.
Because style 2 device drivers are capable of controlling more than one adapter at a time, a Physical Point of Attachment (PPA) is required to identify the relative index (0,1, 2, 3, etc.) of the physical network device through which communication will occur.
Select one of the following trace options:
On - Turns NetBIOS tracing on. The system starts writing entries to the trace buffer.
Off - Turns NetBIOS tracing off. The system stops writing entries to the trace buffer.
Save to file - Writes the current trace buffer entries to a file.
View - Displays the current trace buffer entries on the screen.
NetBIOS WINS is the Windows Internet Naming Service. It is a NetBIOS name service where the server keeps a table of the names on the sub-network and their IP addresses. Use of WINS is optional; it can be used with NetBIOS RFC 1001/1002-type local area network adapters (LANAs). Using WINS lets you avoid IP broadcasts for NetBIOS name resolutions, which makes it well suited for large, routed IP networks. You must configure the client machine to work with the WINS Server.
Configuring the NetBIOS WINS server consists of specifying:
Also, you can specify which machines on the subnet have hard-coded IP addresses by entering the machine names in the WINS Server table.
Configures the machine on the subnet that is designated as the WINS Server. This machine performs NetBIOS name resolutions for one or more client machines.
Add a NetBIOS name to the WINS name table. This name maps to an IP address.
Specify the full Internet address of the machine over which the WINS Server will run. Each interface is associated with an IP address. The format for an IP address is:
d.d.d.d.
where "d" is a decimal value from 0 to 255, inclusive. The default is 0.0.0.0. This IP address signifies that the WINS Server runs over all configured interfaces.
Specify the IP address of the machine name being added or deleted. This action adds or deletes the name from the WINS name table. The format for an IP address is:
d.d.d.d.
where "d"is a decimal value from 0 to 255, inclusive.
Specify the size of the table that the WINS Server uses to store names. As the number of stored names increases beyond the size of the hash table, the efficiency of the table decreases. A minimum table size of half the expected number of stored names is recommended. Increasing the size of the hash table to a number greater than half the expected number of stored names is unlikely to increase efficiency.
The size of the table also affects the efficiency of the hash function. Good values include prime numbers or powers of 2 minus 1. The default value is 255. The maximum value is limited only by the size of your system resources.
Determines how long the server keeps a name in the table without it being refreshed by its owner. Specify this option as a decimal argument in number of seconds. Each client sends a refresh request in half of the Time to Live value.
The default value for Time to Live is 172800 seconds, which is 48 hours.
Determines the number of threads to use in the WINS daemon. Using multiple threads increases the efficiency of the server, even if it is running on a single processor, because it allows the server to service another request while one request is waiting for input/output.
The minimum value is 1. The maximum value depends on your AIX machine configuration. The default value is 5.
Specifies when the WINS software is to start. Options include:
both - Starts the WINS software immediately and each time the machine is restarted.
now - Starts the WINS software immediately
restart - Starts the WINS software each time the machine is restarted
The default value is both.
Lets you add, delete, backup, restore, and list the machine host names (and types of names) that the WINS Server keeps in its table. Configuring names is optional.
Names added to the table are considered "static" names and are not required to be refreshed. The names cannot be deleted by any client machines, but must be deleted using the delete name option in SMIT.
The following types of names can be used with WINS Server:
unique - Only one instance of a unique name can exist on any connected network. Unique names are used to specifically identify a particular host.
group - Any number of hosts can add a particular group name. Group names aid multicasting. An example of a group name is a "workgroup" name in a LAN Manager network.
internet_group - As many as 25 different hosts can add a particular internet group name. An internet group name must have a subcode of 0x1C. The last byte of the NetBIOS name is called the subcode.
multihomed - Hosts that have more than one interface (that is, IP address) can use multihomed names. These interfaces can be either physical interfaces or logical interfaces. A multihomed name is unique to a particular host. A multihomed host can have up to 25 interfaces.
NetBIOS names are 16 bytes long. Each byte can consist of any value from 0 to 255, except for the first byte, which cannot be an asterisk (*). Names that are less than 16 bytes long are padded with spaces. The last byte of the name is the subcode.
Escape sequences allow for the use of non-printable characters. You can use the following escape sequences:
\: - Inserts the colon (:) in a name.
\\ - Inserts the backslash (\) in a name.
\XX - Inserts any hex value where X is 0-9, a-e, A-E.
The last byte of the NetBIOS name is called the subcode. The subcode is often used to distinguish between otherwise identical names. If you are specifying a subcode for an internet group name, the value of this field must be 0x1C. This field is optional if you are configuring any other type of name.
If this field is empty, no action is taken. If this field contains a legal hex value between 0 and FF inclusive, the value of this field is inserted into the last character of the name. A leading "0x" is not required. You can use any hex value for the subcode of static names.
Deletes a NetBIOS name from the WINS name table.
Backs up the information in the name table to a file. This file is in a form that can be used by the "Restore Names from File" SMIT option. Each name in the table is written to a text file that can be edited with an ASCII editor. Each line is of the form:
NetBIOS_name:\subcode:type:state:IP_address IP_address
The names are written to the following default file: /etc/mcsnet/wins.names. If you want to change the default value, you must specify a fully qualified file name with the path.
Specify the file name to which the names in the WINS name table are to be written, and from which the names are to be retrieved.
Restores the name table to a previous state from a file created by the "Back Up Names to File" action. All refresh timers are reset.
The default file that the names are retrieved from is /etc/mcsnet/wins.names. If you want to change the default value, you must enter a fully qualified file name with the path.
Lists a table of all names (and their attributes) in the WINS name table. The names are listed in the order they are stored in the table.
Stops the WINS daemon and clears the name table. If you want to keep the names that currently exist in the WINS name table when you restart the WINS Server, back up the names using the "Back Up Names to File" SMIT option before you stop the WINS Server.
Determines if the WINS Server is running, and lists a message stating the status of the server. The status is either running or stopped.
Starts the WINS daemon. To restore the names in the WINS name table, use the "Restore Names from File" SMIT option.
Allows you to add, delete, back up, restore, and list the NetBIOS names, and types of names, that the NetBIOS server keeps in its table.
Names added to the table are considered "static" names and are not required to be refreshed. Client machines cannot delete these names.
The NetBIOS name being added. Names can be up to 15 bytes long. The name can include alphanumeric characters, but cannot start with an asterisk (*).
The last byte of the NetBIOS name. The subcode is used to distinguish names that may be identical. If you are specifying a subcode for an internet group name, the value must be "0x1C". Information in this field is optional if you are configuring any other type of name.
If no value is specified in this field, no action is taken. If the specified value is a legal hex value between 0 and FF inclusive, it is inserted into the last character of the name. A leading "0x" is not required. You can use any hex value for the subcode of static names.
Backs up the information in the name table to a file. The default file is /etc/cifs/nbns.names. This file is in a form that can be used to restore names. If you want to change the default file name, specify a fully qualified file name with the path.
Restores the name table to a previous state using the /etc/cifs/nbns.names default backup file or another backup file. You must specify the backup file name as a fully qualified file name with the path.