HP CIFS Client A.02.02.03 Administrator's Guide

The CIFS Client mount database file is /var/opt/cifsclient/cfgdb.ppl. The path to this file is not
configurable. This file is generated automatically and must not be manually edited.
Name Resolution: NetBIOS Name Service, WINS, DNS, IP Configuration
When the CIFS Client attempts to mount a CIFS server, it must first establish a NetBIOS connection
to the server, hence the server specified in the mount or cifsmount command must be the CIFS
server's NetBIOS (Windows) name. To resolve the name to an IP address, the CIFS Client uses the
following lookup methods, in this order (the sequence stops when a match is found):
• A configured server-specific IP address
• WINS lookup
• NetBIOS broadcast
• DNS lookup
Only NetBIOS broadcast and DNS are enabled by default, they are controlled through the
configuration parameters lookupTryNetbios and lookupTryDns by setting these parameters
to yes.
The CIFS Client can also use WINS (a Windows name resolution service similar to DNS) or
server-specific settings in the configuration file, to locate CIFS servers. WINS provides an efficient
lookup mechanism that is sufficient for most CIFS environments. The configuration for name resolution
can be as follows:
• To enable WINS, set the nbnsWinsIp parameter to the IP address of a WINS server. The
CIFS servers to which you want to connect must be registered with the WINS server. For
example, if you set the lookupTrynetbios and lookupTryDns parameters to yes and
specify the IP address of the WINS server to 110.112.114.115, the CIFS Client first attempts
a WINS lookup, then a NetBIOS broadcast, then a DNS lookup.
WINS is a feature of the NetBIOS Name Service, hence, disabling lookupTryNetbios
also disables WINS. For example, if you set lookupTryNetbios to no, the HP CIFS Client
ignores the nbnsWinsIp setting and does not attempt a WINS lookup at all.
• If the server's NetBIOS name differs from its DNS name (DNS cannot resolve it), and it is on
a different subnet from the CIFS Client (NetBIOS broadcast cannot resolve it), and its address
is not resolved by WINS, then you need to create a server entry for the IP address in the CIFS
Client configuration file.
To create a server-specific setting in the configuration file, first create a section for the server
(as illustrated in the example at the end of the file itself), then set the ipAddress parameter
to the server's IP address. In this case, the configured IP address is used directly; other lookup
methods are bypassed for this server.
For example:
buildsys = {
ipAddress = "110.112.114.115";
};
Note that the ip address must be quoted.
Note that NetBIOS broadcasts are useful only for servers on the same subnetwork as the client,
and DNS enables the CIFS Client to establish NetBIOS connections only with servers whose DNS
and Windows name are identical.
HP CIFS Client Files and Directories
This section lists the important files that comprise the HP CIFS Client.
20 Installing, Configuring, and Using the HP CIFS Client