Samba Multiple Nics Multiple Netbios Names

[shutupsquare]

Hi im trying to setup Samba on my box, It has 4 nics, Ive been able to get all 4 nics pointing to the same Samba share, but I need the nics to be able to have diffrent Netbios names so that they are identifiable in a windows network, when looking up the workgroup in windows there would be 4 seperate "computers" (4 nics) but all pointing to the same share. Anyone know how and if atall possible, any help apreicated.

[jledhead]

is this possible? I don't think you can do this in windows, which has native support for a windows network.

if they are all pointing to the same share, then why do you need 4 ips? How about setup the 4 names in dns and then only 1 nic on the machine, then when any other user hits any of those 4 names they go to the same machine and share if specified.

[shutupsquare]

Hi im not to sure if it is possible, hoping someone could let me know, the reason for the 4 nics and one share is load management, each nic is going to be serving HDD images to 4-5 computers at a time, 20 comps on one nic isnt working to great im trying to spread the load. thanks

I dont think its possible in windows, but hoping samba could

[HROAdmin26]

* No, I don't believe a Windows machine (or Samba) will broadcast more than one name via NetBios.

Don't rely on NetBios for name resolution and you can do whatever you want.

Windows default name resolution order is:

> Is this me?
> Is it in my hosts file?
> DNS cache
> DNS query
> WINS (if set)
> NetBios broadcast

You can edit each client's hosts file or use DNS. If ClientA resolves ServerA to IP X.X.X.10, it will use that IP to connect. If ClientB resolves the *name* ServerB to IP X.X.X.12, it will use that IP.

Alternatively, you could BOND your NIC's together and improve thruput while only using 1 IP.

* And make sure that the NIC is truly the bottleneck in your thruput.

[shutupsquare]

After some seraching around I may of found a solloution, it seems you can run multiple instances of samba from one box, I havnt tried this yet but will do at weekend.

Multiple Server Instances - SambaWiki

Ill post my results after Ive tried it.

thanks to everyone whos got back.

[matonb]

Or you may want to consider bonding the nics together...

doh, just read HROAdmin26's post

[HROAdmin26]

I highly urge you to read up on *why* NetBios is not something you want to (willingly) increase on your network. By running multiple Samba instances, you are further increasing the NetBios "chatter" on your network. More chatter = less bandwidth.

Plan smarter now so that you allow your network to run as clean as possible and scale in the long run.