NetBIOS Troubleshooting Tools and Hints

If you suspect a NetBIOS problem, there are several things you can do to resolve or isolate the problem before contacting HP support personnel.

To ensure that NetBIOS is running:
1. Look for the NetBIOS demon process by typing at the HP-UX prompt:
  ps -ef | grep netdemon root 6239 1 0 Oct 29 ? 0:01 /opt/lmu/netbios/bin/netdemon
  or
2. Try to restart NetBIOS with the nbutil tool found in directory /opt/lmu/netbios/bin. For example,
  ./nbutil -N start nbutil NetBIOS is already running
3. Use lanscan to view the network interface over which NetBIOS is running. That network interface must be in the up state. For example:
  lanscan
  Hardware Station Dev Hardware Net-Interface NM Encapsul Mjr Path Address lu State NameUnit State ID Methods Num
  2.0.2 0x080009935930 0 UP lan0 UP 4 ETHER 52 6.0.2 0x080009935931 1 UP lan1 UP 5 ETHER 52
4. Use ifconfig to bring a network interface up or down or set the IP address and subnet mask. For more information, see the ifconfig man page. For example:
  ifconfig lan0
  lan0: flags=63<UP,BROADCAST,NOTRAILERS,RUNNING> inet 15.1.11.107 netmask fffff800 broadcast 15.1.101.255
5. To check which interface is being used by NetBIOS, check the current NetBIOS configuration data as follows:
  /opt/lmu/netbios/bin/nbutil -C Node Type : Broadcast IP Address : 15.1.11.107 Broadcast Address : 15.1.101.255 Subnet Mask : 255.255.248.0
If configured properly, the IP address found in the output should match the chosen interface. In the example above, the IP address 15.1.11.107 found in the output matches interface lan0 displayed with the ifconfig command.
If the IP address did not match the interface, or if you desire to run NetBIOS over a different interface (lan1 for example), you can use autoconfig to configure NetBIOS. autoconfig is a NetBIOS script found in the directory /opt/lmu/netbios/bin. For example,
$ nbutil -N stop nbutil Stopping NetBIOS $ autoconfig -l lan1 $ nbutil -N start nbutil Starting NetBIOS

If AS/U is unable to connect to other computers, you may want to verify that the problem is not caused by other networking software or hardware. Try to ping into and out of the server. If you are unfamiliar with ping, you can obtain information by typing man ping.

Example #1:

$ ping 15.1.11.107 512 3
PING 15.1.11.107: 512 byte packets
512 bytes from 15.1.11.107: icmp_seq=0. time=1. ms 
512 bytes from 15.1.11.107: icmp_seq=1. time=0. ms 
512 bytes from 15.1.11.107: icmp_seq=2. time=0. ms 
----15.1.11.107 PING Statistics----
3 packets transmitted, 3 packets received, 0% packet loss 
round-trip (ms)  min/avg/max = 0/0/1Note: To stop ping, use CTRL-C.

Example #2:

$ ping 15.1.11.107 512 5
PING 15.1.11.107: 512 byte packets
----15.1.11.107 PING Statistics----
5 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100% packet loss

Notice the percentage packet loss. Example #2 shows a failure. If ping fails, the problem is in the computer's ability to access the network and is not a NetBIOS problem.

If ping is successful, you may want to try the NetBIOS test program nbtest found in directory /opt/lmu/netbios/bin. For example,

$ nbtest -server nbt_name_test &
[1]     8041
$ nbtest -client nbt_name_test 512 5 
nbtest
*****WARNING: nbtest is an unsupported tool***** 
Calling 'nbt_name_test' . . .
Sending 512 bytes, 5 times
Took 1 seconds, 5 packets/second, 2560 bytes/second 
$ kill -9 8041 {process id from above}

The nbtest -h command will provide more information about the test program. If you have a second server system, try the test with the -server on one system and the -client on the other.

If you are using NetBIOS in a subnetted environment, the netstat -rn command will display IP routing information which may help to diagnose network problems. The route command is used to manipulate the network routing tables. Online man pages are available for netstat and route.
Many NetBIOS error conditions and resource warnings are logged to a system log. You can view recently printed diagnostic messages with dmesg. For example,
$ dmesg | grep -i netbios
WARNING: netbios - Resource map - rnd low.
This error suggests that NetBIOS's resource map is low (short on memory). If you find a similar error, you may want to increase memory for NetBIOS by increasing the size of the kernel parameter nrfc_nb via SAM. For more information on the nrfc_nb kernel parameter, see the "Tuning" section of the Logging and Tuning chapter in this guide.
System error and warning messages (including NetBIOS) can be found in the file /var/adm/syslog/syslog.log.
NetBIOS warning messages when running autoconfig script: autoconfig is a script used to create the file /etc/opt/lmu/netbios/nb/nbconfig. You can run the script during installation of NetBIOS or during regular system administration activities. The following warning messages could appear when running the autoconfig script:
NB autoconfig: lan0 is not configured for this system NB autoconfig: nbconfig file not created - check manual
The warning message is due to the state of the LAN interface passed into the autoconfig script or the default LAN interface (lan0) state being DOWN. Executing the lanscan command can verify the state, and whether the interface is a valid interface. AS/U chooses lan0 as the default LAN interface. This is based on the most common configuration. If lan0 is not present or down, then a warning message will occur during installation. The installation process will continue even though the default LAN interface is not available. You can execute the autoconfig script after the installation and specify the LAN interface.
WARNING: No Lan Adapter was specified [-l <lan#>] WARNING: lan0 will be used as the default lan adapter WARNING: nbconfig file will be updated with data from lan0
The above warning message will appear when you execute the autoconfig script without specifying a LAN interface and the nbconfig file does not exist.

NetBIOS Troubleshooting Tools and Hints

Technical documentation

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