When dealing with SMB (from TrueNAS to Windows clients) is NetBIOS the only way expose the server as a name? If not are there ways to use normal DNS names with SMB? And how do you get NetBIOS to be discovered by Windows out of your current subnet

Posted by LevHB@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 8 comments

Sorry not sure how to expand on the title. It's basically the same as that, if you want any other details please ask. Oh there is one more details - why can other Windows clients on the network see our old QNAP servers, despite both being in completely different subnets? Oh and lastly I know the Windows clients can add them via IP of course. But I'd rather not do that in-case the IP changes, as well as other reasons like making it easier for people to identify servers. Or is there a better way to handle this?

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8 Comments

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ryan8613@reddit

No, SMB does not require NetBIOS to function. In fact, it is now not recommended to run NetBIOS on your network due to the security exposure. The TrueNAS appliance should be setup to use a virtual IP between the controllers, and the virtual IP should be setup in your internal DNS. TrueNAS also supports integrating with domain authentication for SMB if you have a domain. Further, if you have a domain, mapping drive letters to SMB paths can be performed via GPO policies.

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lefthanded_engineer@reddit

Sounds like you don't know how to change the host name on the nas.

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hortimech@reddit

If all else fails, use a python program called 'wsdd' (do an internet search for it), this replicate the Network Discovery that Windows now uses instead of Network Browsing.

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moopops@reddit

Good answer, that's the right tool to do that.

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Zulgrib@reddit

Based on your title, I block netbios on my network and nothing breaks. I use srvName.locationSubDomain.domain.tld to reach it locally or remotely, both IPv4 and IPv6. It's your duty to have proper DNS resolution unless you have a dedicated DNS administrator. (Then it's his duty )

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