NetBIOS configuration parameters

TPI (Transport Provider Interface) NetBIOS for TCP/IP configuration is required when running LAN Manager over the TCP/IP protocol stack.

Basic NetBIOS configuration parameters include:

NetBIOS host name

The system name (host name) should be unique on the network. It can consist of lowercase letters and numbers, must begin with a letter, and should be no longer than eight characters. It must be same as the TCP/IP system name. Here are some sample valid system names: scosysv, srv555b, and account1. The ``values'' of the other two NetBIOS basic parameters are dependent on the ``value'' of this parameter. The default is the output of uname -n.

NetBIOS IP address

The NetBIOS IP address identifies and differentiates your machine from all others on the network. It consists of a 32-bit binary number that is usually displayed as four octets expressed in decimal and separated by periods (for example, 10.0.65.75). Each machine on your network must have a unique NetBIOS IP address that is the same as the IP address assigned for TCP/IP.

NetBIOS broadcast address

All datagrams sent by NetBIOS move through all machines in the network path. However, each host adapter ignores any packet that does not include that particular computer's IP address in the datagram header. Occasionally, you might want to send a message to all machines on a particular network. To do so, select a ``broadcast address'' either of all 0's or all 255's. It must be same as the TCP/IP Broadcast address.

NetBIOS scope identifier

The NetBIOS scope identifier sets the NetBIOS domain. Only users with equivalent scope identifiers can communicate with each other. It is similar to the TCP/IP domain name (for example sco.com or lachman.com).

Default pending commands per user

The default number of maximum active commands per user.

Default sessions per user

The default number of NetBIOS sessions per user.

Maximum names per user

The maximum number of NetBIOS names (local/remote) per user. A user cannot register more than the maximum number of NetBIOS names on the machine.

Maximum pending commands per user

The maximum number of commands a user can have pending. This is used by nbstatus to display the maximum number of active/pending commands a user can set.

Maximum sessions per user

The maximum number of NetBIOS sessions a user may set. This is used by nbstatus to display the maximum number of configured sessions a user can set.

Maximum IP datagram size

The maximum IP datagram size before fragmentation can take place. If any datagram is larger than the size set, the packet is fragmented.