Samba browser election requests

[Waqar Razi]

We have been experiencing network issues for a few weeks and I have been trying to identify sources of much broadcasting/multicasting on our network. I ran a quick sniff and found that one of our red hat Linux box is sending out Browser Election Requests every 2 seconds.



Can we eliminate these?

[iinfi1]

i am reading that if the local master and preferred master are set to yes in the samba config file the Linux machine will win the browser election.

[global]
domain master = no
local master = yes
preferred master = yes
os level = 65

honestly i didnt know what this browser election was till i read your post and i have not understood it despite reading some docs on the net.
can someone pls point me to a resource on the net which explains clearly what this is about

thanks

[Matti_Kurkela]

> i am reading that if the local master and preferred master are set to yes in the samba config file the Linux machine will win the browser election.

Yes, that is correct. But a Windows Primary Domain Controller won't take losing gracefully: if it loses the election, it forces a new election round immediately.

So, if your Linux box is a member of a Windows domain (and it is not a Domain Controller), Samba *should not* be configured to win those elections.

MK

[Waqar Razi]

Thanks Matti,
Could you please indicate specifically what needs to be set in smb.conf file to make Linux not win the election and to eliminate these browser election broadcasts?

[Matti_Kurkela]

If you have a another domain controller that wants to always win the domain master elections, and you have the settings iinfi mentioned in your smb.conf, remove those settings and restart Samba. The built-in defaults should work just fine in most cases.

The "domain master", "preferred master" and "os level" should not be modified from their default values without understanding your server's position in the Windows/SMB networking hierarchy.

- Is your server a stand-alone server, a member of a domain, or even a Domain Controller?
- If it's a Domain Controller, is it a Primary Domain Controller (PDC) or a Backup Domain Controller (BDC)?
- If your server is a member of a domain but not a Domain Controller, are the domain's Domain Controllers Windows or Samba systems? Which versions?

If you set "local master = no", then your Samba server will not participate in any elections and will never become a local master browser. Setting "local master = yes" is the default and should be safe: it means Samba *may* become a local master browser if it wins an election, but won't try to force it if some othe host wins.

MK