24.1 Automatic LANMAN

There may still be systems out there that run the old LAN Manager style browsing. Things like that don't die, they fade away... but, just when you think they've finally faded entirely they reach a skeletal hand up through the damp earth and grab your ankle. It's best to be prepared for such events, and Samba offers a very simple clove of garlic.

Samba's smb.conf configuration file provides the LM ANNOUNCE parameter, which is used to enable or disable the transmission of LAN Manager Browse Service announcements. This parameter has three possible values: TRUE , FALSE , or AUTO . The third option is the interesting one.

In LM ANNOUNCE = AUTO mode, Samba will not send any LAN Manager-style announcements until (and unless) it hears a LAN Manager Browse Service message from another system. If it hears such a message, it knows that LAN Manager style browsing is being used on the local wire and will start participating. This mode is the default for Samba, and it means that System Administrators don't ever need to think about configuring LAN Manager style browsing. It's automagical!