FreeBSD - Mount Windows Share Using mount_smbfs

FreeBSD… I’ve heard so much good about it, but it has its fair share of quirks just like any other OS.

What I like

1. I like the install process. It is very customizable. I can do a minimal OS install and build on it by installing only those things I want.
2. The license. FreeBSD’s license is more flexible than the GPL because changes you make do not have to remain open source.
3. FreeBSD’s reputation.
4. Its “purist” Unix roots.

What could be improved

1. Right now I’m using FreeBSD 8.0 RELEASE (released 5 months ago), and I can’t get mpd to run apparently because of proxy arp issues. I expected more from the legendary leader of networking. I suppose I could fix it if I knew enough to apply all the C patches to the source code, and then recompiled my kernel – a very daunting process. My choices are to revert back to 7.2 or wait until 8.1 comes out.
2. If you post a question to one of the FreeBSD mailing lists or forums, you had better make sure you have read all applicable sections of the online FreeBSD handbook. The problem is, as a newbie I often don’t even know where to begin looking…
3. In a lot of ways, Linux is more user-friendly. That’s what this post is about.

In recent versions of Linux, I can mount a Windows share just by # mkdir /mnt/win # mount -t cifs -o username= //server/share /mnt/win

or even more simply with ntfs-3g: # ntfs-3g //server/share /mnt/win

I’ve never had problems using my server’s IP address in the previous commands.

However, in FreeBSD, you have to # mount_smbfs //username@servername/share /mnt/win

and you cannot use the server’s IP for <servername>.

Why not?