Samba + WAN?

[Andrew Bartlett]

Try looking into how the windows machines are dooing the lookup for the
server's name.  Windows machines can be in one of the following modes:
	Broadcast - Must be on the same IP broadcast network
	Mixed - Broadcast then use specified WINS servers
	WINS only - (incorrect name but however) uses only the WINS servers
	Hybrid - use the wins server first, then broadcast

If the windows machines are in mixed mode, then they will see the remote
machine, but only after wasting time broadcasting on the local subnet.

Could this be the cause of the issue?

These options are best set (in my experience) by changing the setting
via DHCP for the windows machines.

Karl-Josef Ziegler wrote:
> 
> Dear Ladies and Gentlemen!
> 
> On a CD-ROM-server at the University Koblenz-Landau we are
> using Samba (2.0.5a) with Red Hat Linux (6.0, Kernel 2.2.5).
> The server is located here in Koblenz, but also used from
> another department of the university at Landau (about 80 miles
> from Koblenz; they have their own class B network).
> 
> A traceroute from both locations gave a response time of about 10-50
> msec.
> On the same server we have running another retrieval program working
> with
> http, which has also normal response times from both locations. A large
> difference is between the access time to shares via Samba from Koblenz
> compared
> to Landau. Here at Koblenz the access is normal, but from Landau
> it's terribly slow.
> 
> IMHO these facts show, that generally the network connection
> and the performance of the server is o.k., but there are the slow
> long-distance response times (only for Samba) from the location at
> Landau.
> 
> Are there any experiences about accessing a Samba Server through
> long-distance network connections? How to improve performance
> of NetBIOS/SMB in a WAN?
> 
> Many thanks for Your answer!
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> - Karl-Josef Ziegler

-- 
Andrew Bartlett
abartlet at pcug.org.au