[Samba] looping logins

[Phil Chambers]

I regret that I did not get a single response to my message of 25 September 
(enclosed again below in case anyone has any new ideas).  In the end we did not fix 
it, but managed to avoid it by switching off print/file sharing on all the cluster 
PCs.  A work-around is Ok, but it would be nice to understand what was going wrong 
in the first place.

Phil.
---------------------------------------
Phil Chambers (postmaster at exeter.ac.uk)
University of Exeter

> We have a SAMBA_2_2_5 PDC (using LDAP) with dozens of XP PCs as members of the 
> domain.  This all seems to work OK as such.  We also have on the same network loads 
> of XP PCs which are not members of the domain, but are just members of various 
> workgroups.  Our problem is that there are times when (so it seems to me) some of 
> these non-domain PCs are thrashing away trying to get at the IPC$ share on one or 
> more of the PCs which are members of SAMBA's domain.
> 
> I have used a sniffer on the network connection of a domain member while this is 
> happening (this PC was sitting on the XP login window at the time).  This is the 
> sequence of packets to/from the PC:
> 
> >From non-domain PC: SMB command 73 (Setup Account AndX)
> To non-domain PC:   SMB response to 73 with status code C0000016
> >From non-domain PC: SMB command 73 (Setup Account AndX)
> To SAMBA PDC:       SMB command 2F (Write AndX)
>                        (containing username of user logged in on non-domain PC.)
> >From SAMBA PDC:     SMB response to 2F with status code 0 (OK)
> To SAMBA PDC:       SMB command 2E (Read AndX)
>                        (no sign of username in this packet)
> >From SAMBA PDC:     SMB response to 2E with status code 0 (OK)
> To non-domain PC:   SMB response to 73 with status code 0 (OK)
> >From non-domain PC: SMB command 75 (Tree connect to \\DomainPC\IPC$)
> To non-domain PC:   SMB response to 75 with status code C000035C
> 
> The whole of the above continues ad infinitum.  Note that the user of the non-domain 
> PC is logged in with a username and password which is valid on the SAMBA domain.  It 
> seems to me that the non-domain PC is trying to connect to the IPC$ share on the 
> domain PC.  That machine is asking the PDC to authenticate the request, which it 
> does.  However the connection to the share is then being rejected with a code of 
> C000035C.  Instead of accepting this rejection, the non-domain PC is immediately 
> trying again.
> 
> Can anyone explain this please?  If so, how can I stop it?  The continuous requests 
> for authentication are driving the PDC and LDAP into the ground!  Can anyone tell me 
> what status code C000035C means?
> 
> We really have to get this sorted out before our students start next week!!
> 
> Any help will be very much appreciated.
> 
> Phil.