[Samba] Application slowness after samba upgrade

[Robert Fraser]

Hi

We have upgraded a very old Samba server to a new server running 3.0.22 on
Ubuntu.  The the workstations were Windows 98 on very old hardware and are
now Windows XP on new hardware.  Everything is now very fast compared to the
old server, except for two applications - a payroll (Ace Payroll) and and
finance system (Profax).

Somewhat contrarily, these two apps are MUCH slower on the new server than
they were on the old server.  They have both been around for a while,
although we are still getting updates for them.  They both use some kind of
file based "database" (data files and index files), although the actual
"database" technology is different between the two.  For the Payroll, if it
is run locally on the workstation it is fast.

I have turned off oplocks on the file types for the database files.

The vendors are no help, and these two $%#@# applications have slightly
soured an otherwise impressive upgrade.

Can anyone suggest where I should be looking to catch performance problems?

Many thanks
Rob