[Samba] Solaris Samba 3.5.8 [homes] configuration - intermittent connection failures

[D G Teed]

Our Solaris 5.10 was running Samba 3.0 with ADS security against winbind
and krb5.conf, and all users were able to access it from any Windows system.
Following the upgrade to a new AD server running 2008 RC2, we had to
upgrade samba on most Unix systems.  On Solaris, the new version was 3.5.8
from Sun.

I found more config options were required to get the [homes] section to
succeed, although
I can't say it is 100% correct, because the mounted drive intermittently
disconnects
and reconnects every little while.  Multiple users report this so it can't
be just my Windows client.
Also, smbclient from remote system will never connect.

Here is the important stuff from the smb.conf:


[global]
   workgroup = myworkgroup
   server string = My Server
   security = ADS
   hosts allow = xxx.yyy.
   log file = /var/log/samba/%m.log
   max log size = 50
   dns proxy = no
   password server = ad.example.com
   loglevel = 3
   template shell = /bin/false
   winbind use default domain = true
   winbind enum users = yes
   winbind enum groups = yes
   winbind nested groups = yes
   encrypt passwords = yes
   realm = AD.EXAMPLE.COM
   idmap uid = 16777216-33554431
   idmap gid = 16777216-33554431

   nt acl support = no
   allow trusted domains = Yes
[homes]
   comment = Home Directories
   path = %H
   browseable = yes
   writable = yes
   follow symlinks = yes
   wide links = yes
   unix extensions = no
   force user = %U
   valid users = MYDOMAIN\%U
   guest ok = no
   read only = no


myworkgroup, MYDOMAIN, xxx.yyy and example.com are obscured values, but have
not
changed from the former working configuration under 3.0.

Authentication doesn't appear to be the issue, as I can connect OK usually.
Sometimes
it requires two attempts with no changes between.  The network is working OK
on
the Solaris server as it is running an Oracle DB, with backup services over
the network,
no problems with network connectivity, ssh service, etc.

The smbclient from a Linux client always look like this:

smbclient -U myusername //myserver/homes
Enter myusername's password:
Domain=[MYDOMAIN] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 3.5.8]
tree connect failed: NT_STATUS_CONNECTION_INVALID

We run Samba on many Linux platforms such as Debian with 3.5.6
and the same configuration without a problem.

I've followed the log file with tail -f and see no messages associated
with the temporary loss of connection.

It impacts use of mounted drives in specific ways.  I can usually
copy many files from the Sun server to Windows desktop, but opening
a small file from say wordpad on the Sun server drive letter will fail.
Writes to the share seem more problematic than reads.

I have a support ticket in with Sun/Oracle, but there might be someone
on this list with ideas of what is wrong or what to test or try.