[Samba] Mac Os 10.6 - 10.8 and Samba 3.6.9

[Bob Miller]

Hi,

> On the mac, connected to the remote (smbtest1) machine, when I double 
> click on the finder to enter the test directory that has about 200 files 
> in it, the finder just sits there... for at least two or more minuets 
> before showing anything.
> 
> I tried to connect to the smbtest1 machine from inside the remote 
> network, using a mac running 10.6 (instead of 10.8) it does the same 
> thing as connecting from here, the finder just sits there for a long 
> time then shows files and its very slow.
> 
> What i don't get is that i can use the local mac and connect to the 
> local smbtest and it works fine. But, if i connect a remote mac to the 
> remote smbtest1, or try to connect the local mac to the remote smbtest1 
> it total bogs down and is slow.

I recently set up a mac laptop as a road warrior connecting via
ipsec/l2tp to the customer's LAN, and experienced the symptoms you
describe.  I spent a few hours with google figuring out the why of it,
and came to the conclusion that finder is what is actually causing the
problem.  The connection itself was solid, but there is something in
finder that causes it to be very very slow, even when there are only 2-3
files in the directory.  I dont' remember the details, but I am sure you
can find the same articles if you are interested.

Since I was forbidden to install new software on that machine and I
haven't heard back, I don't know if my suggested fix worked, or was even
tried, but there was a pay-for file browser I found
(pathmapper/pathfinder/path...?) that several people said solved this
problem.

It is unfortunate mac machines seem to be going the way they are.  10
years ago, I was always sure mac would work and unsure if windows would
work with whatever I was doing.  These days I am finding the tables
turned, so many protocols mac says they support just don't work, or
don't work reliably, or don't work without hugely complicated
workarounds.  With many of my clients buying mac to avoid windows8, I
hope apple gets back on track sooner than later...