One seamless file space?

[Paul Allen]

Greetings!

I'm experimenting with the 2.0.0.alpha13 snapshot and attempting
to get my four Solaris fileservers to present a single uniform
(automounter-like) namespace to our NT clients.  Re-wording,
I'd like PC clients to see a single "server" that appears to
share all of the Unix home directories on four fileservers.  The
automounter shields my Unix users from the operational details
of having to juggle stuff between four servers, and I would like
to offer the same ease to PC users.

>From extensive study of the smb.conf.5 man page and considerable 
rummaging in the sources, I think this smb.conf file should do 
the trick:

[global]
  default service = homes
  nis homedir = True
  homedir map = auto_home
   workgroup = iss-tech
   server string = Samba Server
   security = server
   password server = iss-tech-f
#  encrypt passwords = yes
   socket options = TCP_NODELAY 
   local master = no
   dns proxy = no 
   username map = /usr/local/samba/lib/map

[homes]
   path = %p
   browseable = yes
   writable = yes

I configured Samba with --with-automount, and I've also added
-DAUTOMOUNT and -DNETGROUP to the CFLAGS variable in the
Makefile.  I have two machines set up with the above config
file, running the Samba servers as daemons.  I've got the
debug level cranked up to 5, so I can see lots of detail.

When I map a network drive to \\machine-a\usera, where usera's
home directory is actually on machine-a, smbd looks up usera
in  the auto_home map, successfully chdir's  into the directory,
and returns the share to the client.

When I map a network drive to \\machine-a\userb, where userb's
home directory is actually on machine-b, smbd on machine-a goes
through the same motions. The chdir fails, however, and no
attempt is made to point the client at machine-b.  There's no
trace of any activity in machine-b's logs.

I get the same results with Windows 95 and NT4 SP3 clients.

I expected some sort of hand-off protocol to happen.  Our local
NT admin says that's part of NT4's dfs, and thinks it should be
doing what I expect.  Being more familiar with open systems
than with poorly-documented MS stuff, I must seek the advice
of others.

It's most likely that I've got something configured wrong or
don't really understand what I'm reading.  On the other hand,
perhaps there's a bug here that I can help to flush out.  If
anyone can point me at a way to move forward, it would  be
appreciated.

Thanks!

Paul Allen

-- 
Paul L. Allen           | voice: (425) 865-3297  fax: (425) 865-2964
Unix Technical Support  | paul.l.allen at boeing.com
Boeing AR&T Site Operations, POB 3707 M/S 7L-68, Seattle, WA 98124-2207
---
"Hack, then; strive against Mighty Problems, have joy in thy Striving,
and let the Crashes fall where they may (maintaining the while, for the 
Good of thy Karma, a Rigorous Backup Policy)."
  -- from "The Loginataka", Eric S. Raymond