Advice on accessing CD changer disks via Samba?

[Steve Snyder]

I've got a 5-disk CD-ROM changer that I'd like to access via Samba v2.0.4
on my Linux (RedHat v6.0) system.  I already have Samba up and running
well, but I haven't had to deal with the CD changer until now.

The kicker, of course, is while there's 5 disks, there's only 1 read
mechanism.  That means that the accessing of any given disk may mean first
selecting that disk to be under the laser.

I'm sure that someone on this list has already addressed this problem, so 
I'm writing to solicit suggestions.  For example:

0. I'd prefer not to call the shares CDROM0, CDROM1, etc.  Is there any way 
to automatically make a volume label a share name?

1. I assume I need to run a preexec command/script when a given disk is 
accessed.  Is there any reason for a postexec command/script as well?

2. Recommended share parameters?  I would think that "lock=no" is needed 
since any given disk can be changed without warning.  Anything else?

3. I'm anticipating a horror show when the Win98 clients on this LAN open a
Windows Explorer (WE) window.  (For those not familiar with Win9x, WE is
the file manager.)  WE wants to examine every drive available on the 
system, including shared drives.  My fear is that this will force the slow 
change operation to be done 5 times, creating a significant delay to the 
user.  Is there a way around this, or I am I just being a worrywart?

I would appreciate any sharing (no pun intended!) of your experiences with 
Samba and a CD-ROM changer under Linux.

Thank you.


*** Steve Snyder ***