copying files samba - win95: drops dead in the middle

Marc Remijn marrem at IAEhv.nl
Wed Mar 24 20:38:15 GMT 1999


When copying files from the Samba server to a Windows95 client or vv,
the speed varies dramatically. When I try to copy the same (20MB) file 10
times
some times it copies in less than 10 seconds. The next time it takes allmost
a
minute. And most worrying of all quite often the copying just stops halfway
in
the middle. The progress bar in Windows just stops. The traffic on the NIC
also
stops (the traffic led stops flashing). After a timeout of 1 to 2 minutes
Windows
says 'Cannot copy <filename>: the specified network resource is no longer
available'.
The Samba server then says that the client closed the connection.

The server is a Pentium II 350 128M RAM with a SMC etherpower II 10/100 NIC.
Running kernel 2.0.36, and epic100 driver v.1.06
The client is a Pentium 200MMX with 64 M RAM with a SMC etherpower II 10/100
NIC
Running Windows95 OSR 2.
The client is connected to the server by a cross cable.

When I try ftp to transfer the 20M file this always goes in under 10
seconds.
Around 3 MB (MegaBYtes) per second.

When I use Linux and the smbclient on the client machine instead of W95 I
also get
high speed copying all of the time.

When I use Windows NT on the server-machine instead of Linux and Samba
I also get high speed copying all of the time.

So it seems that the hardware on both machines is fine. In fact it looks
like the setup of both the client and the server is fine.

I also tried tuning the max xmit, raw write, raw read, socket options
TCP_NODELAY, socket options IPTOS_LOWDELAY, and varies options in the
Windows 95 properties for the Etherpower II 10/100, like line speed, rx
and tx buffers, inter packet gap, and more. But all to no avail. (Changed
one setting at a time and then another after setting the first back to
default). I did see changes in speed, mostly a deterioration. But the
problem of copying just dropping dead in the middle remains.

I want to implement the server in a production environment where people
work with Window 95 PC's so this just has to work reliably.


Marc






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