Slow directory listing in ERmapper and ArcView

[Brett Longworth]

Hello,

I'm running Samba 2.0.6 on a Sun Ultra1 as a file and print server for a 
GIS teaching lab.  Samba has solved a bunch of problems for us but one 
serious one remains.  Getting a large directory listing from within two 
applications, ERMapper 5.5 and ArcView 3.1 running on win95, is a factor 
of 10 slower than getting the same listing from a local drive or a win95 
machine serving SMB. Transfers with other applications and Explorer are 
fast.

I haven't yet used tcpdump-smb, but snoop shows the same number and 
approximate size of packets to get the same listing from the win and 
samba servers.  About 1800 packets are sent for a listing of about 200 
files, and the average packet size is around 100 bytes.

Both applications were written in the days before windows provided a 
uniform file dialog, and implement this themselves.  I think they are 
choosing their own method of getting the directory listing and are doing 
this in a way that establishes several connections to get each file's 
entry.

Why is this so much faster with Win95 serving the files, and more 
importantly, how can I improve the performance with Samba?

thanks!
-Brett

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Brett Longworth
Systems Manager
Department of Biology
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003

Tel: 413.545.0216
Fax: 413.545.3243
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"Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate"
                     -William of Ockham