Samba + WAN?

[Karl-Josef Ziegler]

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen!

On a CD-ROM-server at the University Koblenz-Landau we are
using Samba (2.0.5a) with Red Hat Linux (6.0, Kernel 2.2.5).
The server is located here in Koblenz, but also used from
another department of the university at Landau (about 80 miles
from Koblenz; they have their own class B network).

A traceroute from both locations gave a response time of about 10-50
msec.
On the same server we have running another retrieval program working
with
http, which has also normal response times from both locations. A large 
difference is between the access time to shares via Samba from Koblenz
compared
to Landau. Here at Koblenz the access is normal, but from Landau
it's terribly slow.

IMHO these facts show, that generally the network connection 
and the performance of the server is o.k., but there are the slow
long-distance response times (only for Samba) from the location at
Landau.  

Are there any experiences about accessing a Samba Server through
long-distance network connections? How to improve performance
of NetBIOS/SMB in a WAN?

Many thanks for Your answer!

Best regards,

- Karl-Josef Ziegler