Samba on AIX

[Scott Prather]

Unfortunately the client will not request to read the file again, it only requests a small piece of the file, in the case that I tested it was 1455 bytes at the original end of the file (not the end of the file now that the size has changed).  In my testing, if you wat a while (30 seconds to 1 minute) the client will request to read the entire file.  I do not believe this to be an issue with caching.

The other reply you recieved mentioned using the smbmount commend, that is for mounting a cifs share on your UNIX box, so far I have only seen this work on Linux, I don't think that this is related to the problem you have.

The only way I can see to fix this is to support the ioctl command that the Windows client sends to the server.  I am not sure why it is not supported at this time.  I will copy this to the list to see if anyone has any insight into ioctl support.

On Tue, Apr 24, 2001 at 02:25:37PM +0100, Bernie Ledwick wrote:
> Scott,
> 
> Thanks for that. It seems to be a very basic problem and I am surprised that
> it doesn't seem to be more widely recognised.
> 
> I receive the attached reply, which implies that this is expected behaviour,
> but it seems to me that the Samba server just doesn't check the update
> timestamp of the file and therefore doesn't refresh its cache. At least
> that's how it appears to me, and I would have expected the client to request
> a file open and the server to send it the new file details, not just request
> a few bytes as you observerd.
> 
> As I said, I have observered similar behaviour with PC-based NFS software,
> so maybe there is a basic issue with a file open routine somewhere.
> 
> The reason, I do this sort of processing is to allow MS applications to
> access Unix application files, e.g. log files, etc.
> 
> Any ideas how we could progress this?
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Bernie.
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Scott Prather [mailto:sprather at austin.ibm.com]
> Sent: 23 April 2001 16:38
> To: samba at lists.samba.org
> Cc: bl at man.fwltech.com
> Subject: Re: Samba on AIX
> 
> 
> I can reproduce the problem in my lab on AIX and Linux (this is not AIX
> specific).  Looking at the network trace, the client is does not read the
> file from the server the second time, it only requests a few bytes from the
> file (at what was the previous end of the file.)
> 
> This problem does not occur on an NT server, it may be because Samba returns
> not supported for the IOCTL commands NT tries on the file when it tries to
> open it.
> 
> --
> Scott Prather
> MCSE, MCP+I
> AIX PC Interoperability
> sprather at austin.ibm.com
> 
> 
> > 
> > From: Bernie Ledwick <bl at man.fwltech.com>
> > To: "'samba at lists.samba.org'" <samba at va.samba.org>
> > Subject: Samba on AIX
> > X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21)
> > Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 11:02:03 +0100
> > 
> > I am running Samba v2.0.7 on AIX 4.3.3 and accessing from MS-Windows 98
> and
> > experience the following behaviour:
> > 
> > 1. Create new text file on AIX server.
> > 2. View this file on PC
> > 3. Close file on PC
> > 4. Change file on AIX server.
> > 5. View file on PC and the changes made in step 4 are not there.
> > 
> > Restarting Samba cures the problem, but this isn't really practical. I
> first
> > noticed this behaviour several years ago using PC-NFS against AIX, so I
> > guess this is an AIX issue, but not one that IBM would be willing to
> > investigate. 
> > 
> > Any ideas as to how I go about investigating and/or curing this problem?
> > 
> > Regards,
> > 
> > Bernie Ledwick
> > Principal Consultant
> > 
> > FWL Technologies Ltd
> > Tel:  0161 283 4040   Fax: 0161 283 4051
> > Mobile: 07850 394 927
> > Web:  http://www.fwltech.com/logistics
> > Mailto:bl at man.fwltech.com
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > -- 
> > To unsubscribe from this list go to the following URL and read the
> > instructions:  http://lists.samba.org/mailman/listinfo/samba
> > 
> 

Content-Description: Re: Samba on AIX
> From: John Benedetto <jbenedet at unm.edu>
> To: bl at man.fwltech.com
> Subject: Re: Samba on AIX
> Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2001 16:58:18 +0100
> X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21)
> 
> 
> I don't think it is a problem per se, just "correct" behavior...
> 
> How are you working with the files on the AIX side?  It is my understanding 
> that you need to SMBMOUNT the share to the AIX side as well. If you do not, 
> weverything could get wonky (that's technese for corrupted), in just the 
> way you describe.
> 
> I think.
> 
> -john
> 
> >> From: Bernie Ledwick <bl at man.fwltech.com>
> >> To: "'samba at lists.samba.org'" <samba at va.samba.org>
> >> Subject: Samba on AIX
> >> X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21)
> >> Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 11:02:03 +0100
> >>
> >> I am running Samba v2.0.7 on AIX 4.3.3 and accessing from MS-Windows 98
> >> and experience the following behaviour:
> >>
> >> 1. Create new text file on AIX server.
> >> 2. View this file on PC
> >> 3. Close file on PC
> >> 4. Change file on AIX server.
> >> 5. View file on PC and the changes made in step 4 are not there.
> >>
> >> Restarting Samba cures the problem, but this isn't really practical. I
> >> first noticed this behaviour several years ago using PC-NFS against AIX,
> >> so I guess this is an AIX issue, but not one that IBM would be willing to
> >> investigate.
> >>
> >> Any ideas as to how I go about investigating and/or curing this problem?
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >>
> >> Bernie Ledwick
> >> Principal Consultant
> >>
> >> FWL Technologies Ltd
> >> Tel:  0161 283 4040   Fax: 0161 283 4051
> >> Mobile: 07850 394 927
> >> Web:  http://www.fwltech.com/logistics
> >> Mailto:bl at man.fwltech.com


-- 
Scott Prather
MCSE, MCP+I
AIX PC Interoperability
sprather at austin.ibm.com
(512)838-3313