Locking problems in 2.2.2

[Hannes Schmidt]

Hi, 

I am using a small network of, say, 10 W2K workstations on which I run a 
database application using shared table and index files on a Samba 2.2.2 server 
(Suse Linux 7.2). The application was just ported from Clipper to XBase++. The 
Clipper compiled app (it's a 16-bit DOS application) runs fine. The 32-bit XBase++ 
app produces corrupt index files and behaves eratically after several minutes 
under normal workload. Of course I was blaming the XBase++ compiler first. I 
then tried playing around with the locking settings in smb.conf, trying to set 
Samba to what I thought would be the least aggressive configuration (oplock OFF, 
blocking locks OFF, strict locking ON and so on). Besides Samba beeing slower it 
didn't effect he problem in any way.

I made the following observations:

a)  At times, using the XBase compiled app, the index files would get huge. 
    Their size would be around 2 Gigs. The lock offset for index files is 2 Gigs 
    plus the record offset.

b)  I have a little utility program which I use for managing the database. This 
    program is a Clipper-compiled 16-bit DOS app. Usually, I cannot use that 
    utility when the main application is using the files. This is because the 
    utility opens the file in exclusive mode. To my surprise I *was* able to 
    open the database in the 16-bit utility even while the 32-bit XBase++ 
    compiled main app was using it!
    
c)  In my desparation I moved all the files to a spare W2K server and the 
    problems went away! I didn't have time to try previous versions of Samba.

d)  I have seen more messages in this list reporting 2.2.2 problems regarding 
    corrupted index files and record locks.
    
What should I try next? I would really like to continue using Samba as my main 
file server. BTW: both, the W2K server and the workstations are service pack 2.

Regards

-- Hannes