Multiple User Data Access

[Remi]

I've noticed a few people posting to the list with problems accessing
Access files and or Accouting Database files with Multiple Users. 

Ruben for one, not to name names :)

I've often found in the past that such problems are related to file
locking. Oportunistic locking, for one, is evil. (I haven't had
any problems with Samba, but have certainly corrupted more than a few
databases hosted on Windows NT before I learnt how to turn this sucker
off)

</rant>

I would reccomend anyone in an environment where multiple users need to
open files with write access simultaneously try using the following
settings.


strict locking = yes
oplocks = False

Also, be sure that files created by 1 user can be accessed equally by
another. In the case of a Samba Share, Force User and Valid Users are good
options for those of us who are too lazy to deal with the intricacies of
Unix file and group permissions.


It's also very important that your Samba sever can reverse lookup your
clients. Otherwise, Clients may be unalbe to re-establish a connection
during the normal connection drops (timeout, expire, or whatever) and will
cause the shared drive to die or disconnect.

If you dont understand this, the quick way to do it on a linux box is to
list all the IP addresses of your clients in the /etc/hosts file.
Alternatively, remove (comment out) any nameserver entries in your
/etc/resolv.conf



Unfortunately, my day job has prevented me from re-creating the
environments some people here have described for testing. I hope these
suggestions help. I am, of course, open for feedback from others who are
more experience/knowleageable than me. (believe me, there are lots of you
out there :) )