[Samba] Samba MSDFS and veto files conflict

[Warwick Smith]

I have 'chanced' upon a workaround for a problem with the Samba MSDFS shares
that I have spent some time butting my head against the wall and frantically
searching the web for answers to.  I have seen posts requesting help in this
group previously that appear similar to the problem and I thought I might
share my solution.

I am using Samba 2.2.3a, RedHat 7.2 linux, with Win98 and Win2k clients.
(Actually I have multiple samba boxes using the openldap server - with
replication - to provide the user password details.  pam_ldap/nss_ldap
completes the picture)

The problem is this: with a DFS root share setup, the Windows client fails
to show the the contents and displays a message saying:

	[drive or sharename] is not accessable.
	This folder was moved or removed.

I have found that the 'veto files' option (which was set globally in my
smb.conf) was causing this error as I had set it to:
	veto files = /.*/
which was to never show any files beginning with the dot.

By removing the entry, or by adding a blank entry in the DFS root section
(better), I got around this.
	eg:
	[dfsroot]
	    comment = General shares for %U
	    path = /usr/local/domain/dfsroots/%U
	    msdfs root = yes
	    veto files =

By the way, if you noticed the %U entry - I dynamically create the dfsroot
for each user using a 'root preexec' entry in the netlogon which calls a
perl script that creates both a login batch file and the symbolic links
needed.  Absolutely brilliant!!!
Instead of mapping just about every drive letter available in the logon
script (and getting into plenty of conflicts), we can now use the single
drive letter and just add 'folders' in the general DFS root which is
specific to each user.


Regards,

Warwick Smith
Electronic Services Officer / Webmaster
Email: warwick at imvs.sa.gov.au
Web:   http://www.imvs.sa.gov.au
Tel:   +61 8 82223832
Fax:   +61 8 82223147

* If it's never finished, you can't prove it doesn't work. *