[Samba] Samba + NFS virtual directories question

[Chris Knadle]

   We're using a Samba machine as an SMB <-> NFS gateway.  I.E.
actual file shares are via nfs, and Windows clients make requests via Samba.

   There are virtual directories set up on the Samba machine for automounted
nfs shares.  (There are a number of nfs servers, and there are a couple of
virtual directories where many of these shares show up.)  Those virtual
directories are being shared as samba shares.  This is the only way we've
found so far to share everything in these virtual directories easily.  (Too 
many subdirectories to make individual shares).

   The problem is that when things are shared in this way, drive mounts on
the Windows clients show that the share has no drive space left, and 20 MB 
total space.  This makes sense, because the directory being used for 
automounting is a virtual directory, which has 0 bytes free.

   Note: a samba share of a directory _under_ the virtual directory where
things are automounted does not have the problem and reports the correct
amount of free space from the nfs server.
   User directories work fine because the CIFS homes share causes the user's 
home directory to automatically come up as a separate share, which alleviates 
the problem in that instance.

   A "workaround" which is useful, but not perfect, is to make a new 
directory on the local machine which is writable which contains links to the 
subdirectories of the virtual directory where nfs automounts reside.  Sharing 
this directory then shows the free space available on the Samba machine, 
rather than of the nfs shares.  This alleviates the client machines being 
shown that there are 0 bytes available for the shares.  It also requires 
making links for every subdirectory in the automounted nfs shares, and having 
to maintain that list.

   Example for clarification purposes -
	/drive is one of the directories used for automount nfs shares.
	/drive/space1 is one of the directories that can be automounted
	/drive_links is a directory of links to subdirectories under /drive,
		and space1 is a link in this directory pointing to /drive/space1.
      smb.conf:
      -----------
	<a bunch of settings I'm leaving out>
	[drive]
		path = /drive
		read only = No
	[drivelinks]
		path = /drive_links
		read only = No
	[space1]
		path = /drive/space1
		read only = No

	In this example, after mounting the drives on the client, the [drive] share 
shows 0 bytes available, the [space1] share shows the available free space of 
the NFS share, and [drivelinks]/space1 shows the available free space of 
the partition on the Samba machine where the /drive_links directory resides.


   If anyone has come across with a solution for sharing an NFS automount 
directory that's a little more elegant than this I would really like to know.

   Thanks

	- Chris

Chris Knadle
cknadle at aeroflex.com