[Samba] Windows for Workgroups

[Urban Widmark]

On Thu, 28 Mar 2002, Michael L. Wright / System Administrator, Vashti.Net wrote:

> > Apparently the newer Samba/kernel has issues with WFW such that it works for
> > a while and then both Linux systems and the WFW box all become confused,
> > even to the point of causing WFW to reboot.  Once this confusion sets in,
> > attempts to access the share on WFW result in the messages like that
> > reported below.
> 
> > > > Mar 24 10:51:21 mrserver kernel: smb_retry: signal failed, error=-3
> > > > Mar 24 10:51:21 mrserver kernel: smb_retry: signal failed, error=-3
> > > > Mar 24 10:51:21 mrserver kernel: smb_lookup: find //absolute failed,
> > > > error=-5

There are no smb* messages before those?

The signal failed message means that smbmount has crashed, that makes
smbfs unable to reconnect to the server after the server has disconnected
(and smb servers like to disconnect when you are idle).

The problem lies in smbmount(*) and it would be interesting to see if
there is anything in the smbmount logfile (/var/log/samba/smbmount.log).
Maybe even try running smbmount on a higher loglevel (debug=5).

Strange that 2.0.6 would be better than 2.2 as there were a few bugs that
would cause smbmount in 2.0 to terminate. You could try running 2.0.6 on
your RH7.2 box, or you could try upgrading samba to 2.2.3a.


(* well, if your WFW crashes then that could be seen as a problem too ...)


> > I hope the problem is a fluke and not the result of a decision to drop
> > support for these systems.  This is not the only WFW computer which is in
> > use here and the prospect of being forced into unwanted upgrades is, for an
> > old M$ victim, all-too-familiar.

No, there is no such decision. But old systems are probably not tested as
much and I doubt many see WFW as an important target. I know I don't, nor
do I care much about OS/2 ...

However, I'll be happy to help you debug this. Some random thoughts:

1. Why does the connection go away? Some uses of smbfs can cause it to
   mistake a signal as a lost connection and then it retries. Perhaps your 
   use triggers this a lot and the WFW server can't handle the multiple 
   reconnects.
   Other errors in the kernel log would show that (-512 errors are often 
   caused by that)

2. A network trace of the packets that kill the WFW box could show what is 
   happening.

3. Why does smbmount crash? The smbmount logfile may show something, if 
   not you may need to add some debugging output to it.

   smbmount does most of it's long-time work in send_fs_socket() and the
   crash is caused by something in it (or one of the functions it calls).

4. Is the smbmount crash causing the WFW crash or does WFW crash anyway.
   If it is the 2nd then fixing smbmount won't help, the event that kills 
   the WFW must also be fixed.

It helps if you can build samba from source and are able to make some
simple changes to a .c file.

/Urban