[Samba] Netware copy fails

[David Stone]

Affected: Various 2.x.x releases of samba on Solaris 2.6/8 and Netware 5.1 SP5.
Problem: Unable to copy files from a mapped  Netware drive to a mapped samba share on a PC desktop (W2K).
Error: Several, but commonly "Cannot copy MYFILE. Access is denied. The source file may be in use" or "An unexpected network error has occurred".

Has anyone seen similar?

It appears that some sort of corruption happens to a file once it goes to a Netware server. This does not corrupt the data in the file, but prevents the file being able to be transferred to the samba share.

For example,

I have a W2K desktop with:
S: mapped to a samba share.
N: mapped to a Netware drive.
I create a new file on my PC, call it 'MYFILE'.
I can drop this file onto S:(samba) OK.
Now, I can also drop this file onto N:(Netware) OK.
I get the error if I try copying from N: to S:
Now, if I then copy the file back from N: to my desktop, the file is broken! I can no longer copy the file from my PC hard drive to the S: drive.
If, however, I do a "Save As" from within Word, I can ALWAYS save the file to S:.

This happens with both IP and IPX connections to N:.

If I ftp the broken file from my PC to the Solaris server, and then copy it back to my PC, it is "fixed". I can once again drag and drop it to the samba share.

ftp both the "good" file and the "bad" file to Solaris. Run bdiff, and the files are identical. So, is it something in the inode information (or whatever there is in Netware) that is causing the problem?

It would be good to hear from someone who has seen similar so I know I'm not imagining this!

David

David Stone
Systems and Database Administrator
The Macaulay Institute
Craigiebuckler
Aberdeen AB15 8QH
Scotland, UK

Tel: +(44) (0) 1224 498200 Ext 2131
Fax: +(44) (0) 1224 311556
e-mail: d.stone at macaulay.ac.uk
http://www.macaulay.ac.uk/