[Samba] Disparity in listing files and searching

[Robert Adkins]

Hello All,

	I have a minor issue that is vexing me. Here is some important   
information...

	The server is running Red Hat 7.2, with EXT3FS for the underlying file   
system and Samba 2.4.STABLE7 and is acting as a PDC. The system has far   
more RAM, CPU Power and Hard drive space then is really needed. So, I   
doubt the issue I am experiencing is related to hardware issues.

	I believe that it might have something to do with the EXT3FS commit   
times, although I haven't found anything regarding the commit intervals   
of EXT3FS.

	Anyway, to the meat of the problem...

	When people are searching through one of the shares, which contains   
nearly 6 GBs of data, by using *<PART OF FILENAME>*.<FILE EXTENSION>   
sometimes nothing will show up. Other times a few files will show up and   
still at other times, all of the files they are actually searching for   
will appear in the Windows Search program. This occurs regardless of the   
version of Windows performing the searching. So far, this only occurs on   
the share that contains the bulk of our data. Other shares, located on   
that same partition, do not experience such issues.

	The other thing that we are experiencing is looking at a number of   
sequentially numbered files within one directory. Some of the older files   
are opened and referenced while creating the newer files. All of the   
files are Excel spreadsheets. Once all of the work is done, sometimes the   
old files, that weren't altered, just opened appear out of order. They   
often appear as the last files in Windows Explorer. Regardless of how   
many times the view is refreshed.

	Of course, when using the Open File option from the File menu of Excel,   
the files are always listed properly. So, I am thinking that the issue   
could be related to how Windows Explorer talks to Samba.

	If there are any changes that I could make to the server or to the   
client machines to get these issue resolved, I will give them a go.

	Thanks.

Regards,
Robert Adkins II
IT Manager/Buyer
Impel Industries, Inc.
Ph. 586-254-5800
Fx. 586-254-5804