[Samba] XP Pro and offline files

Ron Bookman rbookman at firstconsolidated.com
Wed Mar 9 19:44:49 GMT 2005


AndyLiebman at aol.com writes:

>
> _ronloxton at rogers.com_ (mailto:ronloxton at rogers.com)   writes:
>
> All:
>
> Not sure if this is an XP Pro issue or a  samba issue.
>
> I am running v3.0.3 of the samba server  acting as a Domain
> controller and file server. The problem that I run into  is that every 
> once
> in a while, while connected to the network the network  shares go offline.
>
> I am running XP Pro SP2 and I am not  really sure where to start to
> troubleshoot  this.
>
>
>
>
> I wrote in about a similar thing just yesterday. We're using Samba 3.02 on
> about 40 Linux servers and our users are complaining about the same thing 
> once
> in a while. Really only on a few machines. But the symptom is there. Seems 
> to
> happen more with SP2 than it happened with SP1 -- but that's not a
> scientific  observation.
>
> In a couple of cases, we could see in the /var/log/messages that the "link
> beat" was being lost continually. Replacing cables and switches between 
> Server
> and Client got rid of that problem (we don't know which element was 
> causing
> the  problem, but making everything new fixed it).
>
> But a few other users are still complaining about these random
> disconnections and we are not sure either how to troubleshoot. We have 
> asked  users to
> carefully document exactly when the disconnections occur -- and on what 
> machine
> and subnet -- so that we can look for clues in the logs. But so far, 
> nothing
> in the logs is sticking out. Not all machines on a given pathway from 
> Server
> to Client disconnect at the same time -- so unless it's a "last cable" 
> problem
> it's not likely to be a hardware issue.
>
> BTW, we're running the 2.6.6 kernel on a mainly Mandrake distribution.
>
> Hopefully, somebody who reads these postings will have a clue or two.
>
> Regards,
> Andy Liebman
> -- 

I also asked about this back in January...googles and searches through the 
archives turned up several people with the same issue, but not a resolution.

I believe it's a Samba issue, mainly because the problem didn't appear until 
I retired our old Samba v2 server and migrated to a new Samba 3.0.7 one. The 
only solution I've been able to come with is disabling offline files...and 
of course, our president's laptop was one of the machines affected. Some 
machines took longer to become problematic than others and a few are still 
trouble-free....and I can't find any settings that make a difference. I 
don't know if SP2 is an issue or not, since all our XP (Pro) machines were 
patched with SP2 prior to doing the Samba upgrade.

Good luck!
Ron Bookman 



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