[Samba] SMB issues across VPN

[Dan Tappin]

I have Samba v3.0.5 running on OS X Server 10.3.  On our local office  
LAN we have no SMB browsing or speed issues at all.

We recently set-up a VPN between this office and an offsite location  
via synchronous  3Mb/s wireless internet and two Sonicwall firewall /  
VPN devices.  The offsite users are having issues with SMB browsing  
and file transfer speeds and reliability.  The offsite users are  
seeing decent copy speeds (8MB file in 50 seconds) but the browsing  
is horrible.  It takes them a few minutes to view the contents of a  
directory.  The same action locally is instantaneous.  If they try  
accessing a native PC share across the VPN the browsing is fast.

This makes me think it is some sort of specific samba issue.  Are  
there any browsing related speed tweaks that can be done.  Also the  
smb.conf file (see below) is pretty much the standard Apple dist  
besides the socket options and getwd cache that I added.  If I change  
the socket options buffer values performance takes a huge hit.

I just found something in the smb.conf manual page on the samba.org  
site:

enhanced browsing = yes

My local subnet is 192.168.0.* and the offsite location is  
192.168.2.*.  Could this be part of the issue?  The "enhanced  
browsing" mentions cross subnet support.

Any tips / suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Dan

smb.conf file below...

-----

[global]
     getwd cache = yes
     workgroup = OROURKE
     display charset = UTF-8-MAC
     print command = /usr/sbin/PrintServiceAccess printps %p %s
     lprm command = /usr/sbin/PrintServiceAccess remove %p %j
     security = user
     guest account = unknown
     encrypt passwords = yes
     printing = BSD
     allow trusted domains = no
     preferred master = yes
     lppause command = /usr/sbin/PrintServiceAccess hold %p %j
     netbios name = fileserver
     wins support = yes
     add machine script = /usr/bin/opendirectorypdbconfig -c  
create_computer_account -r %u -n "/LDAPv3/127.0.0.1"
     max smbd processes = 0
     printcap =
     server string = Apple Xserve / RAID
     lpresume command = /usr/sbin/PrintServiceAccess release %p %j
     logon drive = H:
     client ntlmv2 auth = no
     domain logons = yes
     lpq command = /usr/sbin/PrintServiceAccess jobs %p
     admin users = @admin
     passdb backend = opendirectorysam guest
     dos charset = CP437
     unix charset = UTF-8-MAC
     socket options = TCP_NODELAY SO_KEEPALIVE SO_RCVBUF=8576  
SO_SNDBUF=8576 IPTOS_LOWDELAY
     auth methods = guest opendirectory
     local master = yes
     use spnego = no
     domain master = yes
     logon path = \\%N\profiles\%u
     printer admin = @admin, @staff
     map to guest = Never
     log level = 2

[netlogon]
     path = /etc/netlogon
     oplocks = yes
     strict locking = no
     write list = @admin
     browseable = no
[homes]
     browseable = no
     root preexec = /usr/sbin/inituser %U
     create mode = 0750
     read only = no
     comment = User Home Directories
[projects]
     oplocks = 1
     map archive = no
     path = /Volumes/Data/Projects
     read only = no
     inherit permissions = 1
     strict locking = 1
     comment = macosx
     create mask = 0644
     guest ok = 0
     directory mask = 0755