[Samba] User Profiles issue

[David Thompson]

Hi list,

I am brand new to this list and have come across an issue with one of  
my servers that I can't seem to figure out:

First the specifics of the clients and server:

Clients:
OS - Windows XP PRO SP2
10/100 MB Ethernet adapters (different types in all units)
--> Not sure what else you need to know here

Server:
Mac OS X Server (v10.4.3) running Samba version 3.0.10
User Home Directories live on a RAID 5 array within the server / 
Volumes/data/HomeFolders/
User Home Profiles live on a RAID 5 array within the server /Volumes/ 
data/HomeFolder/Profiles

Permission on the Profiles folder are: 770
Ownerships are: root:staff

These are as the per user instructions as listed on Apples site:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107700

This applies to 10.3 server but 10.4 seems to have the same identical  
settings.
The users home folders are shared out and the profiles folder follow  
along in suit with no issues until now.

I also have a number of netlogon scripts that mount users share  
points at login and set the time. These are basically as follows;
------------------------------------------------------------------------
@rem
@rem    This Script will mount
@rem    \\ABSI\Shared\ Files    - Y: Drive
@rem    \\ABSI\Photos           - X: Drive

net use Y: \\ABSI\SharedFiles
net use X: \\ABSI\Photos

net time \\ABSI /set /yes
------------------------------------------------------------------------

These scripts and settings all seem to work fine.

The problem.:

Lately the users on this one server have been getting more and more  
issues with logging onto the network with regards to their profiles  
folder and many times it seems as if samba just goes deaf to logins  
and the server needs to be rebooted in order for the authentication  
module to work smoothly again.

When users log in now, some users seem to cannot locate their roaming  
profiles folder or they get an error message saying their are  
duplicates exists on the network. I have never seen this before and a  
google turned up next to nothing. I figured it was time to go direct  
to the source!

Below is the smb.conf config file and some output from net:
------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

net getlocalsid:
SID for domain ABSI is: S-1-5-21-2338720986-3514778820-4171820066

net lookup ABSI
192.168.45.16
------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SMB.CONF:

[global]
         encrypt passwords = yes
         workgroup = ABSI
         display charset = UTF-8-MAC
         security = user
         deadtime = 15
         large readwrite = no
         guest account = unknown
         add machine script = /usr/bin/opendirectorypdbconfig -c  
create_computer_account -r %u -n "/LDAPv3/127.0.0.1"
         add user script = /usr/bin/opendirectorypdbconfig -c  
create_user_account -r %u -n "/LDAPv3/127.0.0.1"
         client ntlmv2 auth = no
         preferred master = yes
         defer sharing violations = no
         winbind separator = +
         allow trusted domains = no
         netbios name = ABSI
         lanman auth = YES
         vfs objects = darwin_acls
         wins support = yes
         brlm = yes
         max smbd processes = 25
         server string = server.absi.com
         logon drive = H:
         os level = 20
         domain logons = yes
         smb ports = 445
         passdb backend = opendirectorysam guest
         dos charset = CP437
         unix charset = UTF-8-MAC
         socket options = TCP_NODELAY IPTOS_LOWDELAY SO_KEEPALIVE  
SO_RCVBUF=8192 SO_SNDBUF=8192
         auth methods = guest opendirectory
         local master = yes
         domain master = yes
         map to guest = Never
         use spnego = yes
         printer admin = @admin, @staff
         logon path = \\%N\profiles\%u
ntlm auth = YES
         log level = 4
[HomeFolders]
         oplocks = 0
         map archive = no
         vfs objects = darwin_acls
         path = /Volumes/data/HomeFolders
         read only = no
         strict locking = 1
         inherit permissions = 0
         comment = macosx
         create mask = 0664
         guest ok = 0
         directory mask = 0775
[Photos]
         oplocks = 0
         map archive = no
         vfs objects = darwin_acls
         path = /Volumes/data/Photos
         read only = no
         strict locking = 1
         inherit permissions = 0
         comment = macosx
         create mask = 0660
         guest ok = 0
         directory mask = 0771
[homes]
         browseable = no
         root preexec = /usr/sbin/inituser %U
         create mode = 0750
         read only = no
         comment = User Home Directories
[profiles]
         path = /Users/Profiles
         oplocks = yes
         strict locking = no
         read only = no
         browseable = no
[printers]
         printable = yes
         path = /tmp
[netlogon]
         path = /etc/netlogon
         oplocks = yes
         strict locking = no
         write list = @admin
         browseable = no

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Question above concerning the [profiles] settings: The path =/Users/ 
Profiles is really /Volumes/data/HomeFolder/Profiles. Could this be  
where Samba is getting confused? Am I easily able to change this  
setting in the smb.conf and restart samba for the changes to take  
effect?

Sorry if I am not asking the right questions and THANK YOU for any  
and all help anyone can give to me. I appreciate it, even if it's  
just pointing me in the direction to head towards. I know there is a  
lot of information in this email and I apologize for that. Just  
trying to be as thorough as possible...

Thanks,

David