[Samba] Round-robin DNS and session disconnects

[Eric Chris Garrison]

Hello,

Our service has multiple Samba servers to serve up the same directories
for our users.  The users map to a single address, which directs them to a
server by round-robin DNS.

This hasn't really been a problem until recently.  One user in particular
complains that he loses his session, often in the middle of editing a
document, causing problems with Windows file locking and he says he has to
rename files to continue working.

I'm suspecting there is a firewall on his network or on his computer
that's doing something funny.


I'll see the same user shown as having a session on two different servers.
 I've also seen log messages like this that make me think he's hopping
from server to server:

Nov 14 23:44:37 rfs-gw2 smbd[30790]: [2007/11/14 23:44:37, 0]
lib/util_sock.c:read_socket_data(384)
Nov 14 23:44:37 rfs-gw2 smbd[30790]:   read_socket_data: recv failure for
4. Error = Connection timed out
Nov 14 23:44:37 rfs-gw2 smbd[30790]: [2007/11/14 23:44:37, 0]
smbd/service.c:set_current_service(51)
Nov 14 23:44:37 rfs-gw2 smbd[30790]:   chdir (/home/j/r/jrpierce) failed

I am looking for advice on how to make Samba servers play nice in a
round-robin environment, or for a way to help the user keep a single
server while he's working.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Chris
-- 
Eric Chris Garrison             | Principal Mass Storage Specialist
ecgarris at iupui.edu              | Indiana University - Research Storage
W: 317-278-1207 M: 317-250-8649 | Jabber IM: ecgarris at iupui.edu