[Samba] File locking problem involving Samba, Clearcase, and Cygwin

[Kathy]

Thanks, Jeremy and Brian for your responses.  First Jeremy -- I think
I will first pursue with Brian a solution that uses a version of Samba
that is at least more in line with what IBM has tested with Clearcase,
but if it really does look like the issue is with Samba, I have no
problem at least compiling a newer version and seeing if the issue
goes away.  Thanks for the suggestion.

Brian -- I'll send you the PMR in a private email and we can discuss
the Clearcase specifics off the Samba list.  I have suggested to our
test group probably at least 3 times  to get them to put their logs on
a local filesystem or Windows server share but they have never done
the test for me (to my huge frustration) because of the perceived
effort involved in modifying their scripts.  I agree that it's a test
that needs to be done and  I will have to just be adamant about it
this week.

On 2/6/09, Brian Cowan <brcowan at gmail.com> wrote:
> Kathy, I work in ClearCase support, and this construct is not supported by
> IBM. It's not a tested configuration. There is a mechanism -- export_mvfs --
> that allows hosts that do not have ClearCase installed to access files in
> dynamic views via NFS. You are trying to accomplish the same thing by
> sharing the MVFS root (/view -- translation for non-CC people: Think
> "path=/net"). Is there a pressing reason for doing this? Wouldn't it be
> simpler to install ClearCase on the PC's and access the files through the
> Windows-Native MVFS (which in turn would access the VOBs on your VOB
> server)?
>
> That being said, I doubt that it's the MVFS confusing Samba, but it is
> possible. If this turns out to be a load-related issue, the MVFS may show
> this issue more often because it does a lot more under the hood than most
> filesystems (version selection, getting cleartext constructed, etc). I would
> recommend testing to see if you can make the same thing happen with files
> in:
> 1) A local filesystem
> 2) a remote NFS-mounted filesystem.
>
> You may need to increase the load on the Samba server 2-fold or more to get
> it to "fall over" in the same way, but definitely try. If so, then ClearCase
> has been eliminated from the picture and you can start trying various
> debugging tricks to see why Samba thinks some users have oplocks when they
> shouldn't.
>
> By the way, I suspect that you have a case open with us about this issue, if
> so, can you send me the PMR number?
>