[KLUG Members] SAMBA... problem or solution ....

[Adam Tauno Williams]

> Problems are almost/completely non-existant on the slower clients,
> almost constant on the fast ones. This is not a really pure test,
> since the slower ones are '98SE, while the faster ones are XP, so
> we can't completely factor out OS and specific drivers.

Are they running logon scripts, or "hoping" the machine will remember
what volumes to mount from the last login?  The later doesn't really
work, if that is the case, switch to using logon scripts.

> Even with that in mind, I can't help feeling that introducing some
> delay on one side or the other would be a useful way to explore
> this idea... if I could slow down or delay SMB initiation on the 
> client (even by, say, a second or so) it would prove (or disprove)
> my thinking about these sorts of timing problems. Introducing some
> sort of delay or retry on the SAMBA server may also prove interesting.
> This leads to a number of questions for all you SAMBA sever veterans:
> 1. Have you seen this problem before? If so, is there a straightaway
>    solution?

Yes, when not using logon scripts.  Also seen it on hosts where DNS
(name resolution) is really slow.

> 2. Do such timing/delay/retry control exist? On clients? On servers?

Not that I've seen.

> 3. Am I barking up the wrong tree? Someone got a better tree?

Does the site have working DNS?  Is the Samba server also a WINS
server?  It might be worth reordering name resolution mechanisms via
"name resolve order".  Default is "lmhosts host wins bcast",  try
changing to "lmhosts wins host bcast" if there is a WINS server around.