Samba Client and IBM Peer

[Herwig Bauernfeind]

Hi,

as there were several issues reported when accessing IBM Peer, I did
several tests, here are my results:

- When there are only IBM Peer machines in the workgroup and the Samba
Client, "Use broadcasts" must be enabled, in order to be able to browse,
however this not reliable, as EVFSGUI just takes a "snapshot" of the
workgroup (and does not do caching/continuos monitoring). Please note
that using broadcasts is considered deprecated in modern CIFS/SMB
environments. The appropriate solution is to have a master browser, any
Win NT/2K/XP machine or any Samba Server will be sufficient. IBM Peer
simply lacks this functionality and it is not the job of the Samba
Client to do that.

- Anonymous browsing does normally not work for IBM Peer machines (even
if there is a master browser) as usually there is no guest account on
these machines. Enable "Authenticate for browsing" and use credentials
of a user defined on the IBM Peer machines (or create a "guest" account
on the IBM Peer machines).

- I did tests with respect to missing files and/or directories - I
cannot reproduce this at all. I did tests for several 100 files and
directories and verified whether something was missing when using the
Samba Client. Everything was there. My advice in case you see this
problem: Check your credentials, do you have appropriate rights defined
for those seemingly missing files and directories?

- Be careful if the connection is slow, especially one of the XWP worker
threads seems to take ages to complete - this is very likely due to the
fact that the Samba Client does not do any kind of caching and IBM Peer
is also rather slow.

- I was unable to crash EVFSCTL.EXE here, whatever I try it, does not
crash....

I used latest plugin and latest EVFSGUI, version of the commandline
utilities is 3.0.37 eCS 1.0.3-341.


Kind regards,
Herwig

[Neil Waldhauer]

On Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:32:39 +0100, Herwig Bauernfeind

Post by Herwig Bauernfeind
The appropriate solution is to have a master browser, any
Win NT/2K/XP machine or any Samba Server will be sufficient. IBM Peer
simply lacks this functionality and it is not the job of the Samba
Client to do that.

There is a master browser for IBM LAN Services tha shipped with WSeB that may
work. I can execute it on eCS (don't try this on a real Windows Network, or you
could easily win the election, and down the whole network.)

Neil

[Pete Brown]

Hi Herwig

Post by Herwig Bauernfeind
Hi,
as there were several issues reported when accessing IBM Peer, I did
- When there are only IBM Peer machines in the workgroup and the Samba
Client, "Use broadcasts" must be enabled, in order to be able to browse,
however this not reliable, as EVFSGUI just takes a "snapshot" of the
workgroup (and does not do caching/continuos monitoring). Please note
that using broadcasts is considered deprecated in modern CIFS/SMB
environments. The appropriate solution is to have a master browser, any
Win NT/2K/XP machine or any Samba Server will be sufficient.

"Use broadcasts" does not seem to make any difference at all.

EVFSgui cannot see my workgroup whether there is a samba server running
or not. Maybe if I could get samba server working as recommended (with a
root account) it may work...

I rarely run a Windows system and would not want to have a Windows
system running just so that EVFSgui Browse View works.



IBM Peer

Post by Herwig Bauernfeind
simply lacks this functionality and it is not the job of the Samba
Client to do that.

Well, I think we may need to come up with a solution to this - unless
samba server does do the job.

Post by Herwig Bauernfeind
- Anonymous browsing does normally not work for IBM Peer machines (even
if there is a master browser) as usually there is no guest account on
these machines. Enable "Authenticate for browsing" and use credentials
of a user defined on the IBM Peer machines (or create a "guest" account
on the IBM Peer machines).

The only difference that "Authenticate for browsing" makes here is that
EVFSgui asks for a login before starting.

Still no network in Browse View - and Dialog View does not offer
Workgroup or Server names in the dropdown lists.

Post by Herwig Bauernfeind
- I did tests with respect to missing files and/or directories - I
cannot reproduce this at all. I did tests for several 100 files and
directories and verified whether something was missing when using the
Samba Client. Everything was there. My advice in case you see this
problem: Check your credentials, do you have appropriate rights defined
for those seemingly missing files and directories?

I suggest you look at this image
Loading Image... as it
shows OS/2 Peer and EVFSgui accessing the same shares - OS/2 Peer works;
EVFSgui does not.

Both OS/2 Peer and EVFSgui are using the same username/password
combination so this is not a case of the EVFSgui access not having the
necessary credentials/rights.

Post by Herwig Bauernfeind
- Be careful if the connection is slow, especially one of the XWP worker
threads seems to take ages to complete - this is very likely due to the
fact that the Samba Client does not do any kind of caching and IBM Peer
is also rather slow.
- I was unable to crash EVFSCTL.EXE here, whatever I try it, does not
crash....
I used latest plugin and latest EVFSGUI, version of the commandline
utilities is 3.0.37 eCS 1.0.3-341.

Maybe a link to those commandline utilities would be handy? - I don't
see that package on http://svn.netlabs.org/samba/


Regards

Pete

Post by Herwig Bauernfeind
Kind regards,
Herwig

[Herwig Bauernfeind]

Hi Pete

Post by Pete Brown

Post by Herwig Bauernfeind
as there were several issues reported when accessing IBM Peer, I did
- When there are only IBM Peer machines in the workgroup and the Samba
Client, "Use broadcasts" must be enabled, in order to be able to browse,
however this not reliable, as EVFSGUI just takes a "snapshot" of the
workgroup (and does not do caching/continuos monitoring). Please note
that using broadcasts is considered deprecated in modern CIFS/SMB
environments. The appropriate solution is to have a master browser, any
Win NT/2K/XP machine or any Samba Server will be sufficient.

"Use broadcasts" does not seem to make any difference at all.
EVFSgui cannot see my workgroup whether there is a samba server
running or not. Maybe if I could get samba server working as
recommended (with a root account) it may work...
I rarely run a Windows system and would not want to have a Windows
system running just so that EVFSgui Browse View works.

Post by Herwig Bauernfeind
IBM Peer simply lacks this functionality and it is not the job of the
Samba Client to do that.

Well, I think we may need to come up with a solution to this - unless
samba server does do the job.

Samba Server for eCS does the job nicely.

Post by Pete Brown

Post by Herwig Bauernfeind
- Anonymous browsing does normally not work for IBM Peer machines
(even if there is a master browser) as usually there is no guest
account on these machines. Enable "Authenticate for browsing" and use
credentials of a user defined on the IBM Peer machines (or create a
"guest" account on the IBM Peer machines).

The only difference that "Authenticate for browsing" makes here is
that EVFSgui asks for a login before starting.
Still no network in Browse View - and Dialog View does not offer
Workgroup or Server names in the dropdown lists.

Post by Herwig Bauernfeind
- I did tests with respect to missing files and/or directories - I
cannot reproduce this at all. I did tests for several 100 files and
directories and verified whether something was missing when using the
Samba Client. Everything was there. My advice in case you see this
problem: Check your credentials, do you have appropriate rights
defined for those seemingly missing files and directories?

I suggest you look at this image
http://svn.netlabs.org/samba/attachment/ticket/117/netimage.jpg as it
shows OS/2 Peer and EVFSgui accessing the same shares - OS/2 Peer
works; EVFSgui does not.
Both OS/2 Peer and EVFSgui are using the same username/password
combination so this is not a case of the EVFSgui access not having the
necessary credentials/rights.

Could you try smbclient.exe to access the affected IBM Peer share.
smbclient works ftp-like.
To access the IBM Peer server use a command line syntax like:

smbclient \\servername\share --user=yourusername%youpassword

this open a command prompt

Enter

dir

and see whether the list of files/directories is complete here or if
some are missing.

You may want to use

smbclient \\servername\share --user=yourusername%youpassword
--command="dir" >output

and check the content of output then.

Post by Pete Brown

Post by Herwig Bauernfeind
threads seems to take ages to complete - this is very likely due to the
fact that the Samba Client does not do any kind of caching and IBM Peer
is also rather slow.
- I was unable to crash EVFSCTL.EXE here, whatever I try it, does not
crash....
I used latest plugin and latest EVFSGUI, version of the commandline
utilities is 3.0.37 eCS 1.0.3-341.

- Be careful if the connection is slow, especially one of the XWP worker
Maybe a link to those commandline utilities would be handy? - I don't
see that package on http://svn.netlabs.org/samba/

They are on the netlabs ftp - however the revision of the commandline
utilities does not make a difference in this respect.
Just use these
ftp://ftp.netlabs.org/pub/samba/client/smbclut-3.0.37-os2-20100114.zip


Regards,
Herwig

[Pete Brown]

Hi Herwig

Post by Herwig Bauernfeind
Hi Pete

Post by Pete Brown

Post by Herwig Bauernfeind
as there were several issues reported when accessing IBM Peer, I did
- When there are only IBM Peer machines in the workgroup and the Samba
Client, "Use broadcasts" must be enabled, in order to be able to browse,
however this not reliable, as EVFSGUI just takes a "snapshot" of the
workgroup (and does not do caching/continuos monitoring). Please note
that using broadcasts is considered deprecated in modern CIFS/SMB
environments. The appropriate solution is to have a master browser, any
Win NT/2K/XP machine or any Samba Server will be sufficient.

"Use broadcasts" does not seem to make any difference at all.
EVFSgui cannot see my workgroup whether there is a samba server
running or not. Maybe if I could get samba server working as
recommended (with a root account) it may work...
I rarely run a Windows system and would not want to have a Windows
system running just so that EVFSgui Browse View works.

Post by Herwig Bauernfeind
IBM Peer simply lacks this functionality and it is not the job of the
Samba Client to do that.

Well, I think we may need to come up with a solution to this - unless
samba server does do the job.

Samba Server for eCS does the job nicely.

Yes, now that I have samba server running (see the samba sertver 1.0.3
thread) I can see that it does let EVFSgui know it exists :-)

Post by Herwig Bauernfeind

Post by Pete Brown

Post by Herwig Bauernfeind
- Anonymous browsing does normally not work for IBM Peer machines
(even if there is a master browser) as usually there is no guest
account on these machines. Enable "Authenticate for browsing" and use
credentials of a user defined on the IBM Peer machines (or create a
"guest" account on the IBM Peer machines).

The only difference that "Authenticate for browsing" makes here is
that EVFSgui asks for a login before starting.
Still no network in Browse View - and Dialog View does not offer
Workgroup or Server names in the dropdown lists.

Post by Herwig Bauernfeind
- I did tests with respect to missing files and/or directories - I
cannot reproduce this at all. I did tests for several 100 files and
directories and verified whether something was missing when using the
Samba Client. Everything was there. My advice in case you see this
problem: Check your credentials, do you have appropriate rights
defined for those seemingly missing files and directories?

I suggest you look at this image
http://svn.netlabs.org/samba/attachment/ticket/117/netimage.jpg as it
shows OS/2 Peer and EVFSgui accessing the same shares - OS/2 Peer
works; EVFSgui does not.
Both OS/2 Peer and EVFSgui are using the same username/password
combination so this is not a case of the EVFSgui access not having the
necessary credentials/rights.

Could you try smbclient.exe to access the affected IBM Peer share.
smbclient works ftp-like.
smbclient \\servername\share --user=yourusername%youpassword
this open a command prompt
Enter
dir
and see whether the list of files/directories is complete here or if
some are missing.
You may want to use
smbclient \\servername\share --user=yourusername%youpassword
--command="dir" >output
and check the content of output then.

The command line and a result you may be interested in:-


[L:\samba]smbclient \\THEWENCH\GDRIVE --directory TEMP --user=LOSEPETE
--command="dir" > TEMPDIR.TXT
Password:
Error: Looping in FIND_NEXT as name FAP0A3C.TMP has already been seen?

[L:\samba]


Of possible interest: There is only 1 instance of FAP0A3C.TMP in the
directory.

However, the contents of the directory listed in TEMPDIR.TXT are exactly
the same as displayed when accessing this shared directory via EVFSgui.

I suspect the samba client is "choking" on the sheer number of files and
directories within the TEMP directory.

I'm going to have to have words with the usual user regarding the
buildup of temp files as trying to run DIR from an OS/2 window results in:-

"SYS3153: There are too many files to sort in this directory".


Having deleted a lot of files with the .TMP extension I reran the
smbclient command:-

[L:\samba]smbclient \\THEWENCH\GDRIVE --directory TEMP --user=LOSEPETE
--command="dir" > TEMPDIR.TXT
Password:
Error: Looping in FIND_NEXT as name plugtmp-20 has already been seen?

[L:\samba]


The last few lines of TEMPDIR.TXT are:-

plugtmp-19 D 0 Thu Nov 5 02:25:14 2009
plugtmp-2 D 0 Thu Oct 22 02:20:02 2009
plugtmp-20 D 0 Fri Nov 6 02:43:46 2009
plugtmp-21 D 0 Fri Nov 6 02:53:42 2009


Well, OS/2 Peer can handle this directory but samba client cannot and it
looks like it may be "quantity of files/directories" related. The error
message is about plugtmp-20 - there is only the 1 - but the output has
got to plugtmp-21 so something is not right.


Regards

Pete

Post by Herwig Bauernfeind

Post by Pete Brown

Post by Herwig Bauernfeind
threads seems to take ages to complete - this is very likely due to the
fact that the Samba Client does not do any kind of caching and IBM Peer
is also rather slow.
- I was unable to crash EVFSCTL.EXE here, whatever I try it, does not
crash....
I used latest plugin and latest EVFSGUI, version of the commandline
utilities is 3.0.37 eCS 1.0.3-341.

- Be careful if the connection is slow, especially one of the XWP worker
Maybe a link to those commandline utilities would be handy? - I don't
see that package on http://svn.netlabs.org/samba/

They are on the netlabs ftp - however the revision of the commandline
utilities does not make a difference in this respect.
Just use these
ftp://ftp.netlabs.org/pub/samba/client/smbclut-3.0.37-os2-20100114.zip
Regards,
Herwig