samba - Nov 2002 - RE: License Metering Software to work with SAMBA

Dear Tom,

The express product makes standard windows api calls to the machine where it
is installed to open, read, write to, and close files on the network. It
does not, in any way tell samba how to react, it is simply telling Windows
to open, read and write to the files on the network leaving how it is done
to the underlying network protocols.

Based on what I have seen it appears that Windows XP workstations are
intermittently writing invalid data to the log files. The log files
containing invalid data are deleted by express when a repair is run, at the
beginning of any update of the database, which is done to prevent corrupt
data from being written to the database.

We believe that there is a conflict between Windows XP and samba which
results in the intermittent writing of invalid data.

The applib.loc file is a text file which simply indicates what machine last
had the library open in the Express Administrative Console.

Sincerely, Chris Lindberg
Express Metrix Technical Support
  -----Original Message-----
  From: Thomas G. Tri, P.E. [mailto:ttri@skees.com]
  Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 5:40 AM
  To: samba@lists.samba.org
  Cc: bburnett@skees.com; clindberg@expressmetrix.com;
ssipinen@expressmetrix.com
  Subject: License Metering Software to work with SAMBA


  Dear List:

  We have a 25+ node mixed networked of NT4SP5, Win2K, & WinXP.  We are
currently using Express Meter to control our software licensing and capture
data to analyze software license utilization to justify additional licenses,
etc. We are running SAMBA v 2.0.7 on a Sun Ultra 2 running Solaris 7. We
have been unable to get the reporting functions to work (the Express Meter
log files get purged when the data merging / reporting process is
performed).  A SAMBA debug log shows the following strange sequence of locks
/ unlocks. The applib.loc file is opened with read=No, write=Yes and then
followed by opening another handle on the same file with read=Yes and
write=No. This seems a little strange to me and may not be the problem at
all. Their tech support is apparently not willing to invest any more time to
investigate this problem as it appears to function correctly when the files
are stored on an NT workstation. We are not willing to

  [2002/11/05 15:17:33, 2] smbd/open.c:(602)
    bburnett opened file em/fromtaurus/applib.loc read=No write=Yes
(numopen=3)
  [2002/11/05 15:17:33, 2] smbd/open.c:(602)
    bburnett opened file em/fromtaurus/applib.lib read=Yes write=No
(numopen=4)
  [2002/11/05 15:17:33, 2] smbd/open.c:(602)
    bburnett opened file em/fromtaurus/applib.loc read=Yes write=No
(numopen=5)

  We would like to continue to use Express Meter because of the time we have
invested in setup and configuration.  However, the reporting capability is a
requirement for our firm.  Therefore, we are considering switching to
another software metering application. We are currently reviewing the
following:
  Keyserver from Sassafras Software
  Application Metering from Codework

  If anyone has a suggestion to correct / workaround the above file locking
sequence or has experience with these or other software metering
applications, I would greatly appreciate your comments (good & bad).

  Thanks,
  Tom
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On Thu, 2002-11-21 at 01:42, Chris Lindberg wrote:
> Dear Tom,
> 
> The express product makes standard windows api calls to the machine where
it
> is installed to open, read, write to, and close files on the network. It
> does not, in any way tell samba how to react, it is simply telling Windows
> to open, read and write to the files on the network leaving how it is done
> to the underlying network protocols.
You would be surprised how much of 'standard system calls' turns into
'unusual series of packets on the network'.  Quite a number of bugs in
Samba have been found by simple database applications...
> Based on what I have seen it appears that Windows XP workstations are
> intermittently writing invalid data to the log files. The log files
> containing invalid data are deleted by express when a repair is run, at the
> beginning of any update of the database, which is done to prevent corrupt
> data from being written to the database.
> 
> We believe that there is a conflict between Windows XP and samba which
> results in the intermittent writing of invalid data.
And the basic rule around here is 'if it works against Win2k server, and
fails against Samba, then it's a bug'.  Is there any chance you can test
your software against the latest production Samba?  

If you can reproduce the bug against 2.2.7 or (bonus points!) reproduce
it under some form of test program, I know Jeremy gets very keen to add
it to the test-suite.  (In the past, a small database vendor's internal
lock torture-test found it's way to jra' INBOX - a slew of bugfixes
followed :-).  Much of the information discovered finds it's way into
our smbtorture utility.
> The applib.loc file is a text file which simply indicates what machine last
> had the library open in the Express Administrative Console.
> 
> Sincerely, Chris Lindberg
> Express Metrix Technical Support
>   -----Original Message-----
>   From: Thomas G. Tri, P.E. [mailto:ttri@skees.com]
>   Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 5:40 AM
>   To: samba@lists.samba.org
>   Cc: bburnett@skees.com; clindberg@expressmetrix.com;
> ssipinen@expressmetrix.com
>   Subject: License Metering Software to work with SAMBA
> 
> 
>   Dear List:
> 
>   We have a 25+ node mixed networked of NT4SP5, Win2K, & WinXP.  We are
> currently using Express Meter to control our software licensing and capture
> data to analyze software license utilization to justify additional
licenses,
> etc. We are running SAMBA v 2.0.7 on a Sun Ultra 2 running Solaris 7. 
I would seriously recommend an upgrade to Samba 2.2.7.  A large number
of locking bugs have been fixed since then.
> We
> have been unable to get the reporting functions to work (the Express Meter
> log files get purged when the data merging / reporting process is
> performed).  A SAMBA debug log shows the following strange sequence of
locks
> / unlocks. The applib.loc file is opened with read=No, write=Yes and then
> followed by opening another handle on the same file with read=Yes and
> write=No. This seems a little strange to me and may not be the problem at
> all. Their tech support is apparently not willing to invest any more time
to
> investigate this problem as it appears to function correctly when the files
> are stored on an NT workstation. We are not willing to
> 
>   [2002/11/05 15:17:33, 2] smbd/open.c:(602)
>     bburnett opened file em/fromtaurus/applib.loc read=No write=Yes
> (numopen=3)
>   [2002/11/05 15:17:33, 2] smbd/open.c:(602)
>     bburnett opened file em/fromtaurus/applib.lib read=Yes write=No
> (numopen=4)
>   [2002/11/05 15:17:33, 2] smbd/open.c:(602)
>     bburnett opened file em/fromtaurus/applib.loc read=Yes write=No
> (numopen=5)
> 
>   We would like to continue to use Express Meter because of the time we
have
> invested in setup and configuration.  However, the reporting capability is
a
> requirement for our firm.  Therefore, we are considering switching to
> another software metering application. We are currently reviewing the
> following:
>   Keyserver from Sassafras Software
>   Application Metering from Codework
> 
>   If anyone has a suggestion to correct / workaround the above file locking
> sequence or has experience with these or other software metering
> applications, I would greatly appreciate your comments (good & bad).
> 
>   Thanks,
>   Tom
-- 
Andrew Bartlett                                 abartlet@pcug.org.au
Manager, Authentication Subsystems, Samba Team  abartlet@samba.org
Student Network Administrator, Hawker College   abartlet@hawkerc.net
http://samba.org     http://build.samba.org     http://hawkerc.net
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