samba - Jan 2012 - MSDFS on [homes] share for two samba servers

Hello list,

we have two samba servers on two localities with bigger distance between 
them. On both localities there are organizational staff working. And I 
am trying to configure homedirectories for all of staff in this way:
- all users will have same beginning part of URL path where is their 
homedir located (i.e. \\files.example.com\loginname) for unification and 
central acces
- but because the lower speed link between both localities there is need 
to locate homedirs:
  -- for locality A - on server A on that locality
  -- for locality B - on server B on that locality

fine, thats are requirements. So I have decided to use MSDFS in 
combination with [homes] in this way:
- on server A (which will acts as "files.example.com") there will be 
homedirs MSDFS links for users on locality B pointed to their real 
homedirs on server B (with classic symlink syntax "user_on_locality_B"
-> "msdfs:IP_of_server_B\user_on_locality_B" )
So if user Bob from locality B will access its homedir, it will be 
transparently redirected from Server A to its homedir on closest server B.

this is nice theory. but in practicle, is this feasible with current 
version of samba 3.x?
What is the best practicles for cases like this mine? Is there any way 
for dispatching homedirs to two/more servers?

thanks

michal

On Wed, 2012-01-11 at 19:28 +0100, Michal Bruncko wrote:
> Hello list,
> 
> we have two samba servers on two localities with bigger distance between 
> them. On both localities there are organizational staff working. And I 
> am trying to configure homedirectories for all of staff in this way:
> - all users will have same beginning part of URL path where is their 
> homedir located (i.e. \\files.example.com\loginname) for unification and 
> central acces
> - but because the lower speed link between both localities there is need 
> to locate homedirs:
>   -- for locality A - on server A on that locality
>   -- for locality B - on server B on that locality
> 
> fine, thats are requirements. So I have decided to use MSDFS in 
> combination with [homes] in this way:
> - on server A (which will acts as "files.example.com") there will
be
> homedirs MSDFS links for users on locality B pointed to their real 
> homedirs on server B (with classic symlink syntax
"user_on_locality_B"
> -> "msdfs:IP_of_server_B\user_on_locality_B" )
> So if user Bob from locality B will access its homedir, it will be 
> transparently redirected from Server A to its homedir on closest server B.
> 
I don't think that will work because a share must be all MSDFS. So the
[homes] share on server A cannot serve up both home directory shares to
local users and do MSDFS redirection for none local users at the same
time.

The best way I know of is for their to be a third server say
homes.example.com that does MSDFS redirection for all users. It is not
doing much so a light weight virtual machine will do the job. That does
work and has been for a number of years now.

JAB.

-- 
Jonathan A. Buzzard                 Email: jonathan (at) buzzard.me.uk
Fife, United Kingdom.

Hello,
just use a cluster file system or ex:
your host A has all the homes/shares of your users. Make it a host
msdfs=yes and define a root dfs on it for all share that should be unique
on both hosts.
Host B is linked by msdfs proxy=\\hostA\share-on-A.

That should do

Good luck
Daniel

On Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:28:42 +0100, Michal Bruncko
<michal.bruncko at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello list,
> 
> we have two samba servers on two localities with bigger distance between
> them. On both localities there are organizational staff working. And I 
> am trying to configure homedirectories for all of staff in this way:
> - all users will have same beginning part of URL path where is their 
> homedir located (i.e. \\files.example.com\loginname) for unification and
> central acces
> - but because the lower speed link between both localities there is need
> to locate homedirs:
>   -- for locality A - on server A on that locality
>   -- for locality B - on server B on that locality
> 
> fine, thats are requirements. So I have decided to use MSDFS in 
> combination with [homes] in this way:
> - on server A (which will acts as "files.example.com") there will
be
> homedirs MSDFS links for users on locality B pointed to their real 
> homedirs on server B (with classic symlink syntax
"user_on_locality_B"
> -> "msdfs:IP_of_server_B\user_on_locality_B" )
> So if user Bob from locality B will access its homedir, it will be 
> transparently redirected from Server A to its homedir on closest server
B.
> 
> this is nice theory. but in practicle, is this feasible with current 
> version of samba 3.x?
> What is the best practicles for cases like this mine? Is there any way 
> for dispatching homedirs to two/more servers?
> 
> thanks
> 
> michal

Hello Daniel,

also thanks for your answer. Your second hint with msfds proxy: it can 
be applied also for homedirectories/homes shares? Because it seems like 
just whole share redirect (directly from configuration file) to another 
server/share.

I think that maybe this can be applied on virtual server, but this 
statements need to be added for everyone user in organization... so it 
is little more laborious, but in result we can use the most simple url 
for every user in form \\virtual.filesrv\user. And in configuration 
there should be:

[user_on_B]
msdfs proxy=\\hostB\share-on-B

or

[user_on_A]
msdfs proxy=\\hostA\share-on-A

it is correct understanding of msdfs proxy?

thanks

michal


thanks

michal

On 12. 1. 2012 12:04, Daniel M?ller wrote:
> Hello,
> just use a cluster file system or ex:
> your host A has all the homes/shares of your users. Make it a host
> msdfs=yes and define a root dfs on it for all share that should be unique
> on both hosts.
> Host B is linked by msdfs proxy=\\hostA\share-on-A.
>
> That should do
>
> Good luck
> Daniel
>
> On Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:28:42 +0100, Michal Bruncko
> <michal.bruncko at gmail.com>  wrote:
>> Hello list,
>>
>> we have two samba servers on two localities with bigger distance
between
>
>> them. On both localities there are organizational staff working. And I
>> am trying to configure homedirectories for all of staff in this way:
>> - all users will have same beginning part of URL path where is their
>> homedir located (i.e. \\files.example.com\loginname) for unification
and
>
>> central acces
>> - but because the lower speed link between both localities there is
need
>
>> to locate homedirs:
>>    -- for locality A - on server A on that locality
>>    -- for locality B - on server B on that locality
>>
>> fine, thats are requirements. So I have decided to use MSDFS in
>> combination with [homes] in this way:
>> - on server A (which will acts as "files.example.com") there
will be
>> homedirs MSDFS links for users on locality B pointed to their real
>> homedirs on server B (with classic symlink syntax
"user_on_locality_B"
>> ->  "msdfs:IP_of_server_B\user_on_locality_B" )
>> So if user Bob from locality B will access its homedir, it will be
>> transparently redirected from Server A to its homedir on closest server
> B.
>>
>> this is nice theory. but in practicle, is this feasible with current
>> version of samba 3.x?
>> What is the best practicles for cases like this mine? Is there any way
>> for dispatching homedirs to two/more servers?
>>
>> thanks
>>
>> michal

Yes, that is correct Johnatan what you have saying. We are not using our 
samba server as Domain controller for user domain autentification i.e. 
into workstations.
That server is just standalone file server with user level 
autentification... of course, if user have same credentials to its 
personal computer like credentials to file server, autentication will be 
transpared, but thats all - any login scripts, any drive mapping 
(right.. this feature should solved my problem if I will use it, but...).

So I just looking for solution of mapping user home directories from ONE 
unifed URL to real location (on second or third server) based on user 
location information (from db/manual).

thanks for responses

michal

On 17. 1. 2012 12:42, Jonathan Buzzard wrote:
>
> On Tue, 2012-01-17 at 09:32 +0100, Daniel M?ller wrote:
>> What do you mean with "preferred one".
>> If you live with samba you will have one PDC I think and all other
servers are part of your domain.
>> So the users and groups are all the same in your domain and servers.
>> So if you logon to your PDC you will have your [homes] ex.:
>> [homes]
>> Msfds root=yes
>> Msdfs proxy= \serveronwhichyourhomesharesare\homes
>>
>> And a netlogon script under your [netlogon]
>> Will do the rest.
>>
>
> You are presuming the presence of a PDC and that all machines are PDC
> joined.
>
> The way I read it is that the OP wants to be able to tell all his users
> to go to say \\homes.mycorp.com\homes and then depending on where their
> normal work location is have them map their home drive from a server at
> the local site, no PDC or AD involved.
>
> If you have a PDC it would be simpler to just set the home directory for
> each user to the correct server and forget about DFS and netlogon
> scripts.
>
> JAB.
>