samba - Aug 2025 - Problems with smb3 directory leases and linux mount (cifs-utils?)

Hello lovely samba-people,

after upgrading our debian servers to Samba 4.22 we have a lot of 
trouble with them.

Today I'd like to ask if anybody has a similar problem as we have:

We have two debian 12 servers - both with Samba 4.22 from 
bookworm-backports.

Server A has a samba share and server B mount this share via fstab (so 
uses the cifs package). Server A in this scenario constantly puts new 
files into the share and Server B should do something with them and 
delete them after.

After a few minutes server B does not get any more updates from Server A 
on some directories. Sometimes this happens after 5 minutes, sometimes 
it takes an hour. And its always just a few directories - not every 
directory.

I have a slight suspicion that the "smb3 directory leases" are to
blame.
I disabled them on the server and the problem seems to be gone.

Is there a known problem with the "smb3 directory leases" and
cifs-utils
(version: 2:7.0-2)? There are no backports available for this package.

@MJT: are you responsible for cifs-utils too and could you bring a fix 
for this bug?

Thanks and have a nice day.

-- 
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Hi,

 From my experience it is good to leave and join the server from domain 
first after upgrades. Had standard interim upgrade to 4.19 branch and 2 
servers needed rejoin.

 ?'net ads leave && net ads join? (--no-dns-update) -U
<user_name>'?or
'realmd' commands of equal.

for debug reasons a skeletal descriptive share description is needed 
(share type POSIX or Windows ACL type share?).

SH


On 18/08/2025 15.30, Matthias K?hne | Ellerhold Aktiengesellschaft via 
samba wrote:
> Hello lovely samba-people,
>
> after upgrading our debian servers to Samba 4.22 we have a lot of
> trouble with them.
>
> Today I'd like to ask if anybody has a similar problem as we have:
>
> We have two debian 12 servers - both with Samba 4.22 from
> bookworm-backports.
>
> Server A has a samba share and server B mount this share via fstab (so
> uses the cifs package). Server A in this scenario constantly puts new
> files into the share and Server B should do something with them and
> delete them after.
>
> After a few minutes server B does not get any more updates from Server A
> on some directories. Sometimes this happens after 5 minutes, sometimes
> it takes an hour. And its always just a few directories - not every
> directory.
>
> I have a slight suspicion that the "smb3 directory leases" are to
blame.
> I disabled them on the server and the problem seems to be gone.
>
> Is there a known problem with the "smb3 directory leases" and
cifs-utils
> (version: 2:7.0-2)? There are no backports available for this package.
>
> @MJT: are you responsible for cifs-utils too and could you bring a fix
> for this bug?
>
> Thanks and have a nice day.
>
-- 
Sami Hulkko
+358 45 8569 319
sahulkko at gmail.com
sahulkko at icloud.com

Hi Matthias,

On Mon, Aug 18, 2025 at 02:30:01PM +0200, Matthias K?hne | Ellerhold
Aktiengesellschaft via samba wrote:
> Hello lovely samba-people,
> 
> after upgrading our debian servers to Samba 4.22 we have a lot of 
> trouble with them.
> 
> Today I'd like to ask if anybody has a similar problem as we have:
> 
> We have two debian 12 servers - both with Samba 4.22 from 
> bookworm-backports.
Can you please confirm the kernel version you are running?
> Server A has a samba share and server B mount this share via fstab (so 
> uses the cifs package). Server A in this scenario constantly puts new 
> files into the share and Server B should do something with them and 
> delete them after.
> 
> After a few minutes server B does not get any more updates from Server A 
> on some directories. Sometimes this happens after 5 minutes, sometimes 
> it takes an hour. And its always just a few directories - not every 
> directory.
> 
> I have a slight suspicion that the "smb3 directory leases" are to
blame.
> I disabled them on the server and the problem seems to be gone.
What do you mean by "does not get any more updates"? If Server A
changes
the contents of one directory, does this mean that Server B does not see
the new information? Does this state persist indefinitely, or does Server B
eventually observe the updates?

Can you also share details about the directory structure involved?
> Is there a known problem with the "smb3 directory leases" and
cifs-utils
> (version: 2:7.0-2)? There are no backports available for this package.
Just FYI, cifs-utils is unlikely to be responsible for the issue you are
experiencing. It does not provide the CIFS client itself; rather, it
contains userspace tools for managing CIFS mounts.

--
Henrique
SUSE Labs