samba - Nov 1997 - Slow on SunOS 4.1.4 (Eudora mailer)

I have a problem with __extremely__ slow performance using the Eudora mailtool.
Both the executables and the mailbox are on (different) Samba servers.

I have played with all the combinations of placements for executables and
mailbox, and what it amounts to is that the slowness happens with the mailbox on
a SunOS 4.1.4 Samba server. It doesn't happen on a Solaris based Samba
server.

As an aside I was also getting very slow preformance on another application
which read images (readonly, sequential, small reads) from the same SunOS based
Samba server - and it was fast on the Solaris server. I read speed.txt and using
socket options = TCP_NODELAY improved the SunOS machine's speed by a factor
of 5 (86 -> 17 secs). Unfortunately this did not improve the Eudora mailer
performance !!

I have thought about the different Suns' memory and basic speed, but it
seems to come down to the Samba build (SunOS vs Solaris). (But I havn't
excluded all other causes yet).

Does anybody recognise these symptoms, please? Have I missed a key configuration
parameter?

Relevant global setiings (unravelled from include files), and [homes] section
where mailbox sits. We have an NT PDC.

[global]
  allow hosts = @pcs, @suns, @nt_servers
  browseable = yes
  create mode = 0750
  dead time = 15
  debug level = 1
  domain logons = no
  domain master = no
  encrypt passwords = yes
  getwd cache = yes
  guest account = nobody
  hide dot files = no
  load printers = yes
  locking = yes
  mangled names = yes
  max connections = 0
  min print space = 0
  null passwords = no
  password server = <name>
  public = no
  security = server
  server string = Samba %v (%h-%d)
  share modes = yes
  wide links = no
  wins support = no
  workgroup = <NT Domain Name>
  writeable = no

  printcap name = /etc/printcap
  printing = bsd 

  wins server = <IP of NT Domain PDC>

  preferred master = no
  local master = yes
  os level = 10

[homes]
   comment = Home Directory on %h
   writeable = yes
   browseable = no
   include = /local/lib/samba/valid_users.%h


Paul Ostro
University College London Hospitals

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On Wed, 5 Nov 1997, Paul Ostro wrote:
> I have a problem with __extremely__ slow performance using the Eudora
> mailtool. Both the executables and the mailbox are on (different) Samba
> servers. 
[snip]
> Does anybody recognise these symptoms, please? Have I missed a key
> configuration parameter? 
You haven't mentioned what version of samba you have used.

This is just guessing, but grab the latest samba, and then look at the
various options for locking. I strongly suspect that your performace
problems are related to locking issues.

Charlie Brady - Telstra  |internet: cbrady@ind.tansu.com.au
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