Hi Kris,
lsof (http://freshmeat.net/projects/lsof/) available with most distributions
might be your friend:
> About:
> Lsof is a Unix-specific diagnostic tool. Its name stands for LiSt Open
> Files, and it does just that. It lists information about any files that
> are open by processes currently running on the system. It can also list
> communications open by each process.
Using this tool on SERVER2 might indicate which process is locking your
file. Maybe it is not a filesystem bug but the mail server itself holding on
to the file....
I dont't know, but you asked for guesses.
Uli
> -----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: Kris Kelley [mailto:skunkworx@kingwoodcable.com]
> Gesendet: Mittwoch, 11. September 2002 19:08
> An: Samba Mailing List
> Betreff: [Samba] File "locking" problem continues.
>
>
> Hello, all. A while back I posted a question about an issue, but did
> not get any replies. I understand this might not be something anybody
> has a definite answer for, and I understand I may not be offering the
> right information. If that is the case, please let me know what
> information I can provide, and please don't hesitate to offer any
> suggestions about what could be causing this problem.
>
> My company's email system involves two linux-based (Red Hat 7.1) email
> servers running a customized installation of Red Hat's
> release of kernel
> 2.4.9-34. Email files and folders are stored on a common, networked
> file share, hosted by a machine running Windows 2000 Advanced Server,
> SP2, and mounted via smbfs, using smbmount from Samba 2.2.4 on one
> server, and smbmount from Samba 2.2.5 on the other.
>
> About a month ago, the email inbox directory for one parituclar user
> experienced a curious problem where the last (most recent)
> message file
> in the directory became "locked." Any attempt to move or rename
the
> file resulted in error messages like these:
>
> mv: cannot unlink `1030570088.21768.server1,S=655@2,': Text
> file busy
> mv: cannot remove `1030570088.21768.server1,S=655@2,': Text
> file busy
>
> Curiously, this problem only affected one of the email
> servers, SERVER1.
> If I tried to move or rename the file using SERVER2, the
> "lock" would be
> broken, and I could then move or rename the file using either server.
> Even more curiously, while this "lock" was in place, if
> another message
> file entered the directory, the "lock" would pass to the newer
message
> file, allowing SERVER1 to move or rename the older message
> file without
> error.
>
> This problem was seen in only this one directory; the email
> directories
> of all other users were not affected, and this user had no trouble
> accessing his other email directories, besides the inbox.
>
> A few days after this problem first appeared, SERVER1 was
> decommissioned
> and replaced by a different machine. The newer machine runs
> almost the
> same software, with the only significant difference being the new
> SERVER1 uses smbmount from Samba 2.2.5 instead of 2.2.4. SERVER2
> remains unchanged.
>
> At first, the problem seemed to have disappeared along with the old
> SERVER1, but now the problem is back. It is affecting the same folder
> as before, and showing the same symptoms as before. Again, no other
> directories are affected.
>
> This morning, before using the lock-breaking trick with SERVER2, this
> time I first tried moving the file locally, on the Windows
> box. I got a
> "sharing violation" error, saying the file was in use. So,
> Windows saw
> a problem, too, but again, moving the file with SERVER2 brok
> the "lock."
> I am wondering if there is a process, perhaps related to smbfs, on
> SERVER2 that is instigating this problem, but I am at a loss
> on what it
> could be. The same programs (qmail and Courier IMAP) that access the
> share are running on both servers, and we use a load balancer, so the
> affected user is not accessing his directories from only one server or
> the other. The only process that normally accesses these files on the
> Windows box is our nightly back-up program, and any problem created by
> that I imagine would affect more than just a single file in a single
> directory.
>
> If anybody has any clue how I can further investigate this
> issue, please
> let me know. Thanks!
>
> ---Kris Kelley
>
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