samba - Apr 2005 - kernel oops generated by smbfs module

Greetings,

I have run into a kernel oops that I can generate at will, and that
hangs my machine. The machine is running Gentoo Linux, 2.6.11 kernel
and gcc 3.3.5. I can post more information if needed.

The problem arises when I mount an SMB share from a 2000-series Snap
server (network appliance); software version 3.4.804, hardware 2.0.3.
The mount is fine, and can sit for a long time. However, as soon as I
start doing ls in directories on the mount, or tab-completing
filenames (i.e. short reads), I get a kernel oops. This invariably
happens within 20 seconds of starting to do this.

I have tried two separate NICs (one tulip-compatible card and a 3com
905B) both of which have the same problem. The machine hangs whether
or not smbfs is a module (although running it as a module makes the
source of the oops more obvious).

I have never debugged the linux kernel before. What information do you
folks need from me? I have at least one of the oopses in
/var/log/messages, and can generate more of them. I read some of the
kernel documentation but found it a little bit confusing, which is why
I'm asking here.

Regards,

-- Erik Osheim

>I have never debugged the linux kernel before. What information do you
>folks need from me? I have at least one of the oopses in
>/var/log/messages, and can generate more of them. I read some of the
>kernel documentation but found it a little bit confusing, which is why
>I'm asking here.
>  
>
The stock answer is that the smbfs code was neither written, nor is
maintained here.  You'd probably get better results asking in a kernel
list, but I couldn't tell you which one.

In the meantime, so that you don't kernel panic, have you tried to use
the cifs mount methods?


-- 
Paul Gienger                    Office: 701-281-1884
Applied Engineering Inc.
Systems Architect               Fax:    701-281-1322
URL: www.ae-solutions.com       mailto: pgienger@ae-solutions.com

> Greetings,
> 
> I have run into a kernel oops that I can generate at will, and that
> hangs my machine. The machine is running Gentoo Linux, 2.6.11 kernel
> and gcc 3.3.5. I can post more information if needed.
> 
> The problem arises when I mount an SMB share from a 2000-series Snap
> server (network appliance); software version 3.4.804, hardware 2.0.3.
> The mount is fine, and can sit for a long time. However, as soon as I
> start doing ls in directories on the mount, or tab-completing
> filenames (i.e. short reads), I get a kernel oops. This invariably
> happens within 20 seconds of starting to do this.
> 
> I have tried two separate NICs (one tulip-compatible card and a 3com
> 905B) both of which have the same problem. The machine hangs whether
> or not smbfs is a module (although running it as a module makes the
> source of the oops more obvious).
> 
> I have never debugged the linux kernel before. What information do you
> folks need from me? I have at least one of the oopses in
> /var/log/messages, and can generate more of them. I read some of the
> kernel documentation but found it a little bit confusing, which is why
> I'm asking here.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> -- Erik Osheim

Sorry, I don't have an answer for you.  However, I can tell you that I 
have experienced the exact same problem with two Snap servers (model 
4100), using Fedora Core 2/3, kernel 2.6.? through current 2.6.11.  One 
of the Snap servers is running software version 3.4.803, but the other 
was recently upgraded to version 4.0.855 and the problem still exists. 
Mounting as a cifs file system, as someone suggested, doesn't really 
help, at least not for me.  I don't get the hard lockups like I do with 
smbfs, but as soon as I try to browse beyond the root directory of the 
share the process just hangs; although other applications still 
function.  This seems to be a kernel 2.6 issue, as I have used similar 
mounts on RedHat 7-9 and Fedora Core 1 systems without any problems.  I 
ended up having to use NFS.  If you ever find a solution I would be 
interested in hearing about it.

John Welch

Please see here:

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=129577

and here:

http://bugme.osdl.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1732

The bug seems to still exist in kernel 2.6.11-1.14_FC3 for FC3.


Erik Osheim  	  Apr 26, 1:43 pm     show options
Newsgroups: mailing.unix.samba
From: e...@plastic-idolatry.com (Erik Osheim)
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2005 01:43:58 +0800 (CST)
Local: Tues,Apr 26 2005 1:43 pm
Subject: [Samba] kernel oops generated by smbfs module


Greetings,

I have run into a kernel oops that I can generate at will, and that
hangs my machine. The machine is running Gentoo Linux, 2.6.11 kernel
and gcc 3.3.5. I can post more information if needed.

The problem arises when I mount an SMB share from a 2000-series Snap
server (network appliance); software version 3.4.804, hardware 2.0.3.
The mount is fine, and can sit for a long time. However, as soon as I
start doing ls in directories on the mount, or tab-completing
filenames (i.e. short reads), I get a kernel oops. This invariably
happens within 20 seconds of starting to do this.

I have tried two separate NICs (one tulip-compatible card and a 3com
905B) both of which have the same problem. The machine hangs whether
or not smbfs is a module (although running it as a module makes the
source of the oops more obvious).

I have never debugged the linux kernel before. What information do you
folks need from me? I have at least one of the oopses in
/var/log/messages, and can generate more of them. I read some of the
kernel documentation but found it a little bit confusing, which is why
I'm asking here.

Regards,

-- Erik Osheim