samba - Aug 2005 - problem executing windows application in samba

Hi,

I've come across a rather strange problem while trying to execute a
windows application in samba.

I'm running Samba Version 3.0.10-Ubuntu on Linux Ubuntu, kernel
2.6.10-5-386, my full smb.conf is at the end of this message.

We have AIMS v3.0.0.3, a database application which accesses data in
.mdb files and we've stuck it on a samba share called AIMS.

The problem is, when I execute //servername/AIMS/AIMS.exe from a
windows2000 client connected to the network, it gives me an
application error (cannot access memory address, or similar).

However, if I log in as root on the server and change the owner of all
the files in the AIMS folder to the user who's logging in to the samba
share and trying to execute it, it runs fine. This happens even though
samba checks users according to what group they're in and all users
are in the staff group.

[AIMS]
   comment = AIMS files
   path = /home/AIMS
   readonly = no
   public = yes
   browseable = yes
   valid users = @staff
   write list = @staff
   create mask = 775
   force create mode = 775

So, I would log in with the user 'cherry' and it'd crash if the
owner
of the files wasn't cherry. This is no good, because there are many
users on the network who need to execute the application (BTW, it CAN
be run by multiple users on a share, we've done it in windows and on
an old samba server). I pinpointed which files needed to be owned by
the user logged in to the samba share for it not to crash, and it's
not the whole folder /home/AIMS, but just the /home/AIMS/Temp folder.

drwxrwxrwx   1 cherry staff       8 2005-08-01 11:45 Temp

So, what I did is move Temp to Temp.old and create a link to Temp.

lrwxrwxrwx   1 cherry staff       8 2005-08-01 11:45 Temp -> Temp.old
drwxr-xr-x   2 cherry staff    4096 2005-08-18 09:27 Temp.old

Which made things very erratic, some of the users would try and
execute AIMS.exe and it'd crash maybe 1/5th of the times and then
crash while they're using aims to enter data into it's database.

So I added to smb.conf:

[AIMS]
   ...
   valid users = @staff cherry
   write list = @staff cherry
    ...
   force user = cherry

Which has made almost all users able to run it without it crashing,
however, there appears to be some data inconsistencies. I can only
imagine that the data inconsistencies are happening because of this
ridiculous solution I've come up with by replacing the Temp/ folder
with a link to it.

Are there any known issues with access to temp folders and file
ownership permissions being needed by windows in order to execute a
program properly?

Any suggestions appreciated,

Alexander H Deriziotis
communitytechnology.org.uk

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#======================= Global Settings ======================
[global]

   netbios name = BACSAMBA
   domain logons = yes
   veto oplock files = /*.mdb/
   logon script = baclogon.bat

## Browsing/Identification ###

# Change this to the workgroup/NT-domain name your Samba server will part of
   workgroup = BAC

# server string is the equivalent of the NT Description field
   server string = Brixton Advice SAMBA Server

# Windows Internet Name Serving Support Section:
# WINS Support - Tells the NMBD component of Samba to enable its WINS Server
   wins support = yes

# WINS Server - Tells the NMBD components of Samba to be a WINS Client
# Note: Samba can be either a WINS Server, or a WINS Client, but NOT both
;   wins server = w.x.y.z

# This will prevent nmbd to search for NetBIOS names through DNS.
   dns proxy = no

# What naming service and in what order should we use to resolve host names
# to IP addresses
;   name resolve order = lmhosts host wins bcast


#### Debugging/Accounting ####

# This tells Samba to use a separate log file for each machine
# that connects
   log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m

# Put a capping on the size of the log files (in Kb).
   max log size = 1000

# If you want Samba to only log through syslog then set the following
# parameter to 'yes'.
;   syslog only = no

# We want Samba to log a minimum amount of information to syslog. Everything
# should go to /var/log/samba/log.{smbd,nmbd} instead. If you want to log
# through syslog you should set the following parameter to something higher.
   syslog = 0

# Do something sensible when Samba crashes: mail the admin a backtrace
   panic action = /usr/share/samba/panic-action %d


####### Authentication #######

# "security = user" is always a good idea. This will require a Unix
account
# in this server for every user accessing the server. See
# /usr/share/doc/samba-doc/htmldocs/ServerType.html in the samba-doc
# package for details.
;   security = user

# You may wish to use password encryption.  See the section on
# 'encrypt passwords' in the smb.conf(5) manpage before enabling.
   encrypt passwords = true

# If you are using encrypted passwords, Samba will need to know what
# password database type you are using.  
;   passdb backend = tdbsam guest

   obey pam restrictions = yes

   guest account = user
   invalid users = root

# This boolean parameter controls whether Samba attempts to sync the Unix
# password with the SMB password when the encrypted SMB password in the
# passdb is changed.
   unix password sync = yes

# For Unix password sync to work on a Debian GNU/Linux system, the following
# parameters must be set (thanks to Augustin Luton <aluton@hybrigenics.fr>
for
# sending the correct chat script for the passwd program in Debian Potato).
   passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u
   passwd chat = *Enter\snew\sUNIX\spassword:* %n\n
*Retype\snew\sUNIX\spassword:* %n\n .

# This boolean controls whether PAM will be used for password changes
# when requested by an SMB client instead of the program listed in
# 'passwd program'. The default is 'no'.
;   pam password change = no


########## Printing ##########

# If you want to automatically load your printer list rather
# than setting them up individually then you'll need this
;   load printers = yes

# lpr(ng) printing. You may wish to override the location of the
# printcap file
;   printing = bsd
;   printcap name = /etc/printcap

# CUPS printing.  See also the cupsaddsmb(8) manpage in the
# cupsys-client package.
;   printing = cups
;   printcap name = cups

# When using [print$], root is implicitly a 'printer admin', but you can
# also give this right to other users to add drivers and set printer
# properties
;   printer admin = @ntadmin


######## File sharing ########

# Name mangling options
;   preserve case = yes
;   short preserve case = yes


############ Misc ############

# Using the following line enables you to customise your configuration
# on a per machine basis. The %m gets replaced with the netbios name
# of the machine that is connecting
;   include = /home/samba/etc/smb.conf.%m

# Most people will find that this option gives better performance.
# See smb.conf(5) and /usr/share/doc/samba-doc/htmldocs/speed.html
# for details
# You may want to add the following on a Linux system:
#         SO_RCVBUF=8192 SO_SNDBUF=8192
   socket options = TCP_NODELAY

# The following parameter is useful only if you have the linpopup package
# installed. The samba maintainer and the linpopup maintainer are
# working to ease installation and configuration of linpopup and samba.
;   message command = /bin/sh -c '/usr/bin/linpopup "%f"
"%m" %s; rm %s' &

# Domain Master specifies Samba to be the Domain Master Browser. If this
# machine will be configured as a BDC (a secondary logon server), you
# must set this to 'no'; otherwise, the default behavior is recommended.
   domain master = yes

# Some defaults for winbind (make sure you're not using the ranges
# for something else.)
;   idmap uid = 10000-20000
;   idmap gid = 10000-20000
;   template shell = /bin/bash

#======================= Share Definitions ======================
[%U Home]
   comment = Homes
   path = /home/%U
   writable = yes
   valid users = %U
   write list = %U

[homes]
   comment = Home Directories
   path = /home/%U
   writable = yes
   valid users = %U
   write list = %U

#   browsable = no

# By default, the home directories are exported read-only. Change next
# parameter to 'yes' if you want to be able to write to them.
#   writable = no

# File creation mask is set to 0700 for security reasons. If you want to
# create files with group=rw permissions, set next parameter to 0775.
   create mask = 0700

# Directory creation mask is set to 0700 for security reasons. If you want to
# create dirs. with group=rw permissions, set next parameter to 0775.
   directory mask = 0700

# Un-comment the following and create the netlogon directory for Domain Logons
# (you need to configure Samba to act as a domain controller too.)
[netlogon]
   comment = Network Logon Service
   path = /home/samba/netlogon
   guest ok = yes
   writable = no
   share modes = no

[printers]
   comment = All Printers
   browseable = no
   path = /tmp
   printable = yes
   public = yes
   writable = no
   create mode = 0700

# Windows clients look for this share name as a source of downloadable
# printer drivers
[print$]
   comment = Printer Drivers
   path = /var/lib/samba/printers
   browseable = yes
   read only = yes
   guest ok = no
# Uncomment to allow remote administration of Windows print drivers.
# Replace 'ntadmin' with the name of the group your admin users are
# members of.
;   write list = root, @ntadmin

# A sample share for sharing your CD-ROM with others.
;[cdrom]
;   comment = Samba server's CD-ROM
;   writable = no
;   locking = no
;   path = /cdrom
;   public = yes

# The next two parameters show how to auto-mount a CD-ROM when the
#	cdrom share is accesed. For this to work /etc/fstab must contain
#	an entry like this:
#
#       /dev/scd0   /cdrom  iso9660 defaults,noauto,ro,user   0 0
#
# The CD-ROM gets unmounted automatically after the connection to the
#
# If you don't want to use auto-mounting/unmounting make sure the CD
#	is mounted on /cdrom
#
;   preexec = /bin/mount /cdrom
;   postexec = /bin/umount /cdrom

# BACSAMBA configuration

# This one is useful for people to share files
[tmp]
   comment = Temporary file space
   path = /tmp
   read only = no
   public = yes
   create mask = 775

[AIMS]
   comment = AIMS files
   path = /home/AIMS
   readonly = no
   public = yes
   browseable = yes
   valid users = @staff cherry
   write list = @staff cherry
   create mask = 775
   force create mode = 775
   force user = cherry

[NACAB]
   comment = updated nacab EIS-2 program
   path = /home/NACAB
   readonly = no
   public = no
   browseable = yes
   readlist = @it, @staff, @vol
   writelist = @it, @staff, @vol
   create mask = 777
   force create mode = 777

[SHARED]
   comment = SHARED FOR ALL TO USE
   path = /home/SHARED
   readonly = no
   public = no
   browseable = yes
   readlist = @it, @staff, @vol
   writelist = @it, @staff, @vol
   create mask = 777
   force create mode = 777

[INSTALLS]
   comment = Software Installation files and Drivers here
   path = /home/INSTALLS
   readonly = no
   browseable = yes
   public = no
   readlist = @it, @staff, @vol
   writelist = @it
   create mask = 777
   force create mode = 777