List,
I apologize for the "newbie" nature of this post; I am sure there is
an easy answer somewhere, but I've tried all the search terms I can
think up and can't find it.
I have some video archived on a White Box 4 machine. I watch it on a
Windows XP box in the other room by mapping a drive to a Samba share.
Seemingly at random, my video stream will halt due to an inability to
receive data from the server. If I pause for a few seconds and resume,
everything is usually fine. This generally happens only once or twice
per hour, but it's annoying.
The video is not huge. We're talking ~350MB xvid files, 45 minutes
each (compressed network TV shows). The Samba server used to be a
Windows 2000 Server and the same video files worked perfectly from
there. Network is gigabit on the server side, 100mbit on the client
side - though even wireless should be able to stream these files.
Virtually no traffic on the network (just my computers and they mostly
sit idle unless I'm using them).
I saw this problem again last night when copying ~10GB worth of files
from another XP box to the Samba share. The copy stopped a couple of
times, telling me the network path no longer existed, but after
clicking OK I could still browse the share just fine. It's like an
intermittant, very temporary glitch.
Stats:
White Box Linux 4 (kernel 2.6.9-5)
Samba 3.0.10-1.4E
Relevant smb.conf:
[global]
workgroup = WRIGHT
netbios name = SATURN
server string = Saturn
security = domain
idmap uid = 15000-20000
idmap gid = 15000-20000
winbind use default domain = Yes
encrypt passwords = yes
password server = jupiter
"jupiter" is a Win2k server & PDC.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
-Ryan
On Fri, Oct 07, 2005 at 10:08:33AM -0700, Ryan Wright wrote:> List, > > I apologize for the "newbie" nature of this post; I am sure there is > an easy answer somewhere, but I've tried all the search terms I can > think up and can't find it. > > I have some video archived on a White Box 4 machine. I watch it on a > Windows XP box in the other room by mapping a drive to a Samba share. > Seemingly at random, my video stream will halt due to an inability to > receive data from the server. If I pause for a few seconds and resume, > everything is usually fine. This generally happens only once or twice > per hour, but it's annoying. > > The video is not huge. We're talking ~350MB xvid files, 45 minutes > each (compressed network TV shows). The Samba server used to be a > Windows 2000 Server and the same video files worked perfectly from > there. Network is gigabit on the server side, 100mbit on the client > side - though even wireless should be able to stream these files. > Virtually no traffic on the network (just my computers and they mostly > sit idle unless I'm using them). > > I saw this problem again last night when copying ~10GB worth of files > from another XP box to the Samba share. The copy stopped a couple of > times, telling me the network path no longer existed, but after > clicking OK I could still browse the share just fine. It's like an > intermittant, very temporary glitch.This kind of thing is hard to debug. You need to keep very accurate statistics on what is going on on the server over the copying period to be able to debug this. I'd try running vmstat 1 (every second) and capturing the output over the copying period to try and catch this. Jeremy.
I have seen performance issues where a Windows client (Explorer) takes a while to display a file listing on a remote computer, but then it accesses it just fine. Generally speaking, this is the opposite of what you describe, but it could be related. In investigating this, the problem (not the symptom, the actual problem) turned out to be invalid shortcuts to network shares. These invalid shortcuts are left behind from when a server or share once existed on the network but has since been removed. When initially browsing the network, Windows attempts to access all the remote shares it knows about BEFORE displaying any listings, rather than accessing the remote share only if the user requests it. This seems to be especially problematic with Microsoft Word and Excel when opening documents. There are several places to look for these stale or invalid shares: 1. "My Network Places" -- Open this up, and delete any shortcuts that point to remote servers or shares that no longer exist. It's actually safe to delete ALL of the network shortcuts (named like "Someshare on someserver (servername)"). Usually these are created automatically. 2. "My Computer" -- Disconnect (remove) any network drive mappings that point to nonexistent shares or servers. 3. "Desktop" -- same thing as My Network Places; remove any invalid shortcuts to network shares. I don't think that these cause a problem as described above, but it can't hurt to remove them. 4. Registry -- HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MountPoints (MountPoints2 in XP or later) -- there may be subkeys in the form of ##server#share. Delete any keys that point to nonexistent servers or shares. Lastly, if you are using Windows XP or later, disable "Automatically search for network folders and printers." To do so, open My Computer, click Tools - Folder Options, View tab, and it's in there. When enabled, Windows will fill up your "My Network Places" with shortcuts to any network shares it finds, and will fill up your Printers folder with "Auto...." printers. Note that each of these things are on a PER PROFILE basis. You will need to check each Windows user login for these issues. I can't guarantee that this will solve your problem, but since you mention that you've replaced a server, there's a good chance that there are some stale & invalid shortcuts lying around. It could be that Windows periodically is going out there looking for these nonexistent shares, and in the process interrupts your connection. Hey, it's worth a shot. --Jonathan Johnson Ryan Wright wrote:>List, > >I apologize for the "newbie" nature of this post; I am sure there is >an easy answer somewhere, but I've tried all the search terms I can >think up and can't find it. > >I have some video archived on a White Box 4 machine. I watch it on a >Windows XP box in the other room by mapping a drive to a Samba share. >Seemingly at random, my video stream will halt due to an inability to >receive data from the server. If I pause for a few seconds and resume, >everything is usually fine. This generally happens only once or twice >per hour, but it's annoying. > >The video is not huge. We're talking ~350MB xvid files, 45 minutes >each (compressed network TV shows). The Samba server used to be a >Windows 2000 Server and the same video files worked perfectly from >there. Network is gigabit on the server side, 100mbit on the client >side - though even wireless should be able to stream these files. >Virtually no traffic on the network (just my computers and they mostly >sit idle unless I'm using them). > >I saw this problem again last night when copying ~10GB worth of files >from another XP box to the Samba share. The copy stopped a couple of >times, telling me the network path no longer existed, but after >clicking OK I could still browse the share just fine. It's like an >intermittant, very temporary glitch. > >Stats: >White Box Linux 4 (kernel 2.6.9-5) >Samba 3.0.10-1.4E > >Relevant smb.conf: >[global] > workgroup = WRIGHT > netbios name = SATURN > server string = Saturn > security = domain > idmap uid = 15000-20000 > idmap gid = 15000-20000 > winbind use default domain = Yes > encrypt passwords = yes > password server = jupiter > >"jupiter" is a Win2k server & PDC. > >Any advice would be greatly appreciated. > >-Ryan > >
*sigh*, I tried the suggestions without any luck. Does anyone have any other ideas? Some more data that might be helpful: When the video freezes, it enters a "loop" - it will freeze for a few seconds, then play for a few seconds, freeze again, etc. If I pause playback for a couple of seconds and resume, it's normally fine from then on. Maybe this just isn't a Samba issue and I need to be looking elsewhere; but if I put the video files on a Windows share they play back fine. -Ryan On 10/7/05, Ryan Wright <ryanpwright@gmail.com> wrote:> List, > > I apologize for the "newbie" nature of this post; I am sure there is > an easy answer somewhere, but I've tried all the search terms I can > think up and can't find it. > > I have some video archived on a White Box 4 machine. I watch it on a > Windows XP box in the other room by mapping a drive to a Samba share. > Seemingly at random, my video stream will halt due to an inability to > receive data from the server. If I pause for a few seconds and resume, > everything is usually fine. This generally happens only once or twice > per hour, but it's annoying. > > The video is not huge. We're talking ~350MB xvid files, 45 minutes > each (compressed network TV shows). The Samba server used to be a > Windows 2000 Server and the same video files worked perfectly from > there. Network is gigabit on the server side, 100mbit on the client > side - though even wireless should be able to stream these files. > Virtually no traffic on the network (just my computers and they mostly > sit idle unless I'm using them). > > I saw this problem again last night when copying ~10GB worth of files > from another XP box to the Samba share. The copy stopped a couple of > times, telling me the network path no longer existed, but after > clicking OK I could still browse the share just fine. It's like an > intermittant, very temporary glitch. > > Stats: > White Box Linux 4 (kernel 2.6.9-5) > Samba 3.0.10-1.4E > > Relevant smb.conf: > [global] > workgroup = WRIGHT > netbios name = SATURN > server string = Saturn > security = domain > idmap uid = 15000-20000 > idmap gid = 15000-20000 > winbind use default domain = Yes > encrypt passwords = yes > password server = jupiter > > "jupiter" is a Win2k server & PDC. > > Any advice would be greatly appreciated. > > -Ryan >