samba - Feb 2006 - Questions about file system support in Samba

I'm a relative newcomer to Samba, but very experienced with computers and
linux.  I'm attempting to build a file/backup server for a small shop. 
I'm
using Fedora core 4 and samba on a system with a 2.1 TB RAID 50 array
formatted as 1 very large xfs partition.  I want to share directories
(folders) within the partition with a few Windows XP-Pro SP2 systems which
are our primary work-stations.  Currently I'm running samba-3.0.21b.  I
started with the 3.0.14 that was released with FC4, but upgraded to the
"latest and greatest" when I couldn't make the original work
correctly. The
kernel has also been upgraded to the Fedora released 2.6.14.1-1656-FC4-SMP.

 

Our business is primarily imaging and video.  A large percentage of our
files are over 2 GB with some way over that.  Therefore, the only way this
could be useful is with very large shared file systems.

 

Here are the issues and my questions:

 

When I try to share this large partition (2.1 TB xfs) and use smbclient to
access it, the log records an error which states that "the share
doesn't
exist or can't be accessed The error was access denied". I've made
the share
mode 0777 just to make sure permissions wouldn't get in the way.  If I move
the share to an ext3 file system that's smaller than 2 GB it works
correctly.  Any file system over 2 GB or any size xfs file system produces
the error.  I haven't even tried to access the shares from a Windows system
yet, I'm just using smbclient on the Fedora system.  I'm pretty sure
I've
got the config and permissions right because just changing the share to an
ext3 file system under 2 GB works fine.  

 

So, here's my question(s):  

 

1)       Does samba work with xfs file systems?

 

2)       Does samba work with large file systems (2 GB +)?

 

3)       If the answer to the above is yes, what might I be doing wrong?

 

I haven't been able to find limits documented anywhere.  However, I see a
great deal of discussion on the web about files over 2 GB along with
suggestions that they work fine.  This would imply that file systems of over
2 GB must work okay.  I've also seen much discussion which would suggest
that xfs works fine also.  All this discussion seems to indicate that I've
got something wrong.  I'm just not sure what it is or how to proceed.  I
have turned samba debugging up and the logs show that the correct user/group
is being used and that case is working okay. So, I'm really confused and I
sure would appreciate any help.  I really need to get this done and I don't
like the alternative (Windows Server 2003).

 

Smitty

Hibbard T. Smith, JR

smitty@essnjay.com

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Hash: SHA1

Hibbard Smith a ?crit :
> I'm a relative newcomer to Samba, but very experienced with computers
and
> linux.  I'm attempting to build a file/backup server for a small shop. 
I'm
> using Fedora core 4 and samba on a system with a 2.1 TB RAID 50 array
> formatted as 1 very large xfs partition.  I want to share directories
> (folders) within the partition with a few Windows XP-Pro SP2 systems which
> are our primary work-stations.  Currently I'm running samba-3.0.21b.  I
> started with the 3.0.14 that was released with FC4, but upgraded to the
> "latest and greatest" when I couldn't make the original work
correctly. The
> kernel has also been upgraded to the Fedora released 2.6.14.1-1656-FC4-SMP.
>
> 
>
> Our business is primarily imaging and video.  A large percentage of our
> files are over 2 GB with some way over that.  Therefore, the only way this
> could be useful is with very large shared file systems.
>
> 
>
> Here are the issues and my questions:
>
> 
>
> When I try to share this large partition (2.1 TB xfs) and use smbclient to
> access it, the log records an error which states that "the share
doesn't
> exist or can't be accessed The error was access denied". I've
made the
share
> mode 0777 just to make sure permissions wouldn't get in the way.  If I
move
> the share to an ext3 file system that's smaller than 2 GB it works
> correctly.  Any file system over 2 GB or any size xfs file system produces
> the error.  I haven't even tried to access the shares from a Windows
system
> yet, I'm just using smbclient on the Fedora system.  I'm pretty
sure I've
> got the config and permissions right because just changing the share to an
> ext3 file system under 2 GB works fine. 
It's maybe a bug in smbclient ?
With a windows client, have you this problem ?

what says smbclient -L ?

The user which try to acces to this share is correcly configured  ?
I suppose that the answer is YES.

>
> 
>
> So, here's my question(s): 
>
> 
>
> 1)       Does samba work with xfs file systems?
YES, My PDC/File & print server use two XFS partition.
>
> 
>
> 2)       Does samba work with large file systems (2 GB +)?
Yes
>
> 
>
> 3)       If the answer to the above is yes, what might I be doing wrong?
>
> 
>
> I haven't been able to find limits documented anywhere.  However, I see
a
> great deal of discussion on the web about files over 2 GB along with
> suggestions that they work fine.  This would imply that file systems of
over
> 2 GB must work okay.  I've also seen much discussion which would
suggest
> that xfs works fine also.  All this discussion seems to indicate that
I've
> got something wrong.  I'm just not sure what it is or how to proceed. 
I
> have turned samba debugging up and the logs show that the correct
user/group
> is being used and that case is working okay. So, I'm really confused
and I
> sure would appreciate any help.  I really need to get this done and I
don't
> like the alternative (Windows Server 2003).
>
> 
>
> Smitty
>
> Hibbard T. Smith, JR
>
> smitty@essnjay.com
>
> 
>
> 
>

- --
St?phane Purnelle <stephane.purnelle@tiscali.be>
Site Web : http://www.linuxplusvalue.be
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On Sat, Feb 04, 2006 at 12:00:50PM -0500, Hibbard Smith
wrote:
> 
> So, here's my question(s):  
> 
> 1)       Does samba work with xfs file systems?
Yes.
> 2)       Does samba work with large file systems (2 GB +)?
Yes.
> 3)       If the answer to the above is yes, what might I be doing wrong?
Looks like a bad definition in smb.conf or an authentication issue
to me.

Jeremy.

On Sat, 2006-02-04 at 12:00 -0500, Hibbard Smith wrote:
> I'm a relative newcomer to Samba, but very experienced with computers
and
> linux.  I'm attempting to build a file/backup server for a small shop. 
I'm
> using Fedora core 4 and samba on a system with a 2.1 TB RAID 50 array
> formatted as 1 very large xfs partition.  I want to share directories
> (folders) within the partition with a few Windows XP-Pro SP2 systems which
> are our primary work-stations.  Currently I'm running samba-3.0.21b.  I
> started with the 3.0.14 that was released with FC4, but upgraded to the
> "latest and greatest" when I couldn't make the original work
correctly. The
> kernel has also been upgraded to the Fedora released 2.6.14.1-1656-FC4-SMP.
> 
>  
> 
> Our business is primarily imaging and video.  A large percentage of our
> files are over 2 GB with some way over that.  Therefore, the only way this
> could be useful is with very large shared file systems.
> 
>  
> 
> Here are the issues and my questions:
> 
>  
> 
> When I try to share this large partition (2.1 TB xfs) and use smbclient to
> access it, the log records an error which states that "the share
doesn't
> exist or can't be accessed The error was access denied". I've
made the share
> mode 0777 just to make sure permissions wouldn't get in the way.  If I
move
> the share to an ext3 file system that's smaller than 2 GB it works
> correctly.  Any file system over 2 GB or any size xfs file system produces
> the error.  I haven't even tried to access the shares from a Windows
system
> yet, I'm just using smbclient on the Fedora system.  I'm pretty
sure I've
> got the config and permissions right because just changing the share to an
> ext3 file system under 2 GB works fine.  
> 
>  
> 
> So, here's my question(s):  
> 
>  
> 
> 1)       Does samba work with xfs file systems?
> 
>  
> 
> 2)       Does samba work with large file systems (2 GB +)?
> 
>  
> 
> 3)       If the answer to the above is yes, what might I be doing wrong?
> 
>  
> 
> I haven't been able to find limits documented anywhere.  However, I see
a
> great deal of discussion on the web about files over 2 GB along with
> suggestions that they work fine.  This would imply that file systems of
over
> 2 GB must work okay.  I've also seen much discussion which would
suggest
> that xfs works fine also.  All this discussion seems to indicate that
I've
> got something wrong.  I'm just not sure what it is or how to proceed. 
I
> have turned samba debugging up and the logs show that the correct
user/group
> is being used and that case is working okay. So, I'm really confused
and I
> sure would appreciate any help.  I really need to get this done and I
don't
> like the alternative (Windows Server 2003).
> 
----
I don't use smbclient much at all but am of the belief that smbclient
application would use an smbfs type mount and my understanding is that
an smbfs mount would error on files > 2Gb whereas the cifs mount would
not.

samba should have no problems with filesystem of that size.

Craig

If I remember correctly from the documents I have read on samba.org the
smb client will only allow up to 2gig of information and for anything
larger than this you need to use cifs client.  Most of our shares don't
excede 2 gig so I haven't set this up myself but there is some good
documentation on how to do this and I have seen lots of postings saying
that with cifs they had no problems with large files
Chris

>>> "Hibbard Smith" <smitty@essnjay.com> 02/05/06 8:18
AM >>>
I tried to access these shares from Windows XP Pro SP2 and got identical
results.  Ext3 filesystems smaller than 2 GB work fine.  Anything bigger
than 2 GB and xfs filesystems of any size fails. 

I guess I'm going to have to resort to reading code, posting on bugzilla
as
a bug and maybe switching to a Windows based server.  I really need to
get
this system up and doing its intended job.

I'd really like to hear from someone that they are actually exporting
ext3
filesystems larger than 2 GB and xfs filesystems and it's working.  If
they're doing so with the Fedora core 4 release, that would definitely
point
to something strange here.  

Smitty
Hibbard T. Smith, JR
smitty@essnjay.com
 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: samba-bounces+smitty=essnjay.com@lists.samba.org [mailto:samba-
> bounces+smitty=essnjay.com@lists.samba.org] On Behalf Of Craig White
> Sent: Saturday, February 04, 2006 12:29 PM
> To: samba@lists.samba.org
> Subject: Re: [Samba] Questions about file system support in Samba
> 
> On Sat, 2006-02-04 at 12:00 -0500, Hibbard Smith wrote:
> > I'm a relative newcomer to Samba, but very experienced with
computers
> and
> > linux.  I'm attempting to build a file/backup server for a small
shop.
> I'm
> > using Fedora core 4 and samba on a system with a 2.1 TB RAID 50
array
> > formatted as 1 very large xfs partition.  I want to share
directories
> > (folders) within the partition with a few Windows XP-Pro SP2 systems
> which
> > are our primary work-stations.  Currently I'm running
samba-3.0.21b.
 I
> > started with the 3.0.14 that was released with FC4, but upgraded to
the
> > "latest and greatest" when I couldn't make the original
work
correctly.
> The
> > kernel has also been upgraded to the Fedora released
2.6.14.1-1656-FC4-
> SMP.
> >
> >
> >
> > Our business is primarily imaging and video.  A large percentage of
our
> > files are over 2 GB with some way over that.  Therefore, the only
way
> this
> > could be useful is with very large shared file systems.
> >
> >
> >
> > Here are the issues and my questions:
> >
> >
> >
> > When I try to share this large partition (2.1 TB xfs) and use
smbclient
> to
> > access it, the log records an error which states that "the share
doesn't
> > exist or can't be accessed The error was access denied".
I've made
the
> share
> > mode 0777 just to make sure permissions wouldn't get in the way. 
If
I
> move
> > the share to an ext3 file system that's smaller than 2 GB it works
> > correctly.  Any file system over 2 GB or any size xfs file system
> produces
> > the error.  I haven't even tried to access the shares from a
Windows
> system
> > yet, I'm just using smbclient on the Fedora system.  I'm
pretty sure
> I've
> > got the config and permissions right because just changing the share
to
> an
> > ext3 file system under 2 GB works fine.
> >
> >
> >
> > So, here's my question(s):
> >
> >
> >
> > 1)       Does samba work with xfs file systems?
> >
> >
> >
> > 2)       Does samba work with large file systems (2 GB +)?
> >
> >
> >
> > 3)       If the answer to the above is yes, what might I be doing
wrong?
> >
> >
> >
> > I haven't been able to find limits documented anywhere.  However,
I
see
> a
> > great deal of discussion on the web about files over 2 GB along with
> > suggestions that they work fine.  This would imply that file systems
of
> over
> > 2 GB must work okay.  I've also seen much discussion which would
suggest
> > that xfs works fine also.  All this discussion seems to indicate
that
> I've
> > got something wrong.  I'm just not sure what it is or how to
proceed.  I
> > have turned samba debugging up and the logs show that the correct
> user/group
> > is being used and that case is working okay. So, I'm really
confused
and
> I
> > sure would appreciate any help.  I really need to get this done and
I
> don't
> > like the alternative (Windows Server 2003).
> >
> ----
> I don't use smbclient much at all but am of the belief that smbclient
> application would use an smbfs type mount and my understanding is that
> an smbfs mount would error on files > 2Gb whereas the cifs mount would
> not.
> 
> samba should have no problems with filesystem of that size.
> 
> Craig
> 
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