samba - Jun 2006 - smbclient failing due to switch MAC addr table timeout

3.0.21c on RHEL3.

I use smbclient to transfer files from Samba to WIN PCs, name resolution is
through bcast on local LAN.

The network is not managed by me, all PC's are connected through switches
(no routers).

Sometimes ago network admins started decreasing the MAC addr table timeout
in the switches setting it to 300 secs, this increased dramatically the
chances a MAC is not in the switch MAC table, this had some side-effects:
- you lose first ping packest (or first 2) when pinging an host whose MAC
addr is not in the switch MAC table
- smbclient will fail to transfer files since it will immediately exit after
failing to estabilish a connection
- other apps (ie: telnet) will somehow wait a bit and manage to make the
connection at the 1st attempt.

So, is there a way to have smbclient wait a bit longer before giving up?
I'd like to avoid having to do pings before calling smbclient or calling
smbclient multiple times.

Thanks
-- 
giulioo@pobox.com

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Giulio Orsero wrote:
> So, is there a way to have smbclient wait a bit 
> longer before giving up? I'd like to avoid having
> to do pings before calling smbclient or calling
> smbclient multiple times.
You could add a retry loop in smbclient.  But you first
need to get a trace and figure out exactly which part
is failing.  Name resolution of the target server, the
TCP SYN in the session establishment, etc...



cheers, jerry
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