samba - Dec 2009 - CIFS and ghost files.

Hello everyone.

I hope I can get some help with this problem we are having.

We have a CIFS mount (from a NetApp) were we write files (php 
application). Then the files are being copied to a directory in the same 
CIFS filesystem, then a process on a Windows server picks up the file and 
deletes it.

The thing is, later the php app, generates a new file and when it tries to 
copy it it says "the file doesn't exists". So if I go to the
"copy"
location and do an ls I don't see the file, but if I do ls -l
"filename"
then it shows!!! 

I issue a rm "filename" and I got a "no such file or
directory", then I do
a ls -l "filename" is not there anymore. here some steps:

A.- On a CIFS filesystem /path/ on a RHEL 5 server (server1):

1.- PHP app generates file (test.txt) on /path/temp/
2.- PHP app copies file from /path/temp/ to /path/final/

B.- On a Windows server accessing the same /path/ share (server2)

1.- Informatica sees the test.txt file on /path/final/ executes a 
proccess, deletes the file

C.- On server 1

1.- PHP app generates file (test.txt) on /path/temp/
2.- PHP app copies file from /path/temp/ to /path/final/ ----> the app 
fails with an error

D.- Admin (ME)

1.- Goes to the server an does: ls -l /path/final/ ---> file is not there
2.- Does: ls -l /path/final/test.txt and gets: -rwxrwSrwx 1 wwwspool 
wwwspool 0 Nov  4 10:38 test.txt
3.- Does: rm /path/final/test.txt  and gets: rm: cannot remove `test.txt': 
No such file or directory

The cycle starts again on A.

thanks for your help.

On Wed, 2 Dec 2009 10:55:50 -0500
RobertoBouza at bayviewassetmanagement.com wrote:
> Hello everyone.
> 
> I hope I can get some help with this problem we are having.
> 
> We have a CIFS mount (from a NetApp) were we write files (php 
> application). Then the files are being copied to a directory in the same 
> CIFS filesystem, then a process on a Windows server picks up the file and 
> deletes it.
> 
> The thing is, later the php app, generates a new file and when it tries to 
> copy it it says "the file doesn't exists". So if I go to the
"copy"
> location and do an ls I don't see the file, but if I do ls -l
"filename"
> then it shows!!! 
> 
> I issue a rm "filename" and I got a "no such file or
directory", then I do
> a ls -l "filename" is not there anymore. here some steps:
> 
> A.- On a CIFS filesystem /path/ on a RHEL 5 server (server1):
> 
> 1.- PHP app generates file (test.txt) on /path/temp/
> 2.- PHP app copies file from /path/temp/ to /path/final/
> 
> B.- On a Windows server accessing the same /path/ share (server2)
> 
> 1.- Informatica sees the test.txt file on /path/final/ executes a 
> proccess, deletes the file
> 
> C.- On server 1
> 
> 1.- PHP app generates file (test.txt) on /path/temp/
> 2.- PHP app copies file from /path/temp/ to /path/final/ ----> the app 
> fails with an error
> 
> D.- Admin (ME)
> 
> 1.- Goes to the server an does: ls -l /path/final/ ---> file is not
there
> 2.- Does: ls -l /path/final/test.txt and gets: -rwxrwSrwx 1 wwwspool 
> wwwspool 0 Nov  4 10:38 test.txt
> 3.- Does: rm /path/final/test.txt  and gets: rm: cannot remove
`test.txt':
> No such file or directory
> 
> The cycle starts again on A.
> 
> thanks for your help.

Interesting. What kernel are you using here?

-- 
Jeff Layton <jlayton at samba.org>