samba - Apr 2010 - transfer to Microsoft Distributed File Service

Hi, list: 

Usually, "//server_name/share" is passed to smbclient to do a
transfer. However, in case of filing repositores using MS DFS, can smbclient be
passed "//domain_name/dfs_share/share_link"? I guess not.

Looking forward to clarification,
Xu Qiang

> -----Original Message-----
> From: samba-bounces at lists.samba.org 
> [mailto:samba-bounces at lists.samba.org] On Behalf Of Xu, Qiang (FXSGSC)
> Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2010 12:49 PM
> To: samba at lists.samba.org
> Subject: [Samba] transfer to Microsoft Distributed File Service
> 
> Hi, list: 
> 
> Usually, "//server_name/share" is passed to smbclient to do a 
> transfer. However, in case of filing repositores using MS 
> DFS, can smbclient be passed 
> "//domain_name/dfs_share/share_link"? I guess not.
In http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_File_System_(Microsoft), I read:
---
Traditional file shares, associated with a single server, have SMB paths of the
form \\<SERVER>\<path>\<subpath>. Domain-based DFS file share
paths are distinguished by using the domain name in place of the server name, in
the form \\<DOMAIN.NAME>\<dfsroot>\<path>. When a user access
such a share, either directly or by mapping a drive, their computer will access
one of the available servers associated with that share, following rules which
can be configured by the network administrator. For example, the default
behavior is that users will access the closest server to them; but this can be
overridden to prefer a particular server.
---
It should be an improvement, but I have some problems in using it.

For example, in my testing, I am using a DFS path is
\\XCTEST\DFS_Share\DFS_LNK_OCEANUS (mapped to \\OCEANUS\DFS_Share_Oceanus).
XCTEST is a domain name, while OCEANUS is a valid hostname in that domain.

In Windows XP command-line, I typed "net use
\\XCTEST\DFS_Share\DFS_LNK_OCEANUS" and "net use
\\OCEANUS\DFS_Share_Oceanus", both succeeded. However, in our printer, if I
configure the transfer path to \\XCTEST\DFS_Share\DFS_LNK_OCEANUS, the file
transfer will fail.

When the transfer path is set to \\OCEANUS\DFS_Share_Oceanus, the config file
reads:
---
[global]

	interfaces = 13.198.98.118/20
	default service = 13.198.97.17 /* IP Address resolved from the hostname OCEANUS
*/
	path = /DFS_Share_Oceanus
---
It looks perfect.

In contrast, when the transfer path is set to
\\XCTEST\DFS_Share\DFS_LNK_OCEANUS, the config file reads:
---
[global]

	interfaces = 13.198.98.118/20
	default service = XCTEST
	path = /DFS_Share
---
The share path behind DFS_Share (namely, DFS_LNK_OCEANUS) doesn't appear in
the config file. Is it the reason smbclient failed? I think smbclient should be
supporting DFS configurations, right?

Looking forward to help,
Xu Qiang

> -----Original Message-----
> From: samba-bounces at lists.samba.org 
> [mailto:samba-bounces at lists.samba.org] On Behalf Of Xu, Qiang (FXSGSC)
> Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2010 12:49 PM
> To: samba at lists.samba.org
> Subject: [Samba] transfer to Microsoft Distributed File Service
> 
> Hi, list: 
> 
> Usually, "//server_name/share" is passed to smbclient to do a 
> transfer. However, in case of filing repositores using MS 
> DFS, can smbclient be passed 
> "//domain_name/dfs_share/share_link"? I guess not.
Just want to know if there is any special entry to be added into smb config file
"smb.conf" to be used by smbclient, so that it can access a DFS path
like "//domain_name/dfs_share/share_link"?

Thanks,
Xu Qiang

> -----Original Message-----
> From: samba-bounces at lists.samba.org 
> [mailto:samba-bounces at lists.samba.org] On Behalf Of Xu, Qiang (FXSGSC)
> Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2010 12:49 PM
> To: samba at lists.samba.org
> Subject: [Samba] transfer to Microsoft Distributed File Service
> 
> Hi, list: 
> 
> Usually, "//server_name/share" is passed to smbclient to do a 
> transfer. However, in case of filing repositores using MS 
> DFS, can smbclient be passed 
> "//domain_name/dfs_share/share_link"? I guess not.
Sorry for my dumb, list. But, in
http://samba.org/samba/docs/man/Samba-HOWTO-Collection/msdfs.html, I only found
how to configure smb.conf to host a DFS tree in Samba server. My problem is just
the reverse one: how to use smbclient to access a DFS path like
"//domain_name/dfs_share/share_link"? And I didn't find any hint
on the official HOWTO.

By default, smbclient will try to resolve the string after the initial two
slashes "//" to get the server's IP address. But when the path to
be accessed is a DFS one hosted on Windows 2000/2003 Server, what should
smbclient do to log in successfully?

Really at a loss. Hope someone can shed some light on this topic.

Thanks,
Xu Qiang