Windows Xp dog slow talking to SAMBA

[Maki]

Hi,

I just "upgraded" to Windows Xp from Windows 2000. I also upgraded from RedHat 7.0 to Mandrake 8.1.

The upshot of all this is that my SMB shares on my Mandrake system are very slow. They used to just pop up but now large directories can take several (5?) seconds to display.

Are there Windows Xp or SMB tuning parameters I can set to make this work better? The only thing the mandrake system is there for is to serve up files.

Links to guides or pointing to the right manual to F read would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Gooberlx2]

I have the same problem with my samba shares on my RedHat 7.2 box. cruising the home dir for a given user takes ages. (well, several seconds)

I also have the problem of having to type in the IP of the linux box, instead of just typing "//server".

 

[manly]

Goober,

Configure the Samba server to be a WINS server, and configure the client(s) to use that WINS server.

Are the hosts on the same IP subnet?

 

[Maki]

Well, the issue seems to be windows Xp.

Under Tools->Folder Options->General->Tasks if I have it set to Show common tasks in folders it is horribly slow. If I have it set to Use Windows classic folders it is fast as ever.

I actually like the "show common tasks in folders" thing just because it shows file size and disk size. It would be nice if that was a folder setable option.

 

[CrashX]

I don't have an answer, but I too have speed problems between Samba (any version) and XP. I imagine MS screwed with their SMB a bit and it ended up making communication with Samba worse. Hopefully there will be a fix in a newer version of Samba. I am running 2.2.3a but that hasn't seemed to fix it. It still takes about 5 seconds to open up my home directory.

 

[Maki]

Do all the directories under that open fast?

Mine do. It is just the root directory of any share that is taking a lifetime to open.

 

[CrashX]

Yup, once I initially open up the share, everything is quick. Just that first time opening it.

 

[Chatterjee]

Maki,

which version of samba are you using?

-S

 

[Maki]

I'm not sure. (I'm and work and can't get to that machine right now.) It is the version that came with Mandrake 8.1, tho.

 

[Maki]

Hmmm.... Does the fact that I have both my windows xp (home) box and my linux box doing dhcp off of a router have anything to do with this? This isn't just Xp being an idiot about trying to find where its share went, is it?

 

[kylef]

What are the IP addresses of the two machines? If they're given unroutable IP addresses by the DHCP server, then it could be that Windows is trying a NetBEUI broadcast... which of course the Samba server can't understand, given that it is an IP-only machine. WinXP might be waiting for that broadcast to timeout before attempting something else... Make sure that you have NetBEUI removed, since it is nearly impossible to figure out which protocol Windows decides to use at any particular time.

 

[kylef]

<< I also have the problem of having to type in the IP of the linux box, instead of just typing "//server". >>



This is almost invariably caused by the two machines not being on the same subnet and there not being a Domain Master Browser present on your network. The Domain Master Browser allows multiple Local Master Browsers to communicate Windows Names across subnets. The only two entities that can become Domain Master Browsers are NT Server and Samba. Samba must be specifically configured to be a domain master browser in /etc/samba/smb.conf.