Re: [Samba] Problem After Upgrade - NT_STATUS_FILE_IS_A_DIRECTORY
Debug level 10 logs are needed at this point to see what the smbd is seeing when looking at the CIFS mounted files. Here is level 10 log of log.smbd that is generated when I experience the problem first described. [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 10] smbd/open.c:3365(create_file_default) create_file: access_mask = 0x20089 file_attributes = 0x80, share_access = 0x7, create_disposition = 0x1 create_options = 0x40 oplock_request = 0x3 root_dir_fid = 0x0, ea_list = 0x(nil), sd = 0x(nil), create_file_flags = 0x1, fname = RSA/Tables [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 5] smbd/filename.c:148(unix_convert) unix_convert called on file RSA/Tables [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 10] smbd/statcache.c:274(stat_cache_lookup) stat_cache_lookup: lookup succeeded for name [RSA/Tables] - [RSA/Tables] [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 3] smbd/vfs.c:865(check_reduced_name) reduce_name [RSA/Tables] [/media/server/RSA] [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 10] smbd/vfs.c:937(check_reduced_name) reduce_name realpath [RSA/Tables] - [/media/server/RSA/Tables] [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 3] smbd/vfs.c:974(check_reduced_name) reduce_name: RSA/Tables reduced to /media/server/RSA/Tables [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 10] smbd/open.c:2896(create_file_unixpath) create_file_unixpath: access_mask = 0x20089 file_attributes = 0x80, share_access = 0x7, create_disposition = 0x1 create_options = 0x40 oplock_request = 0x3 ea_list = 0x(nil), sd = 0x(nil), fname = RSA/Tables [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 5] smbd/files.c:103(file_new) allocated file structure 16108, fnum = 20204 (2 used) [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 2] smbd/dosmode.c:97(unix_mode) unix_mode(RSA/Tables) inheriting from RSA/Tables [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 2] smbd/dosmode.c:106(unix_mode) unix_mode(RSA/Tables) inherit mode 40770 [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 3] smbd/dosmode.c:149(unix_mode) unix_mode(RSA/Tables) returning 0760 [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 10] smbd/open.c:1475(open_file_ntcreate) open_file_ntcreate: fname=RSA/Tables, dos_attrs=0x80 access_mask=0x20089 share_access=0x7 create_disposition = 0x1 create_options=0x40 unix mode=0760 oplock_request=3 [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 3] smbd/vfs.c:865(check_reduced_name) reduce_name [RSA/Tables] [/media/server/RSA] [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 10] smbd/vfs.c:937(check_reduced_name) reduce_name realpath [RSA/Tables] - [/media/server/RSA/Tables] [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 3] smbd/vfs.c:974(check_reduced_name) reduce_name: RSA/Tables reduced to /media/server/RSA/Tables [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 8] smbd/dosmode.c:494(dos_mode) dos_mode: RSA/Tables [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 8] smbd/dosmode.c:189(dos_mode_from_sbuf) dos_mode_from_sbuf returning d [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 8] smbd/dosmode.c:547(dos_mode) dos_mode returning d [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 10] smbd/open.c:1653(open_file_ntcreate) open_file_ntcreate: fname=RSA/Tables, after mapping access_mask=0x20089 [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 10] lib/dbwrap_tdb.c:100(db_tdb_fetch_locked) Locking key 15003909 [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 10] lib/dbwrap_tdb.c:129(db_tdb_fetch_locked) Allocated locked data 0x0x7f8390299d50 [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 10] smbd/open.c:980(delay_for_oplocks) delay_for_oplocks: oplock type 0x3 on file [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 10] smbd/open.c:980(delay_for_oplocks) delay_for_oplocks: oplock type 0x3 on file [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 4] smbd/open.c:1913(open_file_ntcreate) calling open_file with flags=0x0 flags2=0x0 mode=0760, access_mask = 0x20089, open_access_mask = 0x20089 [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 10] smbd/open.c:160(fd_open) fd_open: name RSA/Tables, flags = 00 mode = 0760, fd = 31. [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 10] locking/posix.c:495(get_windows_lock_ref_count) get_windows_lock_count for file = 0 [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 10] locking/posix.c:521(delete_windows_lock_ref_count) delete_windows_lock_ref_count for file [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 10] lib/dbwrap_tdb.c:42(db_tdb_record_destr) Unlocking key 15003909 [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 5] smbd/files.c:474(file_free) freed files structure 20204 (1 used) [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 10] smbd/open.c:3218(create_file_unixpath) create_file_unixpath: NT_STATUS_FILE_IS_A_DIRECTORY [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 10] smbd/open.c:3497(create_file_default) create_file: NT_STATUS_FILE_IS_A_DIRECTORY [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 3] smbd/error.c:60(error_packet_set) error packet at smbd/nttrans.c(563) cmd=162 (SMBntcreateX) NT_STATUS_FILE_IS_A_DIRECTORY [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 5] lib/util.c:632(show_msg) [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 5] lib/util.c:642(show_msg) size=35 smb_com=0xa2 smb_rcls=186 smb_reh=0 smb_err=49152 smb_flg=136 smb_flg2=51201 smb_tid=4 smb_pid=5696 smb_uid=100 smb_mid=62275 smt_wct=0 smb_bcc=0 [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 10] lib/util_sock.c:789(read_smb_length_return_keepalive) got smb length of 176 [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 6] smbd/process.c:1456(process_smb) got message type 0x0 of len 0xb0 [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 3] smbd/process.c:1459(process_smb) Transaction 1680202 of length 180 (0 toread) [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 5] lib/util.c:632(show_msg) [2010/07/09 12:48:25, 5]
Re: [Samba] Problem After Upgrade - NT_STATUS_FILE_IS_A_DIRECTORY
I'm running Samba 3.4.7 on Ubuntu 10.04. This is a recent upgrade and we've starting experience a sporadic problem after this upgrade. When users are browsing through Windows Explorer they sometimes run across folders that appear as unassociated files. This requires the user to click the 'Refresh' button in Windows Explorer to properly see the folders. The files and folders are hosted on our Ubuntu server and shared with Samba and accessed on the Windows clients through various mapped network drives. The files on the Ubuntu server shared through Samba are actually MOUNTED onto the Ubuntu server from a Windows XP server that is hosting the files locally. This is truly a bad idea. That XP share should be mounted by the workstations just like the server shares. Move the data to the server, or use the XP box as a server to directly serve those who need the data on it. Cheers, TMS III These mounted files and folders are what is giving the users trouble in seeing folders correctly. We have other files hosted locally on the Ubuntu server and shared through Samba, but these are NOT giving us problems when browsing them through Windows Explorer. The only files that are giving us this problem are the mounted files. I've noticed that every time I come across a list of folders in Windows Explorers that look like unassociated files, I get the following error messages in /var/log/samba/log.smbd : --- error packet at smbd/nttrans.c(563) cmd=162 (SMBntcreateX) NT_STATUS_OBJECT_PATH_NOT_FOUND [2010/07/06 15:56:24, 3] smbd/process.c:1459(process_smb) [2010/07/06 15:56:24, 3] smbd/error.c:60(error_packet_set) error packet at smbd/nttrans.c(563) cmd=162 (SMBntcreateX) NT_STATUS_FILE_IS_A_DIRECTORY --- The mounting of the files is done through /etc/fstab with CIFS as the mount type. The only solution I can think of would be to move the mounted files to the Ubuntu server so they are hosted locally. Like I said, we are already doing this with some directories, and we are not experiencing a problem browsing through those. If anyone has any ideas I would be glad to know. Thanks. -- To unsubscribe from this list go to the following URL and read the instructions: https://lists.samba.org/mailman/options/samba -- To unsubscribe from this list go to the following URL and read the instructions: https://lists.samba.org/mailman/options/samba
Re: [Samba] Problem After Upgrade - NT_STATUS_FILE_IS_A_DIRECTORY
This is truly a bad idea. That XP share should be mounted by the workstations just like the server shares. Move the data to the server, or use the XP box as a server to directly serve those who need the data on it. Cheers, TMS III Why is this a bad idea? We've been running this setup for a few years now and its been working fine until we upgraded. The XP box only allows 10 user limit for shares, so that's why we mounted it to the Ubuntu server and shared it with Samba instead of having to pay for Windows Server license. The problem with simply moving the files over to the Ubuntu server is that the files on the XP box are stored on a RAID array that comes with a controller card whose driver is really only designed to be run on Windows, not Linux. I'd have to setup mdadm on Ubuntu, which I've done before and was not impressed. The Windows RAID system we have is much more easier to maintain. I don't want to get off topic here, I just want to know why Samba is giving me trouble browsing these mounted directories. -- To unsubscribe from this list go to the following URL and read the instructions: https://lists.samba.org/mailman/options/samba
Re: [Samba] Problem After Upgrade - NT_STATUS_FILE_IS_A_DIRECTORY
At Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:19:43 -0400 ltracc...@alexanderconsultants.net wrote: This is truly a bad idea. That XP share should be mounted by the workstations just like the server shares. Move the data to the server, or use the XP box as a server to directly serve those who need the data on it. Cheers, TMS III Why is this a bad idea? We've been running this setup for a few years now and its been working fine until we upgraded. The XP box only allows 10 user limit for shares, so that's why we mounted it to the Ubuntu server and shared it with Samba instead of having to pay for Windows Server license. The problem with simply moving the files over to the Ubuntu server is that the files on the XP box are stored on a RAID array that comes with a controller card whose driver is really only designed to be run on Windows, not Linux. Is this a *real* RAID controller or a 'fake' (BIOS/Software/MB) RAID controller? If it is a real controller are you sure there is no Linux driver for it? (Esp. since you are using Ubuntu!) If it is a software/BIOS/MB RAID controller the performance is going to be really bad -- these controllers are really only meant for home systems and not really for true servers. I'd have to setup mdadm on Ubuntu, which I've done before and was not impressed. The Windows RAID system we have is much more easier to maintain. Oh, you mean you have to actually use your keyboard? How dreadfull... Do you mean to say that the files local to the Ubuntu *server* are not on a RAID array? I don't want to get off topic here, I just want to know why Samba is giving me trouble browsing these mounted directories. This sort of 'game' (mounting files from one 'server' on another server and then re-exporting them), is not *specific* to Samba. See what happens when you try to NFS export file systems mounted as nfs file systems (although I expect nfsd/mountd would refuse to let you do that in the first place). There are several problems: It tends to confuse the server(s). File serving software (Samba, NFSD, etc.) really expect the data they are serving to be local (yes, using a NAS or something like that is a little different) and are written to optimal to work that way. It causes lots of network traffic: every I/O operation causes two batches of network traffic and implies two sets of network channels: one set between the machine with the physical disks (the XP box) and the 'server' (the Ubuntu box), and a *second* set of network channels between the 'server' (the Ubuntu box) and the final client(s) (the client MS-Windows machine(s)). If this is on one physical network (if the 'server' (the Ubuntu box) only has one NIC), then the you have lots of network collisions, which means your network thoughput will truely suck (eg network timeouts, dropped/lost packets, etc.). I expect that 'before' you 'got by' by luck. What might be happening now is that some fix to Samba is biting you or maybe you are getting network I/O errors (timeouts?) because of what I described in the paragraph above. What you are doing is not really going to work in the long term. You either need to: 1) Buy a real, supported RAID card for the Ubuntu system. 2) Live with mdadm 3) Pay for licenses for the XP system. -- Robert Heller -- 978-544-6933 Deepwoods Software-- Download the Model Railroad System http://www.deepsoft.com/ -- Binaries for Linux and MS-Windows hel...@deepsoft.com -- http://www.deepsoft.com/ModelRailroadSystem/ -- To unsubscribe from this list go to the following URL and read the instructions: https://lists.samba.org/mailman/options/samba
Re: [Samba] Problem After Upgrade - NT_STATUS_FILE_IS_A_DIRECTORY
Hallo, Leandro, Du meintest am 07.07.10: The problem with simply moving the files over to the Ubuntu server is that the files on the XP box are stored on a RAID array that comes with a controller card whose driver is really only designed to be run on Windows, not Linux. Sorry - where is the problem? You can access these shares via cifs and copy them to every place on the Ubuntu machine you may want. Viele Gruesse! Helmut -- To unsubscribe from this list go to the following URL and read the instructions: https://lists.samba.org/mailman/options/samba
Re: [Samba] Problem After Upgrade - NT_STATUS_FILE_IS_A_DIRECTORY
Is this a *real* RAID controller or a 'fake' (BIOS/Software/MB) RAID controller? If it is a real controller are you sure there is no Linux driver for it? (Esp. since you are using Ubuntu!) If it is a software/BIOS/MB RAID controller the performance is going to be really bad -- these controllers are really only meant for home systems and not really for true servers. This is an Addonics controller card that uses Silicon Image 3124 chip. We have a RAID tower housing 12 hard drives. I'd have to setup mdadm on Ubuntu, which I've done before and was not impressed. The Windows RAID system we have is much more easier to maintain. Oh, you mean you have to actually use your keyboard? How dreadfull... Not really. The GUI-based software for this controller card provides a lot of configuration options and documentation, something that is not so intuitive in mdadm. Its not just about using a dreadful keyboard, be real. Do you mean to say that the files local to the Ubuntu *server* are not on a RAID array? No. They are not as important and the data can be quickly restored from backups. This sort of 'game' (mounting files from one 'server' on another server and then re-exporting them), is not *specific* to Samba. See what happens when you try to NFS export file systems mounted as nfs file systems (although I expect nfsd/mountd would refuse to let you do that in the first place). There are several problems: It tends to confuse the server(s). File serving software (Samba, NFSD, etc.) really expect the data they are serving to be local (yes, using a NAS or something like that is a little different) and are written to optimal to work that way. It causes lots of network traffic: every I/O operation causes two batches of network traffic and implies two sets of network channels: one set between the machine with the physical disks (the XP box) and the 'server' (the Ubuntu box), and a *second* set of network channels between the 'server' (the Ubuntu box) and the final client(s) (the client MS-Windows machine(s)). If this is on one physical network (if the 'server' (the Ubuntu box) only has one NIC), then the you have lots of network collisions, which means your network thoughput will truely suck (eg network timeouts, dropped/lost packets, etc.). I expect that 'before' you 'got by' by luck. What might be happening now is that some fix to Samba is biting you or maybe you are getting network I/O errors (timeouts?) because of what I described in the paragraph above. What you are doing is not really going to work in the long term. You either need to: 1) Buy a real, supported RAID card for the Ubuntu system. 2) Live with mdadm 3) Pay for licenses for the XP system. I agree with this and will probably have to begin doing one of the above. I was just hoping someone would know an exact cause and fix for my situation without having to redo infrastructure. Thanks for your comments. -- To unsubscribe from this list go to the following URL and read the instructions: https://lists.samba.org/mailman/options/samba
Re: [Samba] Problem After Upgrade - NT_STATUS_FILE_IS_A_DIRECTORY
On Wed, Jul 07, 2010 at 12:48:35PM -0400, Leandro Tracchia wrote: I'm running Samba 3.4.7 on Ubuntu 10.04. This is a recent upgrade and we've starting experience a sporadic problem after this upgrade. When users are browsing through Windows Explorer they sometimes run across folders that appear as unassociated files. This requires the user to click the 'Refresh' button in Windows Explorer to properly see the folders. The files and folders are hosted on our Ubuntu server and shared with Samba and accessed on the Windows clients through various mapped network drives. The files on the Ubuntu server shared through Samba are actually MOUNTED onto the Ubuntu server from a Windows XP server that is hosting the files locally. These mounted files and folders are what is giving the users trouble in seeing folders correctly. We have other files hosted locally on the Ubuntu server and shared through Samba, but these are NOT giving us problems when browsing them through Windows Explorer. The only files that are giving us this problem are the mounted files. I've noticed that every time I come across a list of folders in Windows Explorers that look like unassociated files, I get the following error messages in /var/log/samba/log.smbd : --- error packet at smbd/nttrans.c(563) cmd=162 (SMBntcreateX) NT_STATUS_OBJECT_PATH_NOT_FOUND [2010/07/06 15:56:24, 3] smbd/process.c:1459(process_smb) [2010/07/06 15:56:24, 3] smbd/error.c:60(error_packet_set) error packet at smbd/nttrans.c(563) cmd=162 (SMBntcreateX) NT_STATUS_FILE_IS_A_DIRECTORY Debug level 10 logs are needed at this point to see what the smbd is seeing when looking at the CIFS mounted files. The mounting of the files is done through /etc/fstab with CIFS as the mount type. The only solution I can think of would be to move the mounted files to the Ubuntu server so they are hosted locally. Like I said, we are already doing this with some directories, and we are not experiencing a problem browsing through those. That would help ! Jeremy. -- To unsubscribe from this list go to the following URL and read the instructions: https://lists.samba.org/mailman/options/samba
Re: [Samba] Problem After Upgrade - NT_STATUS_FILE_IS_A_DIRECTORY
On 7 July 2010 19:19, Leandro Tracchia itmana...@alexanderconsultants.net wrote: [...] The problem with simply moving the files over to the Ubuntu server is that the files on the XP box are stored on a RAID array that comes with a controller card whose driver is really only designed to be run on Windows, not Linux. [...] By the way, there does seem to be a Linux driver for this card: https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Hardware,_driver_status#Silicon_Image_3124 https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Sata_sil24 -- Michael Wood esiot...@gmail.com -- To unsubscribe from this list go to the following URL and read the instructions: https://lists.samba.org/mailman/options/samba
Re: [Samba] Problem After Upgrade - NT_STATUS_FILE_IS_A_DIRECTORY
On Wed, Jul 7, 2010 at 5:49 PM, Michael Wood esiot...@gmail.com wrote: On 7 July 2010 19:19, Leandro Tracchia itmana...@alexanderconsultants.net wrote: [...] The problem with simply moving the files over to the Ubuntu server is that the files on the XP box are stored on a RAID array that comes with a controller card whose driver is really only designed to be run on Windows, not Linux. [...] By the way, there does seem to be a Linux driver for this card: https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Hardware,_driver_status#Silicon_Image_3124 https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Sata_sil24 I believe that is a fakeraid card so you may need a special kernel (zen sources) that has the dmraid 5 patch. John -- To unsubscribe from this list go to the following URL and read the instructions: https://lists.samba.org/mailman/options/samba
Re: [Samba] Problem After Upgrade - NT_STATUS_FILE_IS_A_DIRECTORY
SNIP This is truly a bad idea. That XP share should be mounted by the workstations just like the server shares. Move the data to the server, or use the XP box as a server to directly serve those who need the data on it. Cheers, TMS III Why is this a bad idea? We've been running this setup for a few years now and its been working fine until we upgraded. The XP box only allows 10 user limit for shares, so that's why we mounted it to the Ubuntu server and shared it with Samba instead of having to pay for Windows Server license. The problem with simply moving the files over to the Ubuntu server is that the files on the XP box are stored on a RAID array that comes with a controller card whose driver is really only designed to be run on Windows, not Linux. Is this a *real* RAID controller or a 'fake' (BIOS/Software/MB) RAID controller? If it is a real controller are you sure there is no Linux driver for it? (Esp. since you are using Ubuntu!) If it is a software/BIOS/MB RAID controller the performance is going to be really bad -- these controllers are really only meant for home systems and not really for true servers. I'd have to setup mdadm on Ubuntu, which I've done before and was not impressed. The Windows RAID system we have is much more easier to maintain. Oh, you mean you have to actually use your keyboard? How dreadfull... Do you mean to say that the files local to the Ubuntu *server* are not on a RAID array? I don't want to get off topic here, I just want to know why Samba is giving me trouble browsing these mounted directories. This sort of 'game' (mounting files from one 'server' on another server and then re-exporting them), is not *specific* to Samba. See what happens when you try to NFS export file systems mounted as nfs file systems (although I expect nfsd/mountd would refuse to let you do that in the first place). There are several problems: It tends to confuse the server(s). File serving software (Samba, NFSD, etc.) really expect the data they are serving to be local (yes, using a NAS or something like that is a little different) and are written to optimal to work that way. It causes lots of network traffic: every I/O operation causes two batches of network traffic and implies two sets of network channels: one set between the machine with the physical disks (the XP box) and the 'server' (the Ubuntu box), and a *second* set of network channels between the 'server' (the Ubuntu box) and the final client(s) (the client MS-Windows machine(s)). If this is on one physical network (if the 'server' (the Ubuntu box) only has one NIC), then the you have lots of network collisions, which means your network thoughput will truely suck (eg network timeouts, dropped/lost packets, etc.). I expect that 'before' you 'got by' by luck. What might be happening now is that some fix to Samba is biting you or maybe you are getting network I/O errors (timeouts?) because of what I described in the paragraph above. What you are doing is not really going to work in the long term. You either need to: 1) Buy a real, supported RAID card for the Ubuntu system. 2) Live with mdadm 3) Pay for licenses for the XP system. Couldn't agree more. One more item is that the CIFS share to the XP box is the user that mounted the file system on Ubuntu. Bah! Just ugly all around. -- Robert Heller -- 978-544-6933 Deepwoods Software-- Download the Model Railroad System http://www.deepsoft.com/ -- Binaries for Linux and MS-Windows hel...@deepsoft.com -- http://www.deepsoft.com/ModelRailroadSystem/ -- To unsubscribe from this list go to the following URL and read the instructions: https://lists.samba.org/mailman/options/samba
Re: [Samba] Problem After Upgrade - NT_STATUS_FILE_IS_A_DIRECTORY
You can't buy extra licenses for XP- you would need to install Windows Server instead.That doesn't really simplify things. A fake raid card under Windows XP is useful since XP does not directly provide disk mirroring.Otherwise- in my opinion- you might as well stick with software raid. If you are doing a clean install of linux the gui installer will help configure md mirrors. (the command line stuff is a little tricky the first time around.) The 3ware raid cards do provide true hardware raid and include browser-based management for Window and Linux. Not sure if there are even 3ware controller drivers required or if it just shows up to the OS as a generic ATA controller. I think relatively new releases of Linux should include Silicon image drivers. I found out (the hard way) that even though some Intel raid drivers were included in RedHat Enterprise Linux 5 they were not included in Fedora Core 11. I realize this doesn't help with your immediate situation. -Original Message- From: samba-boun...@lists.samba.org [mailto:samba-boun...@lists.samba.org] On Behalf Of t...@tms3.com Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2010 7:50 PM To: Robert Heller Cc: samba@lists.samba.org; ltracc...@alexanderconsultants.net Subject: Re: [Samba] Problem After Upgrade - NT_STATUS_FILE_IS_A_DIRECTORY SNIP This is truly a bad idea. That XP share should be mounted by the workstations just like the server shares. Move the data to the server, or use the XP box as a server to directly serve those who need the data on it. Cheers, TMS III Why is this a bad idea? We've been running this setup for a few years now and its been working fine until we upgraded. The XP box only allows 10 user limit for shares, so that's why we mounted it to the Ubuntu server and shared it with Samba instead of having to pay for Windows Server license. The problem with simply moving the files over to the Ubuntu server is that the files on the XP box are stored on a RAID array that comes with a controller card whose driver is really only designed to be run on Windows, not Linux. Is this a *real* RAID controller or a 'fake' (BIOS/Software/MB) RAID controller? If it is a real controller are you sure there is no Linux driver for it? (Esp. since you are using Ubuntu!) If it is a software/BIOS/MB RAID controller the performance is going to be really bad -- these controllers are really only meant for home systems and not really for true servers. I'd have to setup mdadm on Ubuntu, which I've done before and was not impressed. The Windows RAID system we have is much more easier to maintain. Oh, you mean you have to actually use your keyboard? How dreadfull... Do you mean to say that the files local to the Ubuntu *server* are not on a RAID array? I don't want to get off topic here, I just want to know why Samba is giving me trouble browsing these mounted directories. This sort of 'game' (mounting files from one 'server' on another server and then re-exporting them), is not *specific* to Samba. See what happens when you try to NFS export file systems mounted as nfs file systems (although I expect nfsd/mountd would refuse to let you do that in the first place). There are several problems: It tends to confuse the server(s). File serving software (Samba, NFSD, etc.) really expect the data they are serving to be local (yes, using a NAS or something like that is a little different) and are written to optimal to work that way. It causes lots of network traffic: every I/O operation causes two batches of network traffic and implies two sets of network channels: one set between the machine with the physical disks (the XP box) and the 'server' (the Ubuntu box), and a *second* set of network channels between the 'server' (the Ubuntu box) and the final client(s) (the client MS-Windows machine(s)). If this is on one physical network (if the 'server' (the Ubuntu box) only has one NIC), then the you have lots of network collisions, which means your network thoughput will truely suck (eg network timeouts, dropped/lost packets, etc.). I expect that 'before' you 'got by' by luck. What might be happening now is that some fix to Samba is biting you or maybe you are getting network I/O errors (timeouts?) because of what I described in the paragraph above. What you are doing is not really going to work in the long term. You either need to: 1) Buy a real, supported RAID card for the Ubuntu system. 2) Live with mdadm 3) Pay for licenses for the XP system. Couldn't agree more. One more item is that the CIFS share to the XP box is the user that mounted the file system on Ubuntu. Bah! Just ugly all around. -- Robert Heller -- 978-544-6933 Deepwoods Software-- Download the Model Railroad System http://www.deepsoft.com/ -- Binaries for Linux and MS-Windows hel...@deepsoft.com -- http://www.deepsoft.com/ModelRailroadSystem