Samba and SMBFS...

[Daedalus]

Shameless plug here, but you could try my little GUI for SMBFS (Aminet clicky!)... It runs as a commodity, tracks your shares and allows you to mount and dismount them at a click. It doesn't use encryption and passwords are plain to see when you configure it, so it's not for the security-conscious, but it might make things a little easier for you.

I use it all the time and it works great for me, but I use it on OS4 with Roadshow. From my OS3.9 days though, I found that AmiTCP/Genesis to be faster for Samba transfers and general use. Miami of course was much more flexible and so was my only option when connection to some unusual networks.

[jj]

Should work fine on MoprhOS as well im guessing?

[Daedalus]

@JJ
I haven't tried it myself (no MorphOS box) - apparently there's a null pointer somewhere which OS3 and 4 are happy to ignore but MorphOS gives out about, but I haven't been able to find it and it works fine apart from that... Let me know if it works for you!

[jj]

Will try and give it a whril over the weekend

[Tempest]

I'm using SMB-Connect to mount SMB shares, works very well.

Wow, I didn't realise that stackattack gives every process 32k stack. I just checked it with Scout and indeed every process started after stackattack auto has a stack of 32k, what a waste, needless to say I removed it.

[olsen]

Bad news (for me)... I made more tests and SMBFS hangs also when launched from CLI but not so often when lauched with a script!

Well, at least there's some consistency now. I'd be mighty surprised if the thing worked one way or not the other. From what I know, this sort of thing either works, or it doesn't, regardless of where or when you launch it.

I tried with IP address instead than name but I had no results!

Ouch. Does the server you want to connect to have a regular name? If so, does the server's own name, as reported by Samba, match it?

I tried passing from SMBFS 1.74 to the older 1.66 but again no results.

Generally, the newer versions have drastically fewer bugs and show less wacky and unpredictable behaviour. I recommend you try the newer version.

If I use device and service together the Amiga hangs immediately!!!
When I launch a script nothing happens... but if I open a CLI and try to "enter" the new device I receive a memory error!!! :-o
I am using a standard 18 Mb A4000T, could it be not powerful enough?

Honestly, this sounds rather bizarre. Does your Amiga crash or lock up in connection with the TCP/IP stack, or does it take smbfs to make trouble?

When did you last test your system's memory? Easy way to make a memory test: copy data from your hard disk into RAM-Disk until either RAM-Disk fills up, or your system crashes. If your system crashes before it fills up, you might want to see to those SIMMs.

Another question: are you using Miami or Genesis?

Um, neither

Which is better?

Depends upon what you're doing. Miami tends to be slower than Genesis. But Miami's GUI may arguably be a better design.

[flaviosr]

Well, at least there's some consistency now. I'd be mighty surprised if the thing worked one way or not the other. From what I know, this sort of thing either works, or it doesn't, regardless of where or when you launch it.



Ouch. Does the server you want to connect to have a regular name? If so, does the server's own name, as reported by Samba, match it?

This is correct... and the problem is that NOT ALWAYS I have problems...

Generally, the newer versions have drastically fewer bugs and show less wacky and unpredictable behaviour. I recommend you try the newer version.

You are right... I am going to pass again to the newer version (I want to add anyway that I cannot use Picasso96 rev "c" and I have to use rev "b"!!! :-) ...)

Honestly, this sounds rather bizarre. Does your Amiga crash or lock up in connection with the TCP/IP stack, or does it take smbfs to make trouble?

Imagine how I feel!!! ((
The Amiga lock up... never crashed...
I tried different amounts of stack but I notice no differences...

When did you last test your system's memory? Easy way to make a memory test: copy data from your hard disk into RAM-Disk until either RAM-Disk fills up, or your system crashes. If your system crashes before it fills up, you might want to see to those SIMMs.

I will try but I have the same problem in two different Amigas...

Depends upon what you're doing. Miami tends to be slower than Genesis. But Miami's GUI may arguably be a better design.

I am thinking about the Amiga that I am using for tests... a "poor" A4000T with 68040@25... could it be that it needs time for the Amiga to be "connected" to my intranet? For example, even with fast PC, it takes a bit of time before other PCs are seen... perhaps simply the Amiga hangs instead than waiting for the connection to be extablished.

I am going to test the memory (always a good thing) and trying also Genesis that you tell it's faster... and also waiting for some time before asking for a connection...

Other suggestions?

[nicholas]

I'm using SMB-Connect to mount SMB shares, works very well.

Wow, I didn't realise that stackattack gives every process 32k stack. I just checked it with Scout and indeed every process started after stackattack auto has a stack of 32k, what a waste, needless to say I removed it.

Is that Stackattack2 you are using?

[Tempest]

Is that Stackattack2 you are using?

It was indeed Stackattack2 I was using.

[olsen]

I am thinking about the Amiga that I am using for tests... a "poor" A4000T with 68040@25... could it be that it needs time for the Amiga to be "connected" to my intranet? For example, even with fast PC, it takes a bit of time before other PCs are seen... perhaps simply the Amiga hangs instead than waiting for the connection to be extablished.

No, this isn't likely. The reason why the servers do not appear instantly is because they report their status at irregular intervals, and this information is collected and resent at irregular intervals, too, by the server which assumed responsibility for the network.

This is not a matter of speed or anything.

When you tell smbfs to connect to a server, it will first try to resolve the name of the server through a DNS (domain name system) lookup. If you do not run a local DNS server, then this lookup will probably fail. After it has failed, smbfs will repeat the lookup, but this time use a different query method which should work within the Samba/Windows network domain. This can fail, too, if the TCP/IP stack swallows the query packet sent.

What you see is probably the DNS lookup timing out and the second query attempt not always working.

I am going to test the memory (always a good thing) and trying also Genesis that you tell it's faster... and also waiting for some time before asking for a connection...

Other suggestions?

Here's what I used to do: I set the IP address of the Samba (or Windows) server to a fixed number and then edited the Amiga's host name database to map it to a predefined name. In AmiTCP that database is a file called "AmiTCP:db/hosts", and I think you can manually edit the database in Miami.

Anyway, you'd put the fixed IP address there and the name of the server you picked. To access the server thruough smbfs, you'd use thsi predefined server name you added to the hosts database. This has the effect of the DNS lookup always succeeding.