topic Re: CIFS timeout problem in Operating System - HP-UX

CIFS timeout problem

Ian Lochray — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 06:31:57 GMT

I have an HP-UX server and a Windows servers that should contain the same source files. I run a scrippt every night to verify that they are the same. The script runs on HP-UX and uses a CIFS to access the Windows file system.
Every night the script works fine for 45 minutes or so then starts to fail with the error:
Jul 24 06:26:44 ssihp14 vmunix: NFS getattr failed for server ssint9: RPC: Timed out

The script starts by using cifslogin to access the Windows file system which is listed in the fstab.

Is there a parameter I can change to increase the timeout interval?

Re: CIFS timeout problem

spex — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 06:48:55 GMT

Hello,

If you're on HP-UX 11.11, make sure PHNE_36168 (ONC/NFS General Release/Performance Patch) is installed.

PCS

Re: CIFS timeout problem

Eric Raeburn — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 04:06:11 GMT

Ian,

Problems of this type are difficult to diagnose online. Timeouts are usually caused by slow server responses, but some underlying problem with the network or the CIFS Client could also be the cause, or contribute to it.

It is ok for occasional timeout errors to appear in syslog, for the occasional slow response, but if the script cannot recover, there may be some more subtle problem to understand.

There are two parameters you can adjust (the configuration file is /etc/opt/cifsclient/cifsclient.cfg): nfsTimeout (in the "nfs3" section of the file) and requestTimeout (in the cifs.server.default section). You will likely have to unmount and logout all connections to the server(s) in question for any changes of these parameters to be recognized. Easiest is to just restart the Client.

Note however, changes to nfsTimeout are not recognized on versions of HP-UX less than 11.23. That is because it was necessary to modify the NFS client code to support nfsTimeout; this change did not occur until HP-UX 11.23.

If adjusting the two parameters does not help alleviate the problem, I suggest you place an official support call with HP. They can assist you in enabling appropriate log levels so as to see exactly what's going on between the client and server.

Good luck,
-Eric

Re: CIFS timeout problem

Ian Lochray — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 04:38:06 GMT

I have applied the patches but I still encountered the same problem last night.

I am on HP-UX 11.11.

I have amended the script to do a cifslogount and cifslogin when the error is encountered and to try again so I will se what happens when the script runs tonight.

Re: CIFS timeout problem

Steven E. Protter — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 05:18:33 GMT

Shalom,

These problems probably result from a timeout on the windows system. The timeout variable on a cifslogin is controlled by the system being logged into, not the system using cifslogin.

You may be able to create a loop in your script and create "activity" to prevent logout or fool logout into resetting the 45 minute clock.

SEP

Re: CIFS timeout problem

Ian Lochray — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 06:14:40 GMT

I installed the latest version of cifsclient and the problem seems to have gone away.

Re: CIFS timeout problem

Ian Lochray — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 06:16:56 GMT

Latest version of cifsclient solved the problem.

Re: CIFS timeout problem

Akram Shaik — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 04:36:57 GMT

Dear,

I see the thread is closed , still one info needed,

I have the same problem.. Can you please let me what is the version name you have currently installed?

Thanks in advance.

Best regards,
Akram