CIFS Client Mount Issues with Windows Server 2008R2

[Brad Hogan]

Greetings,

I have been mounting various Windows shares for some time but a new Windows Server 2008 R2 share won't mount like the others.

Server: rp3410, 11.23/64 bit OS

CIFS-Client: A.02.02.02

All patches up to date.

All mounts done in a separate rc3.d script - example:

cifsmount -U username -P password -D domain \
//server/share /mount_point


In my /etc/opt/cifsclient/cifsclient.cfg file, I have modified it to use ntlmv2 encryption (required in our domain):

authenticationMethod = ntlm; # may be "ntlm" or "kerberos"

ntlmEncryptionVersion = ntlmv2; # may be "ntlm" or "ntlmv2"

This has worked for all the other hosts but the 2008 R2 box thinks we are sending just ntlm.

I have tried adding this host as an 'individual' host at the bottom of the cifsclient.cfg file and it will finally work (example below) however that breaks every other server's mounts!

= {
ipAddress = "123.123.123.123";
authenticationMethod = ntlm;
ntlmEncryptionVersion = ntlmv2;
};

I am stuck at this point. Every link to the CIFS Client admin guide is broken.

Any ideas? I have seen some threads that says the current cifs client doesn't support 2008 but I can see that it does.

Thanks for your help.

Regards,
-Brad

[Alzhy]

You need to have a Patch/HotFix installed on Windows 2008 sir.

[Alzhy]

Here you go:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/975512

[Brad Hogan]

Great news. Any idea which one?

Regards,
-Brad

[Alzhy]

What do you mean which one?
I have Fix311785 applied.

[Brad Hogan]

Alzhy,

Thanks for the link. I have gone over it with my Senior Windows Admin and it only applies to clustered servers. (I have read about SMB clients having issues with clustered servers in other forums.)

This still doesn't explain why I can attach to this server's share when I 'hardcode' it at the bottom of the cifsclient.cfg file. Also, I can't explain why that breaks attaching shares for all the other servers.


Does anyone have a copy of the latest CIFS Administration manual? (As I stated, all HP links to it that I can find are broken.)

Regards,
-Brad

[Dennis Handly]

>Does anyone have a copy of the latest CIFS Administration manual?

A.02.03:
http://docs.hp.com/en/B8725-90103/index.html
New BSC location table:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DocumentIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&contentType=SupportManual&prodTypeId=18964&prodSeriesId=4248626&docIndexId=64179#4

[Alzhy]

The Patch is cummulative - we have it on all WIn2K8 servers whetehr the FIle Services are clustered or not. But up to you.

BTW, you do not EVEN need to have an rc3 script for you to have your CIFS mounts remount accross reboots. And there relaly is no need to mess around with cifsclient.cfg.

Here's how to mount to CIFS Servers (WIndows or Fellow SAMBA Servers) that will be enshrined in a cifsdb that will persist accross reboots:

cifsmount //cifssrvr.dom.com/sharename /mntpnt -U login -P password -s

The key there is "-s"

Other noteworthy tools you need to manage CIFS Client are:

cifslist -m
cifslist -M
cifsdb (-d) (only on newest CIFS Client)
cifsumount (-d -f)
cifsclient (stop|start)

If things still would nt work despite whatever gyration above, do:

cifsclient stop
cd /var/opt/cifsclient
rm cifsclient.udb cifsclient.pid
cifsclient start
- then do the above cifsmount directive.

Enjoy!

[Michael Leu]

Just my 2c:

The HP-UX CIFS-Client is based on Sharity and sadly has not been updated since 2007. Sharity 3.7 (April 2009) has some improvements for Windows 2008:
* Kerberos authentication did not work with Windows 2008 servers. Fixed.
* Implemented NTLM2 (not to be confused with NTLMv2) authentication. This improves interoperability with Windows 2008 Server.
http://www.obdev.at/products/sharity/releasenotes.html

So it would be nice if HP could update CIFS-Client...

[Alzhy]

The latest CIFS Client seem to have all the updates. And with the Win2k8 MS hotfixes - HP-UX CIFS CLient works flawlessly with Win2K8 FIleservers (even clustered ones).

Brad - please just follow the steps I've outlined above. Your method of having an rc script to ensure the CIFS mounts are persistent accross reboots can be done away with with the steps I've outlined above. Also make sure your Win2K8 environment has all the requisiste hot fixes for CIFS conections.

[Michael Leu]

Ok sorry then I retract my statements, don't want to be spreading FUD ;-)
I assumed it was a old release because software.hp.com says 'Last Update: 31 Oct 2007'.

[Brad Hogan]

Turns out this server is not R2 - just plain Windows Server 2008.

We installed the hotfix. It did not fix the problem. We spent 3 hours with Microsoft support - no joy. They say that I am not sending a proper version of SMB. We are sending 0.x.x and it needs to be 1.x.x. They verified this via Wireshark and Netmon traces.

I am going to open a Support Case with HP.

Thanks for your help.

Regards,
-Brad