cifsmount issue

[adam donald]

I am attempting to use cifsmount from an hp-ux 11.11 machine. I am able to successfully mount the desired destination. I am able to 'list' the contents of the mounted destination. When I 'touch' a new file in the mount the file is created even though I get a "cannot create" message. When I try to copy files to the mount, the file is created but no data is copied with the file, and I get a "Permission denied" error. I am running cifsclient A.01.08 and am hoping to not have to update this software. Does anyone have any ideas of how to resolve this issue?

[Eric Raeburn]

Hello, Adam,

This is Eric from the HP CIFS Client software lab. First I'm going to tell you what you don't want to hear: version A.01.08 of the cifs client is really old, and is no longer supported (A.01.09.03 is supported only on hpux 11.0, for hpux 11.11 and higher, we support only the A.02.xx versions). Why don't you want to update? The latest version is much more stable, feature-rich, and bug-free. Further, we went to great effort to make migration straightforward and to maintain consistency in the user interface.

Regarding the problem you describe, it is only possible to guess (without more data), and my guess is that it is a permission setting on the server. If I were trying to debug this in the lab I would do the following:

Create a new share on the server, ensuring there are no restrictions of any kind, for any user, on the share. If the problem does not persist for this share, then it's a matter of analyzing how the "problem" share is configured.

If that does not fix it, I would do the following two things (either of these could be sufficient, but I'd do both):

(1) Take a network trace with the network trace tool "ethereal" (you can get it through the "internet express" package at software.hp.com or the U of Utah HPUX Porting & Archive Center)

and

(2) Turn on our "standard" debug levels on the cifs client and examine the log file. The logfile is not easy to comprehend if you are not familiar with the cifs client's internals, but you might get some hints from error strings. Most errors may be displayed as numeric codes, however, so an ethereal trace may be easier. To turn on debug, in the configuration file, uncomment the lines "nfsTrace", "cifsTrace", and "smbSequence". Remember to comment those log levels out after you are done; logging has a big impact on performance.

We have never before advised a customer to try to analyze a cifs client log before, but you are in the difficult position of using an unsupported version. If you were to upgrade, we could do this for you.

Good luck,
-Eric

[adam donald]

Eric

Thank you very much for taking the time to respond to my question. I do not want to update to the latest cifsclient version because it looks like it involves kernel changes (i.e. I am assuming that I can't just install the update on the test box and port the binary over to my unchanged production box). At this point it doesn't seem like a permission issue as I can use the smbclient binary with the same credentials used for cifsclient and I can read/write to the remote host just fine. If you have any other ideas or comments, please let me know. Thanks again for your help.


AD

[Eric Raeburn]

Adam,

Installing the latest CIFS Client will not change your system's kernel, because if you already have any version of the CIFS Client installed, you already have its kernel component.

Further, this component excedingly innocuous. It is merely a table entry making "cifs" and alias for "nfs", which is needed for internal reasons.

The installation will, however, cause an (admittedly) annoying reboot. (On hpux 11.23 and the forthcoming 11.31, we support dynamically loadable kernel modules [DLKM]; on these OSs installations usually do not cause a reboot.)

Regarding the "Permission denied" error, anything further I could offer would be pure speculation and could easily be wrong and get you off track. The best way to pinpoint the problem is with the tracing I've already suggested. Since you have succeeded with smbclient, you could compare network traces and look for clues that way.

Your best bet, though, is to upgrade the software. If the Permission problem persists after the upgrade, we will be completely at you disposal to analyze the problem. In fact, if, as you state, you install the latest version on a test system, you could see if the problem persists there; if so, you are fully supported and we can examine your logfiles. That would be the simplest and most effective strategy.

If you do install on a test system, I suggest you look at the file /opt/cifsclient/HP_Docs/RELEASE_HISTORY.TXT to get an idea of the improvements and new features since the version you are using. Many of these are not in the Release Notes any more.

Please keep me posted here in the Forum. Or, if you do place a support call after upgrading, tell the support person we have already initiated action here.

-Eric