[H-GEN] Samba browsing slow

[R&J Stuart]

David Duffy wrote:
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> 
> David Duffy wrote:
> 
>>> Hi there,
>>> I have a Debian machine that I use at home with a network of
>>> Windows XP clients.

[going slow stuff snipped... ]

> 
> Tried logging = 0 to no avail. Checked the WinXP reg key - already 
> turned off.
> Any subdirectory I've just looked at opens straight away but ones that I 
> haven't
> take anywhere from a few to 30 seconds to open. OTOH, I just tried a few
> that I hadn't looked at today and they opened straight away. I did think 

Is it possible that the ones that initially take a long time have 
"shortcuts" on them that reference other network resources that have moved 
or been renamed?  The ones that don't take a long time don't have shortcuts 
- or shortcuts that have already have a "negative cache" on the lookup (my 
terminology but you get the idea).

Also, you may have issues with DNS or other name service not being 
configured correctly....

> tcpdump (as Tony suggested) so I've run out of things to try at the 
> moment. :-(
> I have restarted samba or Windows (as appropriate) after each change.
> David...

Don't run tcpdump.  Use ethereal; pretty much just start scanning on the 
interface and look at the stuff, it will make sense if you try.  Also, you 
can filter.  Right click somewhere IN the packet CONTENTS and you can filter 
based on the data you clicked on - very useful.  Also, another really cool 
feature is the "Analyze->Follow TCP Stream" which can rebuild a whole TCP 
connection from the multiple packets that have flowed past - very nifty esp 
for looking at http or smtp conversations.

For your above going slow problem, you will see patckets with protocol 
netbios-*.  If it is a netbios name problem, you will probably see the XP 
box or the samba box (or both) try asking other things for the name (eg 
broadcasts etc) in the output of ethereal.

Hope that helps.

Robert