[H-GEN] Samba browsing slow

[David Duffy]

R&J Stuart wrote:

> David Duffy wrote:
>
>> 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.


OK, done that and got it running now. Should I be able to see all
network activity or just the packets between this PC and my server?
Since I have a network switch, I thought this port would not have
any other machine's packets on it but it does seem to.
David...