Cannot get the Samba server to work

[bozata]

I have been pulling my hair in the past few days - almost nothing is left anymore

My goal is to create a NAS with a twist - it needs to run VMWare (for iTunes and some other strictly Win apps), OpenVPN (to connect from outside), httpd (to browse the files) and sshd (to telnet to it). It also needs to stream media to my UPnP devices. In terms of hardware, I plan to run it on a low-powered VIA mb, it should stay below 50W and be fanless.

Going down my checklist: VMWare - done, OpenVPN - done, httpd - done, sshd - done, TwonkyMedia - done. The only thing left is the Samba server; the irony is that I expected it to be the least of my worries.

To make the long and painful story short, here is how I can reproduce the problem:

1. Boot from the 4.0 CD
2. Use the Install tool to pull and install Samba-3.0.26 without any issues
3. Run "smbpasswd -a" and get the following:

tdb(/etc/opt/samba/private/secrets.tdb): tdb_transaction: fsync failed
tdb(/etc/opt/samba/private/secrets.tdb): tdb_transaction_commit: failed to setup recovery data
pdb_generate_sam_sid: Failed to store generated machine SID.
PANIC (pid 19630): Could not generate a machine SID

BACKTRACE: 6 stack frames:
#0 smbpasswd(log_stack_trace+0x26) [0x8009f0ba]
#1 smbpasswd(smb_panic+0x5e) [0x8009f1ad]
#2 smbpasswd(get_global_sam_sid+0x55b) [0x8004582b]
#3 smbpasswd(main+0x5a2) [0x80036b22]
#4 /lib/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0x12e) [0xb7e4620e]
#5 smbpasswd [0x8003616d]
Aborted

Needless to say that samba does not start. I also looked at secrets.tdb with tdbtool - it could read it and it was empty. There was no problem adding/removing records.

I really hate going back to Win but at this point the XP Embedded thin client sitting next to me looks very tempting. Puppy NAS would have some significant advantages (for example, the backup would be a breeze) but Samba is a must for me.

Please help!

[GeoffS]

Bozata -
You are way way over my head with what you are trying to do but I did have a problem with my very simple Samba setup recently. It was logging many errors which meant nothing to me but were not unlike the ones you are getting.
I had re-installed Samba (at least twice!) but nothing changed. I finally realized that re-installing Samba did not delete/renew the .tdb files. I finally deleted all of them - problem solved.
Of course if I had had a complex Samba setup that would have not been a good fix but for me was quite OK.
Just a thought, hope it helps, at least it will bump your post.
Cheers
Geoff

[bozata]

Bozata -
You are way way over my head with what you are trying to do but I did have a problem with my very simple Samba setup recently. It was logging many errors which meant nothing to me but were not unlike the ones you are getting.
I had re-installed Samba (at least twice!) but nothing changed. I finally realized that re-installing Samba did not delete/renew the .tdb files. I finally deleted all of them - problem solved.
Of course if I had had a complex Samba setup that would have not been a good fix but for me was quite OK.
Just a thought, hope it helps, at least it will bump your post.
Cheers
Geoff

Geoff,

Thanks! Naturally, I searched left and right and stumbled upon your previous posting. It actually lead me to my test with the Live CD.

I know my setup is kind of complicated and that was why I simplified the problem reproduction as much as possible:

1) Boot from the CD,
2) install Samba and
3) try to do passwd.

This is as clear as it could possibly be, there is not even the save file, let alone tdb.

I actually tried on several platforms (if you still have the Live CD you can try it yourself - it takes a few minutes to test) and I would say it is behaving consistently. Hence, at this point I think the tdb implementation in 4.0 is broken.

Any tdb/samba experts around?

[bozata]

Wow! Quite a few readings and not a single response. Am I that far out trying to get Samba working as a server? I think Puppy is a wonderful server platform - lightweight, specifically designed for flash, very open, etc.

There must be someone who is using it with Samba - could you please post your 2fs file? I couldn't find any HowTo either....

[GeoffS]

bozata
You asked

'Am I that far out trying to get Samba working as a server? '

I think you might be. The couple of times I've looked for info re Samba I've not had much success as you probably noticed. Like you, I've found Puppy is excellent as a server even though I only use it as a file server. Why a household of 2 needs 6 (yes six) computers I don't know, but a file server does make life easier

Having bumped your thread I'll leave you with it
Cheers
Geoff

[bozata]

Geoff,

Would you mind uploading your save file (the .2fs)? I would really want to see a working version of this thing. Something is really wrong - I tried different machines, different versions of Puppy and Samba and I get exactly the same result. I want to believe that I am doing something wrong but this should be a straightforward process.

If you cannot upload the file, could you please give me a step-by-step instructions of how you get the Samba working on a clean Puppy? I want to make sure I am not doing something wrong...

Thank you!

Bozata

[GeoffS]

bozata
I just posted something on your other thread.
Can't upload my save file - its 1.5Gb
The step-by-step instructions are pretty simple.
(1) Installed Puppy
(2) Installed Samba 3.0.26
(3) Copied my previous smb.cfg.

The only difference from what you have done is that I had previously downloaded Samba, therefore I installed it from my own repository.

Maybe you could try downloading it from one of the other sites and then installing it. I can only say again that I've not had any problem with it in 2.16, 3.01 and 4.0.

Cheers
Geoff

[bozata]

Wow! That is one big file:)

Thanks! I am downloading the ISO now and will cut a new CD. Hopefully that will help. Otherwise, I will install XPe and run from there...

Thanks for your help!


Bozata

[bozata]

Geoff,

What is the kernel version you are running? I just looked at smbd in debug mode and it was compiled for 2.6.19.1 and I am running 2.6.21.7...


Bozata

[Trip[ABK]]

ive had absolutely no problems with samba...i set my xp up for networking..open samba...connected to my pc..bam...pulled movies/music/pics off the xp with no complications...worked great.

[GeoffS]

bozata
I'm not working from the server, it is not even booted. I'm just having an early morning browse of the forums.
Please pm me that request so that I receive the request while the server is available.
I don't believe that the variation in kernel would have much effect. I believe I have used the same version of Samba across a number of Puppy versions.
Cheers
Geoff

[gronos04]

bozata, are you sure that samba is working correctly and has all of its dependencies?
Here is what I get after I install the package into 4.00

# ldd /usr/sbin/smbd
linux-gate.so.1 => (0xffffe000)
libldap-2.3.so.0 => not found
liblber-2.3.so.0 => not found
libcups.so.2 => /usr/lib/libcups.so.2 (0xb7fc9000)
libssl.so.0 => /usr/lib/libssl.so.0 (0xb7f95000)
libcrypto.so.0 => /usr/lib/libcrypto.so.0 (0xb7e91000)
libz.so.1 => /lib/libz.so.1 (0xb7e81000)
libpthread.so.0 => /lib/libpthread.so.0 (0xb7e6c000)
libm.so.6 => /lib/libm.so.6 (0xb7e4a000)
libcrypt.so.1 => /lib/libcrypt.so.1 (0xb7e1d000)
libattr.so.1 => not found
libacl.so.1 => not found
libresolv.so.2 => /lib/libresolv.so.2 (0xb7e0d000)
libnsl.so.1 => /lib/libnsl.so.1 (0xb7dfa000)
libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0xb7df6000)
libpopt.so.0 => /usr/lib/libpopt.so.0 (0xb7def000)
libdm.so.0 => not found
libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0xb7cf3000)
/lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0xb7fe6000)

As you can see I come up a few libs short.

[bozata]

Well, something is not right. My samba installs in /opt/samba and here is the result:
root@puppypc: ~> ldd /opt/samba/sbin/smbd
linux-gate.so.1 => (0xffffe000)
libcups.so.2 => /usr/lib/libcups.so.2 (0xb7fce000)
libssl.so.0.9.8 => /usr/lib/libssl.so.0.9.8 (0xb7f9a000)
libcrypto.so.0.9.8 => /usr/lib/libcrypto.so.0.9.8 (0xb7e96000)
libz.so.1 => /lib/libz.so.1 (0xb7e87000)
libpthread.so.0 => /lib/libpthread.so.0 (0xb7e72000)
libm.so.6 => /lib/libm.so.6 (0xb7e4f000)
libcrypt.so.1 => /lib/libcrypt.so.1 (0xb7e22000)
libresolv.so.2 => /lib/libresolv.so.2 (0xb7e13000)
libnsl.so.1 => /lib/libnsl.so.1 (0xb7e00000)
libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0xb7dfc000)
libpopt.so.0 => /usr/lib/libpopt.so.0 (0xb7df5000)
libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0xb7cf9000)
/lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0xb7fe7000)

Different location and a few libraries missing. Where did you get your package from?

[gronos04]

oops I had 3.0.25b installed.
Installed 3.0.26.
Created home directory.
Added a user directory
Added a user and password.
Changed hostname from puppypc by editing /etc/hostname
Config in this version in /etc/opt/samba/smb.conf
Basically just changed workgroup and serverstring and set security from user to share.
Uncommented the tmp and public example in the config. Changing the public share path to the user directory I had created.
/opt/samba/sbin/smbd -restart
/opt/samba/sbin/nmbd -restart
Tested with Pnethood locally. I had to increase the scantime from 1 to 5 .
Shares came up,connected.
Went into xp box and connected.
Samba can be extremely annoying but in puppy it is quite straight forward.
Just prior to this I set up samba on 2.14r using an old 3.021 dot pup.
I was sharing across the network in 5 mins.
Once you get it running using Pnethood locally you can manipulate the smb.conf file restart the daemons and get to see what changes in the config file actually do.
best of luck

[GeoffS]

bozata
my kernel is 2.6.21.7
Samba is installed at /opt/samba

Going from memory (old and frequently defective ) in an earlier version of Puppy and/or Samba, Samba did install at /usr/.

I'm sorry, but I don't seem to be much help.

Geoff

[bozata]

Well, I did exactly the same. One detail: When I added the user I did that for Puppy, not samba (i.e. I used adduser not smbadduser).
nmbd works without problems, smbd gives me the same error.

I am running off a USB flash - could that be the issue?

[bozata]

Well, loading the 2fs file from a flash may be the issue. I tried different USB flash drives (even internal IDE disk-on-chip) and I have the same issue regardless of the file system (vfat or ext3).

However, if I copy the 2fs file to a USB hdd and load it from there Samba works!

I am puzzled! How the media you load the saved fs from would make a difference? I have plenty of memory on all boxes I tried (at least 512Mb RAM and 196Mb 2fs file) so the file should be entirely into the memory.... Am I missing something?

[bozata]

Geoff,

I made it work. It turned out to be the pmedia boot settings. If it is ideflash or usbflash then the TDB comes back with an error. However, if it is idehd or satahd everything works fine.

I had an impression that, given enough memory, Puppy will run from RAM. What is the difference between ideflash and idehd then?

Thanks!

bozata
my kernel is 2.6.21.7
Samba is installed at /opt/samba

Going from memory (old and frequently defective ) in an earlier version of Puppy and/or Samba, Samba did install at /usr/.

I'm sorry, but I don't seem to be much help.

Geoff