topic Re: file server config: why append the 'a' to cifs name? in Alfresco Archive

file server config: why append the 'a' to cifs name?

nadaoneal — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 22:31:26 GMT

In all the documentation, I see that the cifs server name needs to be unique on the network - that it can't even be the same as the hostname of the server it's on. I find this so mysterious. - Why can't it be the same as the server it's on? Can you explain what's happening behind the scenes?- Should

Re: file server config: why append the 'a' to cifs name?

mikeh — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 23:44:33 GMT

Hi

Our CIFS expert is better placed to answer here, but I believe it's mostly because of limitations with Windows' NETBIOS protocol and the inability to completely disable file sharing on Windows platforms. Therefore, if you want native file sharing as well as Alfresco CIFS access, the hostnames must differ.

Thanks,
Mike

Re: file server config: why append the 'a' to cifs name?

mrogers — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 00:17:46 GMT

The name of Alfresco's filesystem needs to be different from the filesystem exposed by windows.

Someone in the depths of time came up with a simple solution which is to call the Alfresco file system <hostname>_A to make it different. More recently the underscore disappeared and it became <hostname>A.

You can change your Alfresco file system configuration to name your drive whatever you want for example "BUFFY" will work just as well as <hostname>A. But it does need to be unique on your network.

(And if you are really determined you can fiddle with windows to rename the windows CIFS drive, but lets not go there…)

Re: file server config: why append the 'a' to cifs name?

nadaoneal — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:11:52 GMT

Thanks for your replies.

So if I want to call the CIFS share something other than hostnameA, is the only place I need to specify the second hostname in $alfresco_home/tomcat/webapps/alfresco/WEB-INF/classes/alfresco/file-servers.xml ? I did try that, and no one seemed to be able to connect to crazyNewHostname.

Re: file server config: why append the 'a' to cifs name?

zaizi — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:38:29 GMT

To specify a new hostname you only need to update file-servers.xml. However, for others to find that hostname depends on the network set up. Are you using WINS, broadcast lookups or DNS to resolve hostnames?

Have you specified the correct WINS servers? Ensure correct broadcast mask in file-servers.xml and give it a few minutes. DNS you'll need to set up an alias on your domain server.

Quick test would be to stick and entry in the /etc/hosts or C:\Windows\System32\lmhost on your client machine and try connecting.

Whole bunch of useful info at http://forums.alfresco.com/en/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=938.

Re: file server config: why append the 'a' to cifs name?

nadaoneal — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:17:45 GMT

So, this may be a stupid question, but if both "server" and "servera" are dns-registered hostnames, does alfresco actually force connections to "servera" to use CIFS rather than SMB filesharing, simply because "servera" is what's set in the file-servers.xml file?

This came up because I noticed that this guy seemed to be having the same problem as me - my paranoid interpretation of our shared situations being that we only THINK we're connecting via CIFS, we're actually connecting via samba or the "native Alfresco" filesystem, hence the "not a valid CIFS share" error.

I experimented with my mac - connecting via cifs://servera/alfresco and smb://server/alfresco both look like this in the log:

11:32:40,208 User:nadaoneal DEBUG [smb.protocol.auth] NT Session setup from user=nadaoneal, password=***, ANSIpwd=***, domain=, os=Mac OS X 10.5, VC=31, maxBuf=64560, maxMpx=4, authCtx=[NTLM,Challenge=***]
11:32:40,209 User:nadaoneal DEBUG [smb.protocol.auth] MID=1, UID=65535, PID=1
11:32:40,221 User:nadaoneal DEBUG [smb.protocol.auth] Logged on using Hashed/NTLMv2
11:32:40,221 User:nadaoneal DEBUG [smb.protocol.auth] Allocated UID=0 for VC=[31:0,[nadaoneal:[*****,,Mac OS X 10.5,128.59.159.171],Tree=0,Searches=0]

I also experimented with a PC - connecting via \\servera\alfresco yields this in the log:

12:06:52,773 User:jws2135 DEBUG [smb.protocol.auth] Logged on using NTLMSSP/NTLMv2SessKey
12:06:52,775 User:jws2135 DEBUG [smb.protocol.auth] User jws2135 logged on (type Normal)
12:06:52,775 User:jws2135 DEBUG [smb.protocol.auth] Allocated UID=1 for VC=[1:1,[jws2135:null,Windows 2002 Service Pack 3 2600,Windows 2002 5.1,128.59.157.239],Tree=0,Searches=0]
12:07:26,044 User:jws2135 DEBUG [smb.protocol.auth] NT Session setup NTLMSSP, MID=4016, UID=0, PID=65279
12:07:26,045 User:jws2135 DEBUG [smb.protocol.auth] User logged on (type Normal)

Is there anything here to indicate definitively that we are or aren't connecting to Alfresco's CIFS share?