firewall issue? and samba is slow
 

I set samba up over the weekend (with lots of help from some of the people here...thank you) to act as the server for 2 Windows xp computers (one dual boots). I was able to get to the internet through the server fine from both computers but could not access the server or any of the files I have on seperate partitions. I would receive an error message if I tried to ping the server by name or \\zeus. Message would say it doesn't exist or I don't have access, if I ping by IP address it would say unreachable.
So on some advise I tried to configure the firewall, not many options in the gui. (Mandrake 9.1) So I tried to completely disable it. With it disabled I can access the shared partitions (anything I stick in the home directory at least) but I can no longer get to the net. What would I need to change to allow me to get to the net through the server acting as a gateway and allow me to access the files on the server. I really don't want to keep disabling and restarting the firewall depending on what I need to do. Are there any spacific ports I should tell it to open?

Also, I realize how generalized this question will be and I'm sure there are dozens of setting that can affect it. But Samba is slow.. much slower than windows. Everything from file transfers, internet speed, and even looking at the contents of the partitions. Is there anything I may look for that could be slowing it down so much. Everything about it is just slow. I know of one thing that may help which I'll address in a minute.

I know those Windows partitions are fragmented, is there software available for Linux that can defrag Windows partitions? (NTFS and fat32)

I am pretty sure that what is going on is that the firewall does not allow ports 137-139 but contains lines for nat and forwarding to take place, hence your internet access. When you disable the firewall (iptables on Mandrake??) the ports necessary for SMB networking suddenly become available, but the rules that allow for the internet connection are also gone. Configure your firewall to accept 137-139 and turn it back on. You should be good to go.

not to pontificate, but this is exactly the reason I quit using GUI's for anything other than basic monitoring. They don't give you the whole picture or provide any real granular control over your services. Find out what that firewall GUI is acting as a front-end for and learn how to configure it with a text editor. Then whenever you want to do something you can just go do it and restart the service!

Thank for the help. I opened the ports and now everything works. I can access my home folder on my Linux server from Windows now and I can still get to the internet.

Now if I can figure out why it's so damn slow.

Great! I am glad you got that resolved. As far as the slowness, Samba is very fast, faster in fact than my native win2k file servers perform with their own damn protocol! I would suggest that you look at hardware or possible network problems (i.e. excessive broadcasting/storms or other apps using the bandwidth).

FTP and Samba
 

I have this problem on two linux machines. Both have identical hardware configuations but transfers with samba or ftp, and even scp are so slow I can not stand it. I have turned off everything but the transfer itself and still the files take for ever.

I started transferring via Gigabit ethernet cards at 12:00 Noon and the ransfer has only 200 or so MB done as of 6:00 PM. Everything else on the systems seem fine, but file transfer is terrible.

Even trying to scp a 2.2 gig file I get an I/O error on the machine getting the file. I have looked and researched everywhere. This list is my last hope.

Also, using usb 2.0 and an external Sony 500 UL DVD RW Linux sees the file on the dvd as an 8 mb file, while it is 2.3 gig. I haven't looked into this problem enough, but I need to transfer large files fasterso I am looking into the DVD as a solution.

Mickey

thats insane... check the cables and the hub

and make sure the eth devices are using good drivers..

i did a 1.2gig file to my samba server, 55seconds
did it to my identical windows machine, 45seconds.


somethigns terribly wrong there bro

I will look but transfers from websites via http or outside ftp's using either machine are fast! 450+ mbps or better. I tried turning off IPTABLES and using no firewall configuration at all still between the two machines is slow as peat! (Yes peat not pete.)

Also has anyone experienced anything on the DVD Burning or the issue of the DVD file showing up as an 8 mb file when it really is a 2.3 gig file?