Samba issue - can't connect from one client which is set up the same as the other

emk2203 · 10-24-2015, 11:42 AM

I want to have a network share available for two clients (Raspberry Pi). I have setup both with the same fstab entry, mount point / permissions and credentials.

One of the clients mounts the share at startup without issue, while the other throws errors in dmesg and a `mount -a` gives:

Code:

root@EMK-RPi2:~# mount -a
Retrying with upper case share name
mount error(6): No such device or address
Refer to the mount.cifs(8) manual page (e.g. man mount.cifs)

A mount via `mount -t cifs` fails as well. I can start `smbclient` and mount the share with it, though.

Software on both is different since they serve different purposes:

*** Working:

Code:

dpkg -l samba*
ii  samba                       2:4.1.17+dfsg-2    armhf              SMB/CIFS file, print, and login server for Unix
ii  samba-common                2:4.1.17+dfsg-2    all                common files used by both the Samba server and client
ii  samba-common-bin            2:4.1.17+dfsg-2    armhf              Samba common files used by both the server and the client
ii  samba-dsdb-modules          2:4.1.17+dfsg-2    armhf              Samba Directory Services Database
ii  samba-libs:armhf            2:4.1.17+dfsg-2    armhf              Samba core libraries
ii  samba-vfs-modules           2:4.1.17+dfsg-2    armhf              Samba Virtual FileSystem plugins
pi@EMK-RPiBv1:~$ dpkg -l cifs*
ii  cifs-utils                  2:6.4-1            armhf              Common Internet File System utilities
pi@EMK-RPiBv1:~$ dpkg -l smbclient
ii  smbclient                   2:4.1.17+dfsg-2    armhf              command-line SMB/CIFS clients for Unix

*** Not working:

Code:

root@EMK-RPi2:~# dpkg -l samba*
ii  samba-common                2:4.1.17+dfsg-2    all                common files used by both the Samba server and client
ii  samba-libs:armhf            2:4.1.17+dfsg-2    armhf              Samba core libraries
root@EMK-RPi2:~# dpkg -l cifs*
ii  cifs-utils                  2:6.4-1            armhf              Common Internet File System utilities
root@EMK-RPi2:~# dpkg -l smbclient
ii  smbclient                   2:4.1.17+dfsg-2    armhf              command-line SMB/CIFS clients for Unix

So, the non-working installations has the dsdb and vfs modules missing, and also the samba-common-bin.

But for a client-only role, I thought that what is installed is enough. Is this wrong? What do I need to install in addition for a samba client only, and why?

Rinndalir · 10-24-2015, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emk2203

*** Working:

Code:

ii  samba-common-bin            2:4.1.17+dfsg-2    armhf              Samba common files used by both the server and the client

That is the answer. That pkg is missing from non-working.

Quote:

So, the non-working installations has the dsdb and vfs modules missing, and also the samba-common-bin.

But for a client-only role, I thought that what is installed is enough. Is this wrong? What do I need to install in addition for a samba client only, and why?

The why part will require a look at the files included in samba-common-bin.

emk2203 · 10-24-2015, 01:54 PM

That's tempting to assume, but it doesn't work. I installed it and even restarted the computer to make sure that I didn't just forget restarting the service before. Still the same.

EDIT: I decided to reinstall the system from a minimum installation (Jessie netinst), and during the process of installing necessary packages, all packages from working were pulled in and the netshare access worked without problems.

The moral is that sometimes, and maybe often with samba, if your installation is borked a simple adding of missing packages might not be enough. Rip the samba system out and reinstall is drastic, but in my case, the ground up approach worked.