Built the server with OpenSuSE 11.0. Got it working, including the 4 HDDs for the RAID5 array. OpenSuSE is installed on a separate HDD, all by itself, with all of the OS installed on that drive (I installed the one drive, then the OS, then connected the other 4 drives & RAIDed them, mounted them, shared them, added the network users in Samba, and had access to the shared folders from the WinXP Pro computers - even moved the data off our desktops to the OpenSuSE server. Also able to access the OS CLI from my desktop using PuTTY. Everything was working, all had access, even did multiple reboots of the server and confirmed that nothing changed. All good.

Pulled out the OS HDD, inserted a blank HDD, installed Ubuntu 8.10 (Ibex). Had PuTTY working, installed Webmin & had it working. Just about ready to remount the RAID5 array and realized that the instructions in Webmin said the existing data would be "hidden" - great reservations because I don't want to lose the data.

SOOOOOO, I shut down the server, yanked the Ubuntu OS HDD, inserted the OpenSuSE HDD, and rebooted. Everything LOOKS like it's working, but I don't have access from the WinXP Pro machines. I can SEE the server in the workgroup, but I can't get into it. THEREFORE, I can't copy the data back to the desktops so that I can avert a disaster before it happens when I go to remount the RAID5 array in Ubuntu.

BTW, I can still PuTTY into the server from my WinXP Pro desktop!!! But, I can't get to it via it's icon in my Network Neighborhood!!!

Which leaves me asking myself ... WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED???

I've checked everything I did and it all appears right, no entries missing, but she (sorry, ladies, but I'm not saying ALL unstable things are female!) still won't let me get into the server or the folders or especially to the files to copy them back!

Any thoughts? Any suggestions? Any single malt Scotch?

Thank you!

Happy New Year DF.

Have you had a look at the samba logs to give you some hint?

Can you see the raid array OK from the command line via putty? If so, you could mount a windows share through samba and copy the data from the server to the windows box rather than vice versa.

Yes, Billy, I am able to see the Raid Array (& the data) ok from PuTTY. Your suggestion sounds like the best one, yet.

Basically, I should be able to take that raid array and mount it in any flavor of Linux - as long as I don't do anything silly - like deleting the data on it. My theory is that I can swap out the OS HDD from OpenSuSE to Ubuntu, or CentOS, or Slackware, and then (assuming the OS is properly configured) be able to continue working from our network desktops as if the server software/version were transparent. Is that a correct assumption?

And, a very Happy New Year to you, too. May the sun always be at your back, your knees always to the breeze, and the rubber side always down. Best of health to you!

-> David

Are you sure the configs are the same? Did you copy the samba database or create a new one? Samba may think the users are different under different OSs. Are you using the same version of Samba?

Do you create users under Linux on each server install? Are their UIDs the same?

Do you know if your Ubuntu uses SELinux? If so, it may have set extended attributes for files on the raid array or similar.

Just tossing some thoughts around, but I'd really be digging in the Samba logs for clues.

btw - I don't see anything wrong with your assumption

Billy, As Roseanna Rosannadanna used to say "For a guy from Portland, New Jersey, you sure ask a lot of questions!"

For starters, my OpenSuSE 11.0 drive has Samba 3.2.5, the newest that was available at the time. I installed it separately, so I'm cogniczant of it. The Ubuntu 8.10 (Ibex) drive has whatever Samba it installed when I ran through the installer. It may be different.

That said, I did not mount the RAID in Ubuntu, I did not create any shared folders in Ubuntu, and I also did not create any users in Ubuntu other than my own login.

I had OpenSuSE with Samba working (on the same HDD [all my operating system(s) stuff will be on the 80 GB drive(s), a different drive for each installed OS, and never more than one drive connected to the computer at a time] and there should be no residual stuff from one use of the box with OS disk "a" when I remove it and insert OS disk "b." But, strange things have happened.

It's 8 pm, here, and the 7 yr old is staying up until tomorrow (next year), so I'm not able to spend much time in deep concentration. We have a party tomorrow at noon, so maybe afterwards I'll be able to pull up the logs & see what I'm looking for. Somehow, I doubt that I'll be able to do what I want.

I suspect that I'll simply have to reinstall OpenSuSE to get it to settle down. This instability may be a "feature" of OpenSuSE (my pocket PC has "features" that diminish it's ability to save files more than one folder deep). I did have the OpenSuSE drive working, and I swapped out the router (for a new gigabit model), only to find that my OpenSuSE was unable to pull an IP address. That new router was bad, and it got RMA'd, but the only way to get the OpenSuSE OS back on the network with the original router was to blank the drive & do a fresh reinstall and then to mount the Array. That worked great, & it solved all the problems "caused" by the nasty router. Plus, having disconnected the RAID array before installing the OS (that's SOP for me), I'm insuring that the OS is fully contained on the one OS drive. It's a division of duties among the drives that I'm hoping will prevent data loss and minimize the effects of reinstalling the OS.

I DID IT!!! & I didn't have to re-install OpenSuSE. But, it was strange ...

First, to be able to see the server in the workgroup from WinXP, I had to put all the computers into a DIFFERENT workgroup. I don't know why, but that's the first step. I couldn't see the server in the workgroup from WinXP, even tho I had not changed the workgroup! So, I changed the workgroup on the server and the 2 WinXP boxes, and suddenly I'm able to see the server in the workgroup.

Then, I was able to see the /NW_DATA folder, but couldn't get into it. I played around with the permissions (I did a full power-off shutdown and reboot each time - that is, I shut down the workstation, shut down the server, rebooted the server, then rebooted the workstation), but couldn't get into it. SO, I re-created the users in Samba (another down/up), and I still couldn't get into it. SO, I reset the permissions (yet another down/up), and I STILL couldn't get into it. Then, I went one folder deeper into the structure (on the server, using YaST), and reset the permissions there, (one MORE down/up), and suddenly I've got everything that I'm supposed to have.

I don't know what happened, but I'm SURE it's going to happen again. So, I'm doing a backup of the data from the server BACK TO the WinXP Pro machines, just in case I corrupt the data trying to mount the RAID5 array in Ubuntu.

Now, as soon as I get the data off, I'm replacing my 10/100-T router with the new 1000-T router (wish I had confidence in OpenSuSE to do that now), and seeing if I can get it all back together again. THEN, I'm yanking my OpenSuSE OS HDD out of the machine & re-inserting the Ubuntu 8.10 Server drive, and using Webmin to attempt remounting the RAID5 array.

At least, for the moment, I'm able to take a step backwards (to copy the data BACK to my desktops), so that I can take a few steps forward without prejudice. BIG SIGH, and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

My rather uninformed guess is that Windows keeps some form of identifier (you have the concept of a SID in domain speak for example) that probably needed to get reset. Perhaps changing the workgroup managed this somehow.

This whole thing smells of SELinux to me - I guess one or both OSs is using it and it's causing the issues. Looks like permissions, but harder to see. Check for an SELinux log (in CentOS it's /var/log/audit/audit.log)

BM