many-to-one nested CIFS serving

To Whom:

I am exploiting a feature of the CIFS server that works for the client under Windows 8 (not sure about others), but does not work for the linux client under RedHat/CentOS5/6.

I am mounting multiple Thecus NAS devices via CIFS, making symbolic links to files on those NAS devices, where I reorganize the directory structure, and then turn around and serve the top level of that directory via CIFS.

On a Windows machine I only have to mount that top level directory, and the symbolic links automatically resolve themselves without having to also mount the NAS device(s). THIS IS VERY POWERFUL. On a linux machine however, the symbolic links can only be resolved if I have the NAS devices mounted, and the mount points have to be named as shown in the link. It seems that the protocol necessary for this to work under Windows has not been added to the linux version of the client.

When I surf the web for others exploiting this feature, I find nothing.

Thanks

Steve Finley
Research Associate
CIRA - Colorado State University

Quoted 19 lines · On Mon, 17 Sep 2012 15:45:54 -0600 Steve Finley…

To Whom:

I am exploiting a feature of the CIFS server that works for the client under Windows 8 (not sure about others), but does not work for the linux client under RedHat/CentOS5/6.

I am mounting multiple Thecus NAS devices via CIFS, making symbolic links to files on those NAS devices, where I reorganize the directory structure, and then turn around and serve the top level of that directory via CIFS.

On a Windows machine I only have to mount that top level directory, and the symbolic links automatically resolve themselves without having to also mount the NAS device(s). THIS IS VERY POWERFUL. On a linux machine however, the symbolic links can only be resolved if I have the NAS devices mounted, and the mount points have to be named as shown in the link. It seems that the protocol necessary for this to work under Windows has not been added to the linux version of the client.

Quoted 9 lines

When I surf the web for others exploiting this feature, I find nothing.

Thanks

Steve Finley
Research Associate
CIRA - Colorado State University

So you're reexporting a CIFS mount from a linux box with samba? Yuck.

Most likely you're running afoul of the fact that when POSIX extensions are enabled, that symlinks are passed on as-is to the client. If you mount from the clients using "nounix" it'll probably do something closer to what you expect.

In truth though, I think you'd be better served by researching and configuring a DFS share.