Slackware server has a few folders shared via symlinks.

 

They're not working right, they've been working fine for years.

 

Two of the symlinked folders are showing up as 0 byte files in Windows rather than actual folders. I think this has started today after a reboot. I've tried rebooting again.

 

My boss who setup the server is currently busy.

 

Shared folder is /group
Symlinked folder is /group/nmr_inst
That is linked to /mnt/nmr

 

When I login via putty/ssh "nmr_inst" acts as a folder as it should. It just doesn't on Windows.

 

Anyone seen this issue before?

Using samba I guess?

I think when samba updates it sometimes fucks with the default config. So make sure you have both:

follow symlinks = yes
wide links = yes

in smb.conf

They're both there :(

<out of ideas>

I should add that there's 3 symlinked folders in the shared folder, only one is working.

 

They point to....
Not working - /mnt/nmr
Not working - /mnt/nmr/other/other/etc/blah
Working - /var/folder/blah

 

/mnt/nmr is working fine on the server itself. The symlink is working fine on the server. Just not over samba.

 

Smiffy, you like Linux, what's up?

Hmm, if one is working then it could be a permissions issue?

Also have you tried deleting and remaking the symlinks?

But yeah I'd check what user/group samba is running as and compare that to the permissions on folders in the path of the linked folder.

I'm not going to delete them yet, but I did try and make a new link to /mnt/nmr which had the same issue, so I don't think deleting and remaking will fix it.

 

Permissions of some sort may be the problem. I'd still expect them to appear as folders though and throw out a permissions error when I try to open them rather than the folders appearing as 0 byte files.

I don't really know how samba handles permissions but showing what's there could possibly be a security issue...?

 

But yeah, I avoid samba (well, I avoid windows file sharing really because it never fucking works) so I don't know much :C

Thanks for the help and pointing me towards permissions :C

 

NOTHING has been changed. Stupid thing.

(Slackware is a fucking odd choice for a server)

(I think it's because my boss thinks it's particularly stable.

 

Not sure how true that is, but the thing doesn't seem to ever crash, though it's only acting as a file and web server, so nothing intense.)

(it's a good distro, and some people know it inside out. very very flexible. A lot like Arch really. I'd want something friendlier on a server is all)

(There's only me and him with any proper access, and there was only him until I turned up. It's certainly not as easy to use as ubuntu, but that's probably more a case of me being used to ubuntu on the command line. It's not a great deal different though. Most commands work across different distros. I've only tried to install a few new packages on it in the past and from what I remember it wasn't as simple as "apt-get install <thing>". He's a full time Linux user so he's more than comfortable with it all. I think he uses Kubuntu on his desktop)

(Oh aye, in terms of just using it linux is linux for the most part. It's about how it handles updates. Apt is just really good at... not breaking. And being fixable when it does break)

(Yeah, I wouldn't even bother attempting to update this server myself)

Well it's not a symlink issue.

 

It seems like we can no longer share a cifs mount over samba.

 

/mnt/nmr is a cifs share off a novell server (I think), that require a login. It mounts fine, it just can't be accessed over samba. It's not just a Windows issue, the samba share can't be seen properly in Linux either.

Problem solved.

 

The fs type was changed from smbfs to cifs a while back because things stopped working (or IT made a change). Changed it back and things are working again. I assume they made another change.