Freenas causing problems with other devices on the network?

[JamesDH]

Hi,
I have a machine shop and my machines are connected to the network, they are running Linux for the control software and I assume (can't find data) that they are using SMB for networking communications.
Last year I started having difficulty connecting to my machines. They had been setup as a mapped network drive on several computers in the office.
Last year I started having trouble connecting. I did all the physical checks. I studied microsoft updates and posted on the forums. I kept getting a response that Microsoft was having trouble with SMB so I chalked it up to that.
Recently we had a USB crash in our freenas server (older machine running freenas 9.11) It was down for a day or so while we worked on getting it back up.
While it was down I noticed that I no longer had problems accessing the machines. It would connect immediately and stay connected all day.
That made me think it might have been something with Freenas.
Yesterday we brought the server back on line and sure enough. I am once again having difficulty connecting to my machines.

Any idea what might be causing our problem? Any fixes?

I only activated the CIFS service for sharing. I assume it uses SMB?

Thank you

James

 

[danb35]

older machine running freenas 9.11

There has never been a FreeNAS 9.11 release. There was 9.1.1, and there was 9.10, but never 9.11. Any of these would be very old, and you'd be strongly encouraged to upgrade to at least 11.3.

 

[Alecmascot]

I suggest you might have Master Browser issues ?

 

[JamesDH]

There has never been a FreeNAS 9.11 release. There was 9.1.1, and there was 9.10, but never 9.11. Any of these would be very old, and you'd be strongly encouraged to upgrade to at least 11.3.

I'm sorry.
I forgot to mention that when I made the new USB I used the latest version. 11.3
So, what ever it is doing. it did it in the old version and is doing it in the new version as well.

I just did a test.
I compiled some code for the mill and went to move it over to the mill which is set up as a mapped drive.
When I attempted to connect to the mill it froze briefly and gave me an error and would not connect. This is typical of how it's been gong for the past 5 months. If I keep clicking on the drive, it eventually lets me in and I can copy the file over. This takes about 2 minutes.

For the test I unplugged the NAS server and waited a minute and tried to access the mill. BOOM, let me right in and copied the file over without issue.

Typically once I get access to the remote drive I have a minute or two of unrestricted access, so if I stop doing anything with the drive I have to go through the above again.. clicking for 2 minutes to let me back in.

Master browser? Is NAS setup by default to be a master browser? If so, how to turn it off.
I just want a file server.. nothing more, nothing less.

 

[JamesDH]

I suggest you might have Master Browser issues ?

It's been a long time since I studied networking but I seem to remember that there is negotiation to see who will be the master browser?

 

[JamesDH]

hello
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyZpJX7Ww0M
that about
cheers

If they review each post, shouldn't the moderators catch this kind of thing?

 

[Alecmascot]

Master browser? Is NAS setup by default to be a master browser? If so, how to turn it off.

I would check from windows to see who is master browser.
If you disable SMB Service in FreeNAS does it have the same effect as disconnecting the FreeNAS server ?
Check for duplicate IP addresses.
Look at ARP to see that everything looks kosher.

 

[joeschmuck]

If they review each post, shouldn't the moderators catch this kind of thing?

Yes, we do catch things like this periodically, but not always. Fixed.

Master browser? Is NAS setup by default to be a master browser? If so, how to turn it off.
I just want a file server.. nothing more, nothing less.

I think the problem here is you are saying things that do not line up with FreeNAS/TrueNAS. I have never heard of a Master Browser (that should tell you something about FreeNAS) on a file server. While I see that you have been a long time member here since 2015 so I find this question odd coming from someone who I would think were familiar with this software. I would recommend that you read the User Guide for FreeNAS/TrueNAS, and know that FreeNAS/TrueNAS is a full featured file server that you can add on some pretty amazing stuff if desired.

 

[no_connection]

I have never heard of a Master Browser (that should tell you something about FreeNAS) on a file server.

Think of it as DNS for a workgroup, it's pretty much to keep track of host name and IP so that when you type \\workstation into file browser it will find the machine. The "Master Browser" keeps track of those names when it comes to windows workgroup. By defult FreeNAS acts as master browser but you can uncheck it. If no master browser is found it is elected automatically among the workgroup.

How to Determine the Master Browser in a Windows Workgroup | Scottie's Tech.Info

Here's a little problem that drove me crazy: How do you determine the Master Browser in a Windows Workgroup? First of all, lemme explain a bit about how a workgroup works. When you have a LAN set up running Windows machines, each machine can see all the others in Network Neighborhood (or just...

scottiestech.info

 

[Alecmascot]

Use LANScan for win10 from here:

At long last, LANscanner works on Windows 10! | Scottie's Tech.Info

Way back in early 2009, I wrote a post entitled: How to Determine the Master Browser in a Windows Workgroup Since then, quite a number of people have downloaded and used my little LANscanner program for displaying the IP addies, MAC addies, workgroup, and Master Browser of all the gizmos on...

scottiestech.info

There is a settinging SMB service (advanced) for these things.

 

[joeschmuck]

Think of it as DNS for a workgroup, it's pretty much to keep track of host name and IP so that when you type \\workstation into file browser it will find the machine. The "Master Browser" keeps track of those names when it comes to windows workgroup. By defult FreeNAS acts as master browser but you can uncheck it. If no master browser is found it is elected automatically among the workgroup.

How to Determine the Master Browser in a Windows Workgroup | Scottie's Tech.Info

Here's a little problem that drove me crazy: How do you determine the Master Browser in a Windows Workgroup? First of all, lemme explain a bit about how a workgroup works. When you have a LAN set up running Windows machines, each machine can see all the others in Network Neighborhood (or just...

scottiestech.info

Thanks, I did not know that.

 

[pschatz100]

If you are trying to connect from Windows, maybe it has an issue with the version of SMB that FreeNAS is using. Try leaving the FreeNAS computer on the network but turn off the SMB service. If your problems go away, then I would suggest you have a conflict with different SMB versions.

 

[JamesDH]

Update:
Dug into the master browser idea a little and here is what I found.

Using the Lanscan I see that the Freenas server is registered as the master. I also see where one windows machine is also registered as the master. Machine varies and appears to be random.

There is a checkbox for master browser in the settings for SMB. Unchecking it, rebooting and it still shows up as master.
Possible bug?

However, so far today I am able to access the mill freely with no "waiting" period.
We'll see how it goes as the day wears on.

 

[no_connection]

"
Example 10.3. smb.conf for Not Being a Master Browser

[global]

domain master = no

local master = no

preferred master = no

os level = 0

"
From here: https://www.samba.org/samba/docs/old/Samba3-HOWTO/NetworkBrowsing.html

So might be able to force it to not participate with adding something as parameters.