RE: Mac to PC file sharing issues on SBS2003

From: Eriq Neale [MSFT] (a-eriqn_at_online.microsoft.com)
Date: 12/09/04 

Date: Thu, 09 Dec 2004 14:22:51 GMT

> From: "=?Utf-8?B?SmltIFN5a29yYQ==?=" <Jim
Sykora@discussions.microsoft.com>
>
> I am working with a small printing company that does desktop publishing
as a
> majority of their business model. They use PCs for most of their
workflow,
> but for the desktop publishing they uses Macs running OSX 10.3. I have
set
> up a Small Business Server 2003 at their site. I have all of their PCs
> connected to the SBS server flawlessly. I have all 4 of their Macs
connected
> to the SBS server via SMB and have them logging into the domain as
members.
> I have resolved all of the DNS issues with .local addresses, and I have
> disbabled SMB digital signing on the server. Everything works with the
Macs
> connecting to the SMB shares on the SBS2003 server the majority of the
time.
> However, I am having 3 problems that I cannot find any resolution to that
> I've listed below. I have posted on private newsgroups also and I intend
to
> contact Mac technical support as well, but am looking for any insight
from
> this community as well.

Hey Jim. Responses inline below.

> Problems:
> 1) Originally I had both SMB shares and Client for Macintosh Services
> enabled as possibilities as they had 1 OS 9.2 Mac that they would have
liked
> to connect to the server via UAM. When using Client for Macintosh
services
> and the Microsoft UAM on the Mac clients I experienced odd problems with
> Quark Express files for the Mac OS10.3 clients loosing their association
with
> the Quark program. If I renamed
> the file on a PC to have a Quark extension, and then opened the file in
> Quark on the PC workstation and saved it as a Mac Quark document then the
Mac
> workstation was able to open it. Once I disabled the UAM volume share in
> Manage Computer I no longer experienced this issue now that I am using a
> standard SMB share. I have heard of people loosing files when using SMB
as
> oposed to AFP, but I have not, as of yet, expierienced this. Any ideas
on
> this?

Quark is a strange bird when it comes to shared network storage. If you
haven't checked out any of the Quark support forums, I would suggest that
you do.

The issue of Appletalk vs. SMB is how the files are stored on the server.
When you make an AppleTalk connection to the Windows server and save Mac
files on the server, the files are stored in native Mac file format, i.e.,
the resource fork is stored within the body of the file. That resource fork
data is then only accessible by Macs who connect through Appletalk shares.
If you access that file from a PC, make changes, and save it back out, only
the data fork is saved and the resource fork is gone. That causes problems
when a Mac tries to access the file later.

When you connect via SMB, you are saving files in Windows native file
format, which does not understand resource fork/data fork formats on the
Mac. The Macs recognize this and only save the data fork information,
relying on other methods to maintain the information that is normally saved
in the resource fork (such as application association being handled by file
extension instead of file type/creator info in the resource fork).
Specifically, Mac OS X will create a second file on the shared folder that
contains the resource fork information. This second file is not seen by
Macs that access the SMB share, but will sometimes show up in a Windows
Explorer view of the same shared folder. You can read more about this in
this Apple article: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106510.
There's also an active discussion on the Apple boards about issues related
to this that you might find interesting:
http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?128@221.nqCUafkWtXp.0@.68947f81.

> 2) Mac clients are able to rename files, but not containing folders in
the
> share, even when made a user of the Domain Admins group(for testing
> purposes). The Mac clients recieve access denied messages. This happens
> with every folder created on the Mac OS10.3 client.

I think I can address this issue with questions/comments for the next item.
 
> 3) There are several folders that I cannot access from a PC that are
still
> accesable from the Mac clients. When I try to access them from the
server I
> get the
> message: "C:\Micorosft UAM Volume\Data\Tanya\92470 Prevailing Winds NL
Dec.
> refers to a location that is unavailable. It could be on a hard drive on
> this computer, or on a network. Check to make sure that the disk is
properly
> inserted, or that you are connected to the Internet or your network, and
then
> try again. If it
> still cannot be located, the information might have been moved to a
> different location." If I browse to this directory from the Mac client
it
> shows up normally as one would expect. This does not happen for every
> folder. So far it has happened for 3 out of 25 folders on the share.

If I'm reading this correctly, you are trying to use the Microsoft UAM
Share as a data share for the Macs to access. That's not the purpose of
that share. The Microsoft UAM Share is intended to be a read-only share
that Mac OS 8&9 clients can access to download and install the UAM client
so they can connect to the server with improved authentication. What you
really need to do is to create new Mac data shares and assign them
permissions appropriately. Take a look at this article
(http://simultaneouspancakes.com/Int/archive/2004/08/connecting_a_ma_2.shtml
) to learn more about configuring SBS 2003 to let Macs connect via
AppleTalk.

> If anyone has any suggestions to resolving any of these issues, or if
more
> information is needed please let me know.

Hope this helps.

-Eriq
----------------------
Eriq Neale - MCSE 2003, MCSA Messaging, MCP Small and Medium Business
Microsoft Corporation

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