Dear
Tom,
The
express product makes standard windows api calls to the machine where it is
installed to open, read, write to, and close files on the network. It does not,
in any way tell samba how to react, it is simply telling Windows to open, read
and write to the files on the network leaving how it is done to the underlying
network protocols.
Based
on what I have seen it appears that Windows XP workstations are intermittently
writing invalid data to the log files. The log files containing invalid data are
deleted by express when a repair is run, at the beginning of any update of the
database, which is done to prevent corrupt data from being written to the
database.
We
believe that there is a conflict between Windows XP and samba which results in
the intermittent writing of invalid data.
The
applib.loc file is a text file which simply indicates what machine last had the
library open in the Express Administrative Console.
Sincerely, Chris Lindberg
Express Metrix Technical Support
-----Original Message-----Dear List:
From: Thomas G. Tri, P.E. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 5:40 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: License Metering Software to work with SAMBA
We have a 25+ node mixed networked of NT4SP5, Win2K, & WinXP. We are currently using Express Meter to control our software licensing and capture data to analyze software license utilization to justify additional licenses, etc. We are running SAMBA v 2.0.7 on a Sun Ultra 2 running Solaris 7. We have been unable to get the reporting functions to work (the Express Meter log files get purged when the data merging / reporting process is performed). A SAMBA debug log shows the following strange sequence of locks / unlocks. The applib.loc file is opened with read=No, write=Yes and then followed by opening another handle on the same file with read=Yes and write=No. This seems a little strange to me and may not be the problem at all. Their tech support is apparently not willing to invest any more time to investigate this problem as it appears to function correctly when the files are stored on an NT workstation. We are not willing to
[2002/11/05 15:17:33, 2] smbd/open.c:(602)
bburnett opened file em/fromtaurus/applib.loc read=No write=Yes (numopen=3)
[2002/11/05 15:17:33, 2] smbd/open.c:(602)
bburnett opened file em/fromtaurus/applib.lib read=Yes write=No (numopen=4)
[2002/11/05 15:17:33, 2] smbd/open.c:(602)
bburnett opened file em/fromtaurus/applib.loc read=Yes write=No (numopen=5)
We would like to continue to use Express Meter because of the time we have invested in setup and configuration. However, the reporting capability is a requirement for our firm. Therefore, we are considering switching to another software metering application. We are currently reviewing the following:
Keyserver from Sassafras Software
Application Metering from Codework
If anyone has a suggestion to correct / workaround the above file locking sequence or has experience with these or other software metering applications, I would greatly appreciate your comments (good & bad).
Thanks,
Tom
