i guess the first thing i need to say is how i have my setup…
file server: ubuntu hosting SMB share.
clients: a mix of windows7 and linux (opensuse & mythbuntu).
the mythbuntu client doesnt use fstab or smb to connect, as it uses the mythtv internal server to handle accessing data from the server to itself.
However when the opensuse client first connects to the smb share (fresh boot, resume from suspend/hibernate), it will freeze the KDE interface/dolphin for 15-20secs while it attempts to resolve and connect to the file server (fstab mount is IP based), which i believe is a long standing bug when mounting samba shares on KDE.
i have take a look on google reguarding cifs mount options, but havent found anything useful in reguard to timeouts, or a ‘connect on first use’ option.
the aim is to have one share on the server for all clients (hence using samba), and to be able to stream media from all clients.
i’ve tried using FTP in windows, but it wont allow streaming over the network (you have to copy them locally). the same goes for network shortcuts in linux. vlc/smplayer refuses to play unless it sees it as a local drive (hence fstab use)
can anyone suggest alternative methods to stop the delay in KDE?
Trying to actually mount shares can be done, but there can be issues of all sorts and in the end, that whole concept is more of a Windows thing in my mind and not required. Check out the guides and see what you can find out on the subject.
The other thing would be to add the server name and ip address to your
clients hosts file so they resolve locally. You might also want to look
at the /etc/nsswitch.conf file to check the entries to put dns then
files if you don’t want to modify the hosts file (might even pay to
remove mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] entry as a test.
thanks for the info. i’ll take a look at other connection methods.
coming from windows, mounting/mapping a network share is the preferred and most common method so being familiar with that type of access, i use it on openSUSE too.
@malcolmlewis - the ubuntu server is primarily the backend for mythtv (ie: it handles the scheduling, recording and physical tuners). it also has other general duties like file serve, torrent manager, squeezebox server, so it’s more of general file access (videos, programs, documents) rather than soly a media server.