Difference between afp and smb

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Level 1

68 points

Difference between afp and smb

I'm running OS X server 10.5.8. unlimited license with only file sharing enabled.

When a large number of users (more than 7 or 8) try to log on the server at the same time, the server goes AWOL. A few users get on and that's it. When I check the server preferences, file sharing has turned off by itself. When I try to restart it, it just turns off again. After waiting a while, I can turn it on again, or it'll turn on again by itself after a good long while.

This is in the setting of a computer lab. The users get on via afp. Would smb work better? What's the difference between the two?

I'll appreciate any help or suggestions on this.

Hans

Intel iMac 2 GHz Core Duo, 1.5 GB, 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Sep 22, 2010 12:49 PM

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Answer 1

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Camelot

Level 9

55,089 points

Sep 22, 2010 8:18 PM in response to Hans Gilde

When I check the server preferences, file sharing has turned off by itself. When I try to restart it, it just turns off again

That's clearly not normal. What do the logs have to say?

The users get on via afp. Would smb work better? What's the difference between the two?

AFP was designed by Apple and is the native file sharing protocol in Mac OS X.
SMB was designed by Microsoft and is the native file sharing protocol in Windows.

At one time Macs would use AFP, Windows systems would use SMB. That line is now blurred by the fact that Mac OS X can talk both AFP and SMB, and Windows machines can be persuaded to talk AFP.

There are some under the hood differences and in general your Mac clients should use AFP if possible. Whether SMB is more or less reliable in your case depends on why the server is having these issues in the first place - if it's a resource issue (i.e. not enough memory/cpu/etc.) then enabling SMB is likely to make things worse since the server now has an additional process to keep running.

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Answer 2

Hans Gilde Author

Level 1

68 points

Sep 23, 2010 6:33 AM in response to Camelot

Camelot,
Thanks for your response. I had Sophos antivirus turned to scan on access. Could that be the problem? I turned that off and experimented by having 11 computers log on in rapid succession, and it worked without a hitch.

The logs seemed to show problems with automatic on access virus scanning.

I'll keep an eye on it and let you know how it's going.

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Answer 3

Camelot

Level 9

55,089 points

Sep 23, 2010 10:42 AM in response to Hans Gilde

I had Sophos antivirus turned to scan on access. Could that be the problem?

Could be. Certainly if you turn it off and the problem goes away there's a strong indicator that it is your problem.

Was this installed server-side? or on the clients? If it's on the server it might be overwhelmed with lots of users opening lots of files in succession. It might be better to run your AV on the client side.

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Answer 4

Hans Gilde Author

Level 1

68 points

Sep 23, 2010 1:28 PM in response to Camelot

Yes, it was installed server-side. By end of next week I should have a better idea if this was really the problem. At present I do suspect that it was.

Hans

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