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Mac OS X 10.5.x and Windows 2008 Clustered File Share Problems

Len — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:58:03 +0000

After upgrading a Windows Server 2003 clustered file server to Windows Server 2008, Mac OS X 10.5 clients would no longer connect to the file server. After much searching, I found that Microsoft changed something about share name scoping on clustered resources causing non-Microsoft clients to fail. Of course, Microsoft blames Apple and Apple blames Microsoft for incompatibility issues which really doesn’t help anyone.

I found one work-around to the problem for Mac OS X clients – In Mac OS X finder, use Cmd-K to bring up the Connect to Server dialog. For the server address, use either:

smb://fileserver:139/sharename
or
cifs://fileserver:139/sharename

Share browsing of the server doesn’t seem to work so you need to specify the share which you want to connect to and specifying port 139 seems to fix the problem.

Weird stuff. Not sure who to blame on this one really but I expect a little better compatibility on these “enterprise” class products. As a side-note, these changes to clustered file sharing even causes issues with Exchange 2007 running on a Windows Server 2008 cluster. When Microsoft can’t even get their own software to work correctly, I think it’s easier to know who to blame.

Memories of classic Macs

Len — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 23:17:21 +0000

A Wordpress theme homage to the classic Mac.

iMac: The saga continues…

Len — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 21:02:05 +0000

Day 2 with the iMac and in brief, I am VERY impressed by it! I can’t really find anything to complain about. Top to bottom, this is how a home computer should be. It is small (relatively speaking that because the whole computer is built-in to the LCD display), it is stylish from both a physical and software perspective, it is easy to use and it actually works in a friendly way. Everything that Windows Vista has managed to screw-up works great on the iMac. The 3D-accelerated desktop on the Mac is fantastic to look at – Windows Vista is well…crap. The gadgets in the iMac are un-intrusive, stylish & functional – Windows Vista is well…crap. The iMac comes with application & multimedia software (mail, iphoto, itunes, etc) which all integrate together. Windows Vista comes with…crap.

Never thought I’d say it, but Macs really have out-done Windows PCs these days. Sure Microsoft has near-total dominance in the market but the great thing about computers is that they are obsolete so fast. If Microsoft doesn’t get it’s ‘crap’ together soon, I think more and more people will be switching to Macs when the time for an upgrade comes around – Eva certainly did.