Mac users disconnected from shares on OS 10.3.9 Server

Question

The past few days I have had many (not all) Mac users get disconnected from Apple file shares that they have mounted. They get a message saying the connection to the server was unexpectedly terminated. Oddly, this doesn't happen to everybody using the server at the time. And, some users are only disconnected from a few of the shares they have mounted. We are not having any network issues and I don't see any errors on the server or log files. Is it possible that saving very large files to the server could cause the NIC to get tied up and prompt the disconnect? Any other ideas would be appreciated.

Answer 1

I wanted to update the thread on some new developments. Just a few moments ago, the server affected by this behavior crashed. It kicked everyone off shared volumes, and wouldn't respond via ARD, Server Monitor, or SSH. It just totally took a dump all over itself.
I was able to find the crash in the Apple File Service log in Console, but it looks like it locked up hard before (and during) when it was writing the crash log. Here are the parts I could find:
ork/Versions/A/Frameworks/CFNetwork.framework/Versions/A/CFNetwork
0x9283f000 - 0x92859fff libresolv.9.dylib /usr/lib/libresolv.9.dylib
0x939d0000 - 0x939d4fff libmathCommon.A.dylib /usr/lib/system/libmathCommon.A.dylib
0x93b3c000 - 0x93b9bfff com.apple.SearchKit 1.0.2 /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/SearchK it.framework/Versions/A/SearchKit
0x93db2000 - 0x93dbbfff libz.1.dylib /usr/lib/libz.1.dylib
0x93dbe000 - 0x93dc6fff libbsm.dylib /usr/lib/libbsm.dylib
0x950da000 - 0x95212fff edu.mit.Kerberos 5.0.25 (5.0.1) /System/Library/Frameworks/Kerberos.framework/Versions/A/Kerberos
0x9540c000 - 0x95460fff com.apple.bom 1.2.8 (64.2) /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Bom.framework/Versions/A/Bom
0x95ec2000 - 0x95ed6fff libcups.2.dylib /usr/lib/libcups.2.dylib
0x968d0000 - 0x969b2fff libicucore.A.dylib /usr/lib/libicucore.A.dylib
0x96a4e000 - 0x96a86fff com.apple.LaunchServices 10.3.5 (98.4) /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/LaunchServices
0x96aa0000 - 0x96acefff libssl.0.9.7.dylib /usr/lib/libssl.0.9.7.dylib
0x96b50000 - 0x96bdffff ATS /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ ATS.framework/Versions/A/ATS
0x96cb0000 - 0x96d9efff libiconv.2.dylib /usr/lib/libiconv.2.dylib
0x96dc0000 - 0x96dd3fff libpam.1.dylib /usr/lib/libpam.1.dylib
0x973c3000 - 0x9769bfff com.apple.CoreGraphics 1.203.30 (???) /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ CoreGraphics.framework/Versions/A/CoreGraphics
Host Name: powerplant
Date/Time: 2007-09-05 01:25:05 -0700
OS Version: 10.3.9 (Build 7W98)
Report Version: 2
Command: smbd
Path: /usr/sbin/smbd
Version: ??? (???)
PID: 22193
Thread: 0
Exception: EXCBADACCESS (0x0001)
Codes: KERNPROTECTIONFAILURE (0x0002) at 0x00000000
Thread 0 Crashed:
0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x90007260 strlen + 0x20
1 smbd 0x00144394 push_ascii + 0x28
2 smbd 0x0001c22c reply_trans + 0x47f8
3 smbd 0x00021310 api_reply + 0x318
4 smbd 0x00018318 reply_trans + 0x8e4
5 smbd 0x00058b80 respondto_all_remaining_localmessages + 0x784
6 smbd 0x00058c48 respondto_all_remaining_localmessages + 0x84c
7 smbd 0x00058fac process_smb + 0x1c8
8 smbd 0x00059bb0 smbd_process + 0x168
9 smbd 0x001c4a20 main + 0x6a4
10 smbd 0x00003b78 start + 0** - - [06/Sep/2007:15:20:15 -0800] "Mounted Volume Server HD" 0 0 0
You can see on that last line there where it started writing the console log as it rebooted.
Hope it helps diagnose the problem. If anything, it's the first time the server was rebooted since about May, so maybe whatever problem it was experiencing is fixed with the reboot.
I promise to report back if things go well, or not.
Robert