Losing mapped connections to SAN space

[theniteowl]

We have Win 2003 servers that have drive mappings to shared space on a SAN server.
The servers are logged in under a local account and the drive mappings to the SAN space is done using a domain account.

The drives to the SAN space sometimes disconnect during the wee hours of the morning causing the application that writes out data to that space to error out.
Our assumption has been that the drive mapping times out after 15 minutes of inactivity but it should reconnect automatically. Sometimes it will reconnect but other times we have to delete the mapping then re-create it.

These servers have 9-10 mappings each. All drive mappings are made using the same domain account but to different servers. Four mappings point to different locations on one SAN server and these are the only mappings that have problems. Some mappings go to another SAN server and do not have problems.
What I have noticed is that when the application server is rebooted all drives except the 4 to the one SAN server will automatically reconnect. Clicking on one of the 4 that did not connect causes a prompting for id/password and once it is entered for any one of the 4 mappings they all reconnect.

Apparently the way the credentials are cached/passed is different for the different servers and the 4 problematic ones seem to lose the credentials after some amount of time and the application can no longer connect to that share space.

Anyone seen other issues like this? Our network folks and those in charge of the share space have just thrown up their hands and said they do not know what is going on but that it is not on their end.

Thoughts?

At my age I still learn something new every day, but I forget two others.

 

[jjjon]

You'll need to change the idle time on the server(s) with the share(s):

'net config server /autodisconnect:xxx' (in minutes)

Run 'net config server' to see what it's set to on each server.
I'm not sure if you can disable it altogether, but should be able to set it to 1440 minutes, so that it doesn't timeout until there is an idle time of 1 day (or higher if you prefer)

J

 

[theniteowl]

I know there is a setting to control the timeout for disconnecting the active link in order to reduce network traffic, then when the resource is accessed again it will come back on it's own. This frequently happens to our servers but the mapping re-connects when you try to use it again.
I suspect that there is a 2nd setting on the SAN server that governs how long a connection can exist before it enforces re-authentication of the connection. Since our application server is Win 2003 it is unable to cache the credentials for the mapping that are different than the current logon ID. So when the SAN server requires re-authentication our app fails.

Unfortunately I do not have access to the server with the shared drives and do not know what configuration options are available. I am trying to get enough info to make a case for what the problem may be so that we can get them investigating it again. They just say that it is not on their end and do not bother investigating any further.



At my age I still learn something new every day, but I forget two others.

 

[NickFerrar]

What SAN model and is it iSCSI? iSCSI you should set persistent mappings but that's on the host initiator rather than the SAN.

 

[theniteowl]

I know no details of the SAN setup. It is administered by another group and so far they have had no effective thoughts on the problem.

Being that the mappings are made using alternate credentials the mappings cannot be set as persistent. The Persistent flag only works with the current logon account.

Even when the credentials are setup under "Stored User Names and Passwords" they do not appear to work.
After a fresh boot I would go to the Run prompt and type in the direct UNC path to the shared resource and it still prompts me for the password even though it SHOULD be saved and any access to that path should retrieve it automatically.


At my age I still learn something new every day, but I forget two others.