SMB version

1st Official Post

    Hi,
    I am sharing some video folders to LibreELEC via SMB shares on my Windows 10 machine.

    There are various version of the SMB protocol. As I understand it, newer versions improve performance, reduce chattiness and so forth. SMB 3.0 introduced multi-channel.

    Is there a way to find out (eg via logfile or ssh) which version of SMB is being used when LibreELEC accesses a SMB share? If so, how?

    Thanks

    • Official Post

    smbstatus is not included in libreelec. Besides I don't know that it shows protocol version, as opposed to the version of samba in use.

    Also kodi does not use samba to connect to SMB sources, it uses its own compiled in version of libsmb, so the version of samba used to serve files from libreelec has nothing to do with the protocol libsmb is using to connect to another server.

    In short I think you need to ramp up logging on your server and see what it tells you.

    Just to clarify, I am referring to the version of SMB protocol that LibreELEC/Kodi uses when connecting to a SMB share.

    Windows will try to use the maximum supported version when connecting to another Windows machine
    Table-SMB3-Windows-Server-2016.png

    Samba client has the capability to do this also (use the max version supported by server). Samba 3.6.25 I believe supports SMB 2 which is quite an improvement over SMB 1. (Samba added SMB3 support in 4.1)


    So my question is:
    -What is the maximum version of SMB supported by the samba client in current version LibreELEC ?
    -Does it use this max version by default when connecting to a SMB server or does it need to be configured ? (Samba changelog references a client max protocol = SMB[X] option that can be added to smb.conf )
    -Does anybody know how to verify which version of the protocol is being used for a given SMB connection? Surely it is in a logfile ?

    ----------------

    As an aside, I disabled SMB 1.0 on my Windows 10 server and LibreELEC was no longer able to access my shares. This would suggest LibreELEC only supports SMB 1.0?

    SMB 1.0 is marked as deprecated in 2014 so it seems like a good idea to ensure we can support something above this eventually.

    • Official Post
    Quote from trent


    So my question is:
    -What is the maximum version of SMB supported by the samba client in current version LibreELEC ?
    -Does it use this max version by default when connecting to a SMB server or does it need to be configured ? (Samba changelog references a client max protocol = SMB[X] option that can be added to smb.conf )
    -Does anybody know how to verify which version of the protocol is being used for a given SMB connection? Surely it is in a logfile ?

    I'm not sure how it works but LE smb uses 3.6 -> SMB 2 is possible.

    If Kodi is build for GPL 3 it uses samba 3.6. x and if not it uses samba 3.0
    xbmc/Makefile at master · xbmc/xbmc · GitHub
    xbmc/Makefile at master · xbmc/xbmc · GitHub

    so it should have 3.6 as client = smb2

    btw I would always take NFS - at an WinServer a bit stupid ofc

    Quote from CvH

    so it should have 3.6 as client = smb2

    btw I would always take NFS - at an WinServer a bit stupid ofc

    I actually share via NFS on my Windows machine (via Hanewin NFS) for long time but lately experiencing freezes/crashing on LE (and OE previously). Want to use SMB for a couple of weeks to see if my problem is related to NFS. If SMB works okay, I come back to NFS and begin bug hunting. If SMB not work okay, then my problem something deeper...

    So now that I begin to use SMB, out of curiosity I just want to check some stuff about version and performance etc.

    -----------------------

    Anyway, so if I understand correctly, connecting to a SMB share inside the Kodi interface is 100% Kodi and this is a question I should ask on Kodi forum instead?

    Edited once, last by trent (April 25, 2016 at 4:15 PM).

    Quote from CvH


    I have only an Unix machine but there was smb always worse then nfs in Kodi.

    Yes, my experience same. But right now need to use SMB to narrow down a problem.

    Also SMB2 is much improved over SMB1. If SMB2 not working in Kodi , maybe that why everybody say NFS is better/faster..

    • Official Post
    Quote from trent


    Hi,
    I am sharing some video folders to LibreELEC via SMB shares on my Windows 10 machine.

    There are various version of the SMB protocol. As I understand it, newer versions improve performance, reduce chattiness and so forth. SMB 3.0 introduced multi-channel.

    Is there a way to find out (eg via logfile or ssh) which version of SMB is being used when LibreELEC accesses a SMB share? If so, how?

    Thanks

    I'll simplify this into a simple statement. Does it work, yes or no?

    If it works, it works. So don't bother yourself fretting about the theoretical chattiness of a network or the marginal speed improvement that a blogger wrote an article on back in 2012. Spend your time watching movies, or go donate some of your time to a charity. Both are more enjoyable and a better use of your time :)

    It works but SMB1 is deprecated (planned for potential removal in subsequent releases) so I don't think it's a crazy question to ask if SMB2 is working.

    It's like asking if 802.11ac is supported and you say "is wifi working? If yes then who cares if it is b/g/n/ac"

    Anyway, I used Wireshark and determined it was operating via SMB1 only. So I guess that is my answer for now.

    Quote from CvH

    could you test an windows kodi if there is smb2 ?

    Okay, I tested and it is SMB2

    Server: Win 10 Pro

    Client Kodi Protocol
    Android (4.4.2) 16.1 SMB1
    LibreELEC 16.1 SMB1
    Win 10 16.1 SMB2

    This all using default/vanilla settings, just add the shares in Kodi 'add source'.

    Edited once, last by trent (April 25, 2016 at 7:35 PM).

    Okay thanks I will try that and report back.

    If it doesn't work, no matter, just something I was curious about.
    [hr]
    Unfortunately that still used SMB1 protocol. No matter. I will keep an eye on the Kodi forums to see if there is any progress in this area.

    Thanks again

    Edited once, last by trent (April 25, 2016 at 11:33 PM).

    I didn't want to start a new thread so I figured I would piggyback on this one.

    I am currently using LibreELEC-Generic.x86_64-8.0-Milhouse-20160822222244-#0822-gc5864e5 and I can't see any of my Windows 7 SMB shares. Truth be told, I have never tried to install any skins via SMB shares on any version of LibreELEC until today.

    Also, on an unrelated matter. If I copy a skin over to my addons folder, LibreELEC does not see it. However, if I install it as a ZIP file it works, and this is with Black Glass Nova and ccm phoenix.

    Thanks in advance,

    Shedrock

    Edited once, last by shedrock (August 23, 2016 at 11:39 PM).