Short Read with Filesys::SmbClientParser

xorl has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I'm trying to copy a file from a windows box to a linux box. This will be done weekly so I'm using Perl and the module Filesys::SmbClientParser Here's the relevant code:

my $smb = new Filesys::SmbClientParser (undef, 
                    ("user" => $winuser,
                     "password" => $winpassword,
                     "Debug" => "1"
                    )
                       );

$smb->Host($winserver);

$smb->Share($winshare);

$smb->get($winlogname, "/tmp/win.log") or die("THERE WAS AN ERROR SMBE
+RR: " . $smb->err);

print "Winlog now at /tmp/win.log\n";
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My problem is that it will give me the following error message:

"Short read when getting file \filename. Only got 671956992 bytes."

Sometimes it will get 0 bytes.

Now thinking this might be some weird issue with smbclient, I did the following from the command line:

[root@mybox scripts]# smbclient -U ftpusr \\\\wit211\\W3SVC1 mypass
Domain=[NTDP] OS=[Windows Server 2003 3790 Service Pack 2] Server=[Win
+dows Server 2003 5.2]
smb: \> get filename
getting file \filename of size 1763006291 as filename (8802.2 kb/s) (a
+verage 8802.2 kb/s)
smb: \> [root@mybox scripts]#
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So this makes me think I'm running into some limit or something imposed by Perl or the module.

Does anyone have any suggestions how I can fix this problem?

Thanks in advance

Comment on Short Read with Filesys::SmbClientParser Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Short Read with Filesys::SmbClientParser by ELISHEVA (Prior) on Feb 19, 2009 at 03:51 UTC
This kind of problem exists even when one is doing a pure XP/Vista to XP/Vista file transfer. There are frequent complaints about large (500M+) file transfer failures. Some people have had success with disabling their anti-virus software or by reconfiguring their network routers. Others have merely had to unlock a file (permissions will get you every time). I also seem to recall that (on my system) there are some time-out problems as well - though to be honest I didn't investigate the underlying cause too deeply. This is probably not what you want to hear. See: vista-xp-large-file-transfers-over-wireless-fail-consistently - router problems (read to bottom) large-transfers-fail-hang-vista-32bit - anti-virus Large file problems - conclusion here: sigh.. wait for an update. Windows XP maximum size of file? - no max size, but file locking can interfere with transfer I'm sure someone has figured out how to do this reliably because many corporations support automated installs of very large software packages from central servers. However, the last time I had to do this I ended up loading stuff onto a data wand and walking the files from box to box after hours of frustration. Another time, I think I put SSH (client and server) on both boxes and transferred the files that way. Best, beth	[reply]
Re^2: Short Read with Filesys::SmbClientParser by xorl (Deacon) on Feb 19, 2009 at 15:20 UTC
Nope not really what I wanted to hear, but thanks anyway. I think I found a solution (at least it seems to work). I mount the shared directory that the file is in. I'm not sure why, but I don't end up with the problem when I do that. If it turns out I'm just getting lucky, I think I'll end up doing your last solution which is to put an SSH (client and server) on both boxes and transfer them that way.	[reply]
Re: Short Read with Filesys::SmbClientParser by Anonymous Monk on Feb 18, 2009 at 22:05 UTC
It seems to be a common problem, related to the buffersize.	[reply]