OS X Server and MS Temp Files: Problems!

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I dont know where to tuck this post since it covers too many areas. Sorry...



I just deployed 2 new OS X 10.2.3 servers. Both are running ONLY AFP services for 50 OS 9 clients on a LAN. All the users either have Word 98 or Word 2001. I work for a publishing company-LOTS of word processing. This is a huge problem that will involve me calling Apple and Micorosoft. If I cant fix this soon I will have to yank my servers and rebuild my ASIP boxes. I have been working 18 hr days on these OS X servers, and I was happ until this problem reared its ugly head. Here's the deal:





I realized yesterday that there is a major problem with permissions with MS Word's "Temporary Items" folder and also Word's temp files (those opaque scratch files) on my OS X servers. It has been mentioned on Apple's forums, but there doesn't appear to be a fix. Take a peek if interested:



<a href="http://discussions.info.apple.com/[email protected]@.3bbc9e1a/0"; target="_blank">http://discussions.info.apple.com/[email protected]@.3bbc9e1a/0</a>;



<a href="http://discussions.info.apple.com/[email protected]@.3bbacbec"; target="_blank">http://discussions.info.apple.com/[email protected]@.3bbacbec</a>;





1) A user creates a Word file "foo.doc" on the server. She saves it. No problem.

2) Another user (or the same user) opens the "foo.doc" file. No problem usually.

3) A change is made to the "foo.doc" file. Word crashes trying to save the file, or the user is told that the file cant be saved (network or disk problems). The file is wrecked.

4) The "foo.doc" file is toast. Some client's Macs freeze or hang opening,saving or recovering the "foo.doc" file.

5) Even in OS X (10.2.3), Word v. X takes a dump when asked to open the file.



Keep in mind that ALL my (6) share points are VERY simple. Eveything is public. I have made all the share points to be read/write for all users. I havent created any custom groups. Everyone on my network is a member of "Staff".





I am trying to do these things to help solve the problem. Will these help?



1) I will go to all 50 (!) Mac workstatiions and set the Word prefs like so:



a) Don't auto-save

b) Set the auto-recovery folder to the users LOCAL disk. (Will this preven the usage of the share point "Temp Items" folder?)

3) Don't allow fast-saves.



2) On the server side, I am considering doing a Cron job like this:



chown -R admin /path/to/share/

chgrp -R staff /path/to/share/

chmod -R 777 /path/to/share/



Is it going to be a CPU killer if I run this cron job every 5 minutes?

What if the cron job runs while users have files open?





Also, I noticed that sometimes my share points sub folders will sometimes aquire the group ownership flag "unknown". I have to go and set it back to "staff". Why is this happening?



I would really appreciate any feedback, comments or ideas on this HUGE problem.





Dan Stranathan

Network Administrator

Thomson Veterinary Healthcare Communications

8033 Flint Street

Lenexa, KS 66214

Voice: (913) 492-4300, ext. 121

FAX: (913) 492-4157

mailto [email protected]

<a href="http://www.vetmedpub.com"; target="_blank">http://www.vetmedpub.com</a>;

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 1
    I called Apple...



    The tech said that the problem is a "familiar one" , dating back to ASIP and Mac Manager (which I can't verify. I used ASIP but not MM), and that it *won't* get fixed. The tech said that it's Microsoft's problem. He also said that if we REALLY want to fix it, then we need to upgrade all our (50) OS 9 clients to OS X, and use Office v. X (which "obeys UNIX -style permissions"). BTW I can't do this right now because:



    1) I need to spend about $50,000+ to get my people into (modern) G4s and OS X, RAM, etc, not to mention all new apps, and misc. This is NOT an solution, Apple. A cold sales call from a tech support rep?

    2) No OS X upgrades until "Quark Xpress 6" is shipping and running NATIVE in OS X, AND is STABLE (i.e.; 1 year +). OS X in my data center? Yes. OS X in publishing/editing/design production? Not this year. Sorry, Apple, blame Quark, Inc.



    The tech also told me that the problem is *technically fixed* in Server 10.2.3 - he told me to use "Inherient Parent Permissions" on the root of all my share points (where those hidden "Temporary Items" folders usually lurk) using the Workgroup Manager app. I have done this but I STILL have corrupted Word 98 documents sometimes. The problem is always do to tepm files that cant be saved/recovered properly by Word.



    Grrr. Time to ship back my 2 brand-new OS X Servers and replace them with cheap Win 2k boxes that actually let me SHARE FILES on my file server. Oh well. Thanks for nothing Apple. Now I have to face my CFO and explain why we bought OS X Server...
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