SOLVED Deleted folder keeps re-appearing. (Anyone else notice this?)

[winnielinnie]

I noticed that deleted folders will sometimes re-appear (without any files within) on an SMB share. These folders appear as normal empty directories whether viewed on a client or within the server via the shell or with an SSH connection. For all intents and purposes, the folder will have a creation date that shows it was created very recently.

For example, if I deleted the folder and all of its contents via a file-browser over the network on May 7, I will notice it has returned as an empty directory. If I check its "creation date", it will say May 8. If I delete it again, it will return on May 9, with an updated creation date. And so on. This issue persists across reboots or restarting the SMB service. I even removed the folder while logged into the server using the shell. No difference.

I cannot pinpoint exactly when this started, but I believe I noticed this behavior only after upgrading to the 11.3 branch.

To be honest, I'm not even sure if this is an SMB issue, or possibly a quirk of ZFS that I might have stumbled upon by accident.

I want to ask if anyone else has experienced this before?

It slightly concerns me, since if folders are being created without my knowledge nor consent, I wonder what else can happen to already existing data?

For the record I'm not using Volume Shadow Copies nor snapshots on the directories / datasets that are being shared via SMB.

Would the VFS module ixnas have anything to do with this?

 

[Samuel Tai]

I noticed that deleted folders will sometimes re-appear (without any files within) on an SMB share. These folders appear as normal empty directories

Google searches indicate this happens when there's an off-box process connected to these folders via SMB. Do you have some persistent security scan, backup or other long-running job you've overlooked?

 

[winnielinnie]

Thank you for the heads up, Sam!

I figured out what it is in my case: Google Chrome + DownThemAll extension

The extension must have been recreating the folders from previous downloads upon enabling it or disabling it.

After some trial and error, I can confidently confirm this was the culprit in my specific case.

I feel much more relieved now!