When to enable SMB2/3 Durable Handles?

[seanm]

The docs say:

Enable SMB2/3 Durable Handles

checkbox

Allow using open file handles that can withstand short disconnections. Support for POSIX byte-range locks in Samba is also disabled. This option is not recommended when configuring multi-protocol or local access to files.

The first sentence sounds like something everyone would want.

The second sentence I don't know... Sounds more like a con than a pro. What kinds of use cases rely on such locks?

The third sentence seems fine. Multi-protocol is generally discouraged IIRC and not something I do personally.

Basically, it's not clear to me if/when this option should be on/off, and I'd appreciate any guidance or shared experience.

Thanks.

 

[Inexcusable]

Good question!

 

[seanm]

Thanks for the bump. :)

6 weeks ago I enabled it on two shares. One of my Time Machine shares, and my primary file share (used by Mac, Windows, and linux users) and so far have noticed no difference, for better nor worse.

 

[sretalla]

If you're not using SMB to edit Microsoft Office documents or to run database connections of some kind, locking may not come into it anyway, so of course no difference to see.

It really boils down to the application you're using and the way it treats the files.

Simple file read/write/copy/delete operations don't really need locks

 

[seanm]

So MS Office and databases are examples of apps that use the "POSIX byte-range locks" feature that gets disabled?

In my case, we do edit MS Office documents directly on the shares quite frequently. But people also use wifi in the office and sometimes suffer short disconnections. So I guess I want both, but can't have both. :)