topic Re: cifs broadcast in Network and Storage Protocols

cifs broadcast

igor — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 06:55:37 GMT

Hello, all!

I've a virtualized lab with an ONTAP simulator which I tinker with to test stuff... Well, I tried using cifs broadcast command but without success.

I opened up some shares a workstation (within the domain) and from the domain controller, using 2 different usernames. I then tried sending out a broadcast for the volumes (shares) user PC was accessing...

storage> cifs sessions
Server Registers as 'STORAGE' in Windows 2000 domain 'LAB'
Filer is using sl for DOS users
Selected domain controller \\MERKUR for authentication
====================================================
PC IP(PC Name) (user)        #shares      #files
192.168.0.111() (LAB\administrator - root)
                      2         0
192.168.0.102() (LAB\pc - pcuser)
                      2         2
storage>
storage> cifs sessions PC

users
shares/files opened

192.168.0.102() (LAB\pc - pcuser)
HOME
share1

storage>
storage> cifs broadcast -v vol1 "BOO!"
storage>
storage> cifs broadcast -v /vol/vol1 "BOO!"
storage>
storage> cifs broadcast 192.168.0.102 "BOO!"
storage>
storage> cifs broadcast LAB\pc "BOO!"

I did the same for the other username. Nothing happened. What am I missing?

Cheers,

Igor

Re: cifs broadcast

daehnrich_bsh — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 12:54:55 GMT

You dont get a return code from your command`?

Here it looks:

rsh Toaster cifs broadcast Workstation test

Station 10.128.40.209(Workstation) could not be notified

cheers Soeren

Re: cifs broadcast

shaunjurr — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 13:00:18 GMT

Hi,

You might want to take a look at this info about CIFS broadcasts. There are some limitations:

http://now.netapp.com/NOW/knowledge/docs/ontap/rel7351/html/ontap/filesag/frameset.html

Re: cifs broadcast

igor — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 07:06:37 GMT

Hi Soeren,

Yes, the first time I tried it I got "could not be notified" return comment.

I thought that it was becausee I only accessed the shares, but had no actual files open. So I opened up some files and tried again - but this time, no return comment was sent out at all.

Now I'm thinking, I used Vista and Server 2003 to test it - perhaps broadcasting option should somehow be enabled on these workstations? Or perhaps it requires SMB2 on storage side?

Igor

Re: cifs broadcast

igor — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 07:48:08 GMT

Hmm, can't see any broadcast related info there.

Re: cifs broadcast

shaunjurr — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 08:06:36 GMT

Hi,

The frameset URL is a little too unspecific, unfortunately, if you can't click down to the CIFS section on "Managing CIFS Services"

The more exact URL is: http://now.netapp.com/NOW/knowledge/docs/ontap/rel7351/html/ontap/onlinebk/frameset.html

About this task

Data ONTAP automatically sends a message to connected users after you enter the cifs terminate command. However, if you want to send a message without stopping CIFS service, for example, to tell users to close all files, you can use Server Manager or the Data ONTAP command line to send a message.

Some clients might not receive broadcast messages. The following limitations and prerequisites apply to this feature:

Windows 95 and Windows for Workgroups clients must have the WinPopup program configured.
Windows 2003 and Windows XP Service Pack 2 clients must have the messenger service enabled. (By default, it is disabled.)
Messages to users can only be seen by Windows clients connected using NetBIOS over TCP.

Re: cifs broadcast

igor — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 08:27:53 GMT

Ah yes, there we go. Thank you. 🙂