[coLinux-users] Colinux vanishing from network nieghbourhood

[Dave C. <dc...@da...>]

Hi,

Windows XP has a limitation on the number of computers can connect to it.

To get around this I'm running a box with linux acting as a shared
repository so that all the XP machines on the network can read and
write small files to it (thus enabling a pretty crude communication
system). This works fine.

Now I've  installed colinux onto one of the machines in the hope of
using the colinux vm to act as the repository. I've used the same
samba smb.conf as I used with the separate linux machine.

The Colinux vm bridged to the host XP machine's network connection.

Both the host and the bridged connection have the same static IP 192.168.10.100

The Colinux vm is on 192.168.10.200

I can ping both 192.168.10.200 and 192.168.10.100 from 192.168.10.13

And I can ping 192.168.10.13 from both of the other machines.

However, accessing the Temp directory on the Colinux vm is
problematic. Sometimes the permissions are not granted for the other
XP machines, sometimes they are unable to access the contents of the
Temp directory on the VM and sometimes they can. Sometimes the Colinux
VM doesn't show up on the Network neighbourhood at all. Sometimes the
machines lock up and do not respond for long periods.

Initially all machines can see the Colinux vm and the Temp directory.
But after a while the outside machines cannot see it and then the host
XP machine cannot see the others, but can see the VM. Also, the VM and
the XP host lose the ability to  ping the outside machines.

Anyone know what's going on here? 'dmesg' and '/var/log/messages'
don't reveal much of interest.

I don't think it's a samba  issue as I can use the same smb.conf on
the linux box and that works.

I think it's an issue with the bridge. If I switch off the Colinux vm,
the XP host cannot see the other network until the bridge is removed.