Server 2012 File Server - suddenly stops serving requests (but otherwise looks fine)

[CHR1S]

Just happened to me, stopped processing logons and stopped access to file shares, no errors or any issues when I logged in via RDP.

Reboot fixes it.

 

Edit - It was the physical server under the VDC's that seemed to have the issue, DFS file system.

Edited November 18, 2013 by CHR1S

[Michael]

I presume some of you guys have reported this to Microsoft? It's clearly a bug, as the odds of you all running the same configuration is mostly unlikely. Physical vs Virtual and Normal vs DFS shares. There's no common link other than Server 2012 itself.

[jamesfed]

Well the issue has disappeared here - have been installing Windows Updates as well as that weird issue with Server 2012/VMware where Auditing plays a muck and can break things.

[jamesfed]

Update to my previous - just happened here again

 

Going to do a Server 2012 R2 upgrade and hope for the best!

[Tall_Paul]

Out of interest, for those of you it is happening to is this on servers that you built from scratch and then migrated your files over to or servers that you upgraded to 2012 (for example, upgrading a 2008 R2 to 2012 box)?

 

My 2012 file server is one I built from scratch then migrated everything from my old 2003 server.

[CHR1S]

From scratch and migrated over

[Michael]

Researching this issue, I wonder if it has anything to do with the SMB protocol?

 

Windows 7 and 2008 R2 uses SMB 2.1

 

Windows 8 and 2012 uses SMB 3.0

 

And Windows 8.1 and 2012 R2 uses SMB 3.02

 

I bet this is why we're seeing it on 2012, but not for those of you who've upgraded to 2012 R2.

[Michael]

If I'm right, it would be interesting to see if Windows 8 (with a long uptime), suffers from the same problem if it were used as a print server or a file server for a limited number of users.

[laserblazer]

This happened to me today and it always seems to be on a Friday between 12 and 2pm! Nothing in the logs.

[3s-gtech]

Touch wood, I have a pair of 2012 file servers in a DFS-R mirror, these were in-place updated from 2008 R2 to get de-dupe support - they haven't done this to me. Just got my 2012 R2 licenses in to VLSC so I can upgrade them easily, but wouldn't fancy it happening before they're done.

[jamesfed]

Did an upgrade a few days ago to Server 2012 R2 and its done the same 2x since - so no luck there

 

Built a new server and using DFS-R to replicate data over before switching over the name space.

 

Weird issue to be sure!

[Michael]

I must admit, it does put a big downer on deploying 2012 or 2012 R2 Servers until Microsoft fix this issue!

[psydii]

what's the client os?

[jamesfed]

Running Windows 7 and Windows 8 (not yet 8.1) here.

[Arthur]

I bet this is why we're seeing it on 2012, but not for those of you who've upgraded to 2012 R2.

Wouldn't this mean that Windows 7 clients should still be able to connect to the file server because the OS doesn't support SMB 3.0?

 

The following KB article might be of some use if it is SMB-related however.

 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2696547

[psydii]

For windows 7, have you installed the the updates recommended in this article: An enterprise hotfix rollup is available for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

 

For Windows 8 server 2012 have you installed the latest Cumulative Updates?

 

For windows 7 here is a List of currently available hotfixes for the File Services technologies in Windows Server 2008 and in Windows Server 2008 R2 probably worth deploying them to your machines.

 

Here is an interesting hotfix that contains euphamisms that gernerally mean "it completely stops working properly" for Windows 2012 machines.... oddly it describes that the problem is resolved by a reboot of the server... yet the update only contains new versions of client side components... might be worth a shot on your windows 8 / 2012 machines. Hotfix corrects SMB error codes that differ from SMB protocol documentation in Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012

Edited December 1, 2013 by psydii

[psydii]

For 2012, SRV2.sys contains the SMB 3.x server code as well as that for SMB2.x. It was quite late in the development cycle that SMB 2.2 became SMB 3.0. If there is a bug in the smb 3 code that caused the server component to die... then SMB 2 capabilities die with it. Edited December 1, 2013 by psydii

[Michael]

Wouldn't this mean that Windows 7 clients should still be able to connect to the file server because the OS doesn't support SMB 3.0?

 

The following KB article might be of some use if it is SMB-related however.

 

How to enable and disable SMBv1, SMBv2, and SMBv3 in Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 8, and Windows Server 2012

 

Psydii has explained it perfectly - it's all very tightly linked into the OS. 2012 and 2012 R2 support SMB 3.0 (as well as 2.0 functionality), however disabling SMB 3.0 also stops SMB 2.0 so it solves nothing. 2008 R2 works perfectly as it uses the same SMB protocol as Windows 7.

[Ste_Harve]

Well today we had our 2012 r2 server stop letting shares be accessed, or if they could be accessed taking 5-10 mins. This was both through unc path and ip address. Has anyone else had anything similar on R2 and has anyone found a fix as a reboot isn't really good enough for a server os!!

[laserblazer]

Happened again today seems to be once a week. I wondering if it could be anything to do with WSUS. I'm just about to dive into some logs.

[Michael]

Happened again today seems to be once a week. I wondering if it could be anything to do with WSUS. I'm just about to dive into some logs.

 

How did you come to that conclusion may I ask? Do you mean a new update that's been deployed and installed via WSUS?

[Michael]

Well today we had our 2012 r2 server stop letting shares be accessed, or if they could be accessed taking 5-10 mins. This was both through unc path and ip address. Has anyone else had anything similar on R2 and has anyone found a fix as a reboot isn't really good enough for a server os!!

 

I think if it were me, I'd be inclined to put a 2008 R2 box back on the network and move shares back. It clearly doesn't suffer from this issue and it's weird Microsoft are being rather quiet about it. As I say, I hope all of you with this problem have reported it!

[laserblazer]

How did you come to that conclusion may I ask? Do you mean a new update that's been deployed and installed via WSUS?

 

Clutching at straws!

[Tall_Paul]

I personally think it's update related. My 2012 file server has only the File and Storage Services role installed and hasn't had any updates applied since August (I know, I know!) and has never suffered from this problem.

[Michael]

I personally think it's update related. My 2012 file server has only the File and Storage Services role installed and hasn't had any updates applied since August (I know, I know!) and has never suffered from this problem.

 

That's interesting - although I think you should have patched it by now, it does prove a point it could well be an update. Are there really that many post 2012 R2 updates? Surely not.