# Mac Workstation Connect to Mac OS X Server Delay



## coffeefool (Aug 3, 2007)

One of my company's departments uses Macs and stores its files on a Mac server. Most of the Macs are running OS X 10.5 and the server is running 10.4. The server is on our domain, however, the users are connecting directly using smb://IP_Address (cmd +K). Normally, the connection is successful and the share points are listed in a dialog box. The issue we are having occurs the first thing in the morning when they arrive. When the users attempt to connect to the server, they are prompted for their user name and password (which have been verified to be correct) and are greeted with an error message that the user name and/or password are invalid. This happens anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. Afterward, they are able to connect without the prompt for the user name and password.

Any ideas?


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## Ruyuk (Jun 6, 2009)

Get a 10.5 server. That might fix the problem.


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## coffeefool (Aug 3, 2007)

Apparently, Kerberos in Mac OS X 10.4 is the culprit in this case. The SMB protocol uses Kerberos, which, for those of you who are unfamiliar, is a leasinging authentication system that, as I understand, is based on time. So, if the lease expires, the system will automatically try to renew the lease if the system is still "connected". 

We changed everyone over to using AFP when connecting, and so far, no problems. The folks in that department are able to connect to the server regardless of whether they leave the connection up and put their computer to sleep, shutdown and power up, or disconnect and put their computer to sleep. 

Also, thanks Ruyuk. It is true that the Kerberos issue was addressed in Mac OS X 10.5 and later. I think we will be upgrading to 10.6 in the near future.


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