Filenames are too long for our server....?

[Polly]

We currently run all of our archived ads (years worth) to a server running Windows Server 2003. We are a mac OSX environment .... my latest problem is with archiving. We've changed our naming convention recently in support of a pagination program, placing ad source numbers and an underscore before the customer name when saving the files. Though this makes it simple for the pagination system to account for the ads, for some reason, Windows is telling me that the filenames are too long. When talking to our IT man, he's puzzled as well because he says Windows supports 64 character in the names. These are not that long. Any ideas?

[Christopher]

Polly,
Windows 2003 Server has a bug with Services for Macintosh. It sound like you are running this for your Macs.
Not only is there a problem with the number of characters in a name but also with the amount of files. If you get over 65,000 files in the shared network volume, you will experince loss of data/files.
We discovered this in our shop so we installed a program here called XtremeZ-IP. It handles all shared files for Macs and it wasn't cheap.
Go to www.grouplogic.com and get a quote.
Data loss is more expensive that this program will be.
Regards,
Christopher

[Cory]

Does windows Server 2003 support appletalk anymore? if you are connecting to the server via appletalk, you will still have the 32 char limitation..

this probably isn't your problem, but just thought I would toss it out there.

[Christopher]

Cory,

When Microsoft was developing 2003 Server they failed to upgrade Services for Macintosh to a newer version.
We were using AppleTalk and I'm sure that is part of the problem, but Extreme Z-IP resolves these issues.

Regards,
Christopher

[one_mack]

I get the same problem on my end to, dose Extreme Z-IP work on 2000 server ?
Is it hard to set up ?
What dose it do ?
got any serious issue ?

Sorry about all the question but I prefer hearing about it from a user not a salesman.

Regards - one_mack

[Christopher]

one_mack,
Extreme Z-IP does run on Windows 2000 Server. It is really easy to install and setup. It does require SFM to run in the background but takes full control of all file sharing for OS9/OSX Machines.
Basically, Once the program is installed, you setup your shares through the Admin control panel.
You do not setup shares in SFM.
I have all our Macs connect via IP address to all our shares and have not had any problems at all since install.
We have been running this since the first of the year. Before we bought it we had missing files and were renaming files to a shorter names.
Regards,
Christopher

[ReidLewis]

Hi,

I represent Group Logic, the company that makes ExtremeZ-IP File Server, the product that Chris mentioned above.

ExtremeZ-IP File Server will resolve the problem that you're describing as it fully supports Mac OS X features including file names longer than 31 characters, files larger than 2G on the server, unicode file names and more. You can read more about the advantages of ExtremeZ-IP here: http://www.grouplogic.com/products/extreme/SFM.cfm

The problem you're experiencing is the result of innovations by Apple that are not supported in SFM on Windows 2000 or Windows 2003.

Chris is correct that you can easily resolve them problems by replacing SFM with ExtremeZ-IP File Server. You can even try ExtremeZ-IP by downloading a free Trial version from our web site to see if it works for you.

If you have more questions, or need help, please email info@grouplogic.com or call us at 800.476.8781

- Reid