When running Samba with XP clients the number of idle smbd processes can grow without limit. For this reason, I propose that the default deadtime of 0 (i.e. no auto-disconnection) is changed to a non-zero (but conservative) value.

Even the man page states: The default deadtime is 0 but "we recommend that you override the default" [.. because this ...] "can lead to unnecessary consumption of the server's resources by inactive clients". 

The above is especially true when Samba is operating as a PDC because a denial of service problem can result (i.e. the domain becomes unavailable due to a lack of resources).

I'd like to refer to the following posts containing (anacodotal) evidence regarding this change:

1) http://lists.samba.org/archive/samba-technical/2002-August/023264.html

2) https://bugzilla.samba.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3832

3) http://lists.samba.org/archive/samba/2002-August/048702.html

4) http://lists.samba.org/archive/samba-technical/2006-February/045428.html

5) http://lists.samba.org/archive/samba-technical/2003-March/027485.html

Regards,

Patrick