File Share Backup Skips Items with FI Repository

Product version: 11.1

Last modified: 04 February 2026

Problem

A file share backup job for a CIFS share hosted on a Linux server completes successfully, but the job report shows a large number of skipped items when the backup target is a Forever Incremental repository. As a result, not all files from the source share are backed up.

Background

NAKIVO Backup & Replication accesses Linux-based CIFS file shares via the SMB/CIFS protocol implemented by Samba.

When Samba is installed with its default configuration, it allows a broad SMB protocol range:

min protocol = LANMAN1

max protocol = SMB3

Allowing LANMAN1 can lead to unstable protocol negotiation and file access issues during backup operations, especially for large file shares and Forever Incremental repositories. This instability causes some files to be unreadable at backup time and, therefore, skipped.

Solution

To solve the issue, configure the Samba server to use only modern SMB protocols. On the Linux system hosting the CIFS share:

1. Open the Samba configuration file:

   /etc/samba/smb.conf

2. Set the following parameters:

   min protocol = SMB2

   max protocol = SMB3

3. Save the changes and restart the Samba service:

   systemctl restart smb

4. Rerun the backup job.

5. After restricting the protocol range to SMB2–SMB3, the backup completes without skipped items.

Note

This issue is caused by protocol configuration on the Samba server side.