Error when you access file shares on a SOFS-configured server: Not enough server storage is available to process this command

This article provides a solution to an issue that occurs when you access file shares on a SMB server that has the Scale-Out File Server role configured.

Applies to:   Windows Server 2012 R2
Original KB number:   3101545

Symptoms

Consider the following scenario:

• You configure the Scale-Out File Server (SOFS) role on a server that's running Window Server 2012 R2.
• You have server applications and clients that access file shares frequently.
• The applications and clients open many short-lived sessions in which they connect, authenticate, change files, and close the session immediately.

In this scenario, after some time, access to the file shares is unsuccessful, and a STATUS_INSUFF_SERVER_RESOURCES error is recorded in a network capture.

Additionally, when users try to connect to SOFS shares, they receive the following error message:

Not enough server storage is available to process this command.

You also see a high handle count in Lsass.exe on both the coordinator and non-coordinator nodes of the cluster.

Cause

This issue occurs because the applications create new sessions every time that they change a file instead of reusing sessions to generate many metadata changes.

The CSV File System uses the SMB protocol to keep metadata information consistent between the cluster nodes. A high volume of metadata changes generate many SMB sessions between the non-coordinator and coordinator nodes of the cluster and exhaust the SMB table on the coordinator node.

Resolution

To fix this issue for these kinds of application workloads, we recommend that you use the File Server for General Use role instead of SOFS.

More information

In a network capture between non-coordinator and coordinator nodes, you see that after an SMB Session Setup request, the coordinator node responds with a STATUS_INSUFF_SERVER_RESOURCES error.