Is it possible to force a sync of a Windows Network Share?

Question

I have a server, written in Python, that just copies a requested file from internal storage to a Windows network share:

import shutil
import os.path

class RPCServer(SimpleXMLRPCServer):
    def fetchFile(self, targetDir, fileName):
        try:
            shutil.copy(
                os.path.join(server_path, fileName)
                os.path.join(targetDir, fileName)
            )
            f = open(filepath, 'a')
            f.flush()
            os.fsync(f.fileno())
            f.close()
            return os.path.join(targetDir, fileName)
        except Exception, e:
            return ''

When the client tries to open the file after the RPC call has returned, it sometimes fails, saying that the file isn't available:

class RCPClient():
    def fetchFile(self, fileName):
        filepath = server.fetchFile(targetDir, filename)
        f = open(filePath) # Exception here

How come? Doesn't the fsync in the server ensure that the file is available? Is there a way to sync the folder on the network share in the client?

Answer 1

fsync only knows about local file-systems. It can't possibly ensure any connected client can access the file. I suggest you rewrite you application, and instead return the file directly. Thus avoiding the sync altogether, and actually simplifying client & server.