Getting File Create Notifications for CIFS Mount in Linux

Question

I have a windows share mounted via CIFS on an ubuntu server. I need to a way to know when a new file has been added to the Windows share. I tried this inotify program:

Answer 1

Old topic, still important! My answer to this is: "it depends!". From my empirical tests at this time, the behavior is quite clear. If the Linux host initiates the filesystem event [upon a CIFS mount], then inotify will see it just fine. If the Windows machine which hosts the CIFS mount initiates the filesystem event, then inotify [on the Linux machine] will not see it at all.

If your goal is for the Linux host to get notification that the Windows host created or wrote to a file, then you are out of luck. Since this is probably the most desired use of this mechanism, it does make this subtle "it depends" answer not so terribly useful!