Best way to mount a share on XSERVE?

[vrtisworks]

OK.. I'll start with what I want to do, then what I tried.

I am creating a web application that needs to display some images from a Windows server on our network.

The images change, so I can't just duplicate the directory.

Here's what I tried...

1) If I use Finder->Connect to Server, I can mount the share. But Apache can't read it because Finder mounts it RWX for the owner only.

2) I tried using mount_smbfs to mount it within the Apache server directory structure. This worked when I tried it locally on my desktop 10.3.9 system. When I tried the same thing on my XSERVE system under 10.4.?, the directory just "disappeared" as far as Apache and Finder are concerned. Though I can navigate to it through Terminal, and strangely through Workgroup Manager. And if I connect to it from another system, I can find it. And all the files show up.

So.. I guess my real question is:

How SHOULD I mount a Windows share on a server so that Apache can get to it?