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Originally Posted by RZKESP
I am sharing amongst Windows and Linux clients, is Samba the best (and only) choice I have to share files in a LAN network?
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Samba is undoubtedly the best solution in a multi-OS network.
You've already got Samba.. So you should not need to emerge anything.
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What do I need to do that would help performance as a file server?
What should I do to make it better?
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Remove all the packages you do not need (apache, firefox, X, window managers, etc). Run the server in CLI - remove X and your window managers. Only run the services you absolutely need, and samba. Also make sure that you have secured the server properly - I advise Googling for some iptables tutorials to get you started. A good idea might be to start the server on a non-default port above 1023 (like port 5566), and then use iptables to route any incoming packets to port 21 to port 5566 on localhost, and to route all outgoing packets from port 5566 to port 21 on localhost. You could also use Mandatory Access Controls (SELinux springs to mind) to separate your service and to make sure that it only has access to what it needs - that way, if it is exploited, the attacker will not be able to take over the whole system.
pquote]Is their any other packages I should get that could make it a better file server?[/quote]
No, not really.
Do you trust the users on your network? And is your network's internet gateway properly secured? If the answers to both of those are yes, then do not encrypt it. If the answer to either or both is no, then do encrypt it.
I also suggest vsftpd as your FTP daemon, as it has reputation for being more secure than other FTP daemons.. But that is up to you.
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What can I do to the kernel to enhance it's abilites to file serve?
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Not much - unless you want to go hacking your FTP daemon into the kernel to lock it down even more, which I suggest you do not attempt unless you know your way around the kernel and are a skilled C programmer..
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How do I program cron (to backup)?
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'man cron'
'man crontab'
Google cron/crontab tutorials.
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Should I do something else, did I make a wise choice?
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Gentoo is a good server distro. Other options might be
CentOS, a distro designed for serving.. Or, even better,
Openfiler - a distro designed for exactly what you are trying to do
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Is their things I should do for my network?
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No.
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Is their anything in /etc I should remember to configure?
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TCP wrappers - a whitelist in /etc/hosts.allow would be good. Specify the IP address ranges of your network for your FTP daemon, and that will only allow the users on your network to connect to it.
HTH,
-jk
