Hi All,
I would like to know what sort of hardware, such as CPU, RAM are needed for samba server to provide file and print service to 100 users. At the moment I have Pentium Dual core 3.4Ghz,2GB of DDR2 dual channel RAM, and 2x320GB SATA software Mirror Raid. Would that be enough? I havent actually tested it on production environment yet.
Thanks

It really depends on the users. Are all the users going to have files open all of the time? What type of files are they going to work with (IE: autocad? office files?)? IMHO, even with heavy use the box you described should work fine.

If they're just going to access office files then the box you have is overkill.

At the company I do consulting for, we have 9 employees on site accessing our file server with the following hardware:

Athlon XP 2500+
1GB RAM
2x40GB OS HDD RAID 1
3x300GB HDD RAID 5

Even with all 9 people accessing it the box never breaks a sweat. Load avg stays less than .10 usually and less than 100MB of RAM is utilized. The box is running Ubuntu 6.10.

With a file server your biggest concern will be I/O so I'd splurge on nice drives and controllers. The rest could be an Athlon 64 3000+ and 1GB RAM. If you want to future proof it, go with a X2 3800+ and 2GB RAM.

Thanks for replying guys, mainly it will be used for office documents, (excel, ms word ,etc...). at office hours, most of the staffs will be accessing the files from server. So above server i described will be enough for it?
Thanks

I certainly hope you plan on testing such a setup before rolling it into production. I'm sure there is free load-test software out there that could simulate 100 simultaneous connections, scores of concurrent reads, and dozens of print jobs at a time. Failing that, you could setup several Windows PCs with macros to generate heavy usage (such as opening many Office documents and printing several at a time).

The bottom line is that nothing should be deployed without testing. What worked for other people in other environments with other hardware will not necessarily work for you. Also, the closer you can simulate your actual user's behavior, the more accurate your tests will be. Attempt to get as much information on how the users currently utilize their system so you can model tests on that.

I will agree though, that the I/O will be the biggest concern. Definitely go for fast drives with low seek times. If you have the space in you machine, go for several small drives rather than a couple of large ones. Spreading the I/O over multiple devices will get past the physical bottlenecks.

chort is right, make sure you test before you deploy.

However, I guarantee the machine you mentioned will EASILY do the job. In fact, I'd bet money it'll be overkill.

Depending on how much space is needed and money you have, you could go with 6x150GB Raptors in RAID 5. That's 7GB per user and great I/O but the drives and good controllers would cost $2000 alone.

Also make sure you splurge on the PSU. Get a high quality one such as a Fortron or Seasonic.

Thanks guys , I am in search for load simulator now, any recommendation?