hi all,

I am planning to set up a file/backup server at home, I was wondering which distro I should use...
The machine I will be using is an old Celeron 533MHz with 192MB Ram and 10GB main HD. I will add 2 big HD(around 200GB) which will be used as shared space.
I currently use Gentoo on my notebook - which takes a awful lot of time to compile, but it's worth it - , I have some experiences with SuSE and Redhat (one of my biggest mistakes by the way), and I had a quick look at debian, which looks nice, but gives me a headache with its packagemanager resp. UI...

Short: Which distro would you suggest, and what are its advantages (and its disadvantages)?

Looking forward to your answers

Greets
G.

If you only want a fileserver, with no other networking facilities available, then you're probably best off looking at a minimal specialised file-sharing distribution. Try a search on google.

You will want either nfsd (UNIX-style networked directories) or samba (Windows networked “shares”).

I'd recommend trying to find a specialist distribution because it will automatically not run other servers (and may even have a cut-down kerenel), and so you won't have to worry much about optimising it to be sure it's working efficiently.

Hope that helps,

— Robert J. Lee

Greetings Geronimo
floppy here

Check out Mitel SME Server 6.0
I am currently looking at it myself
the propaganda for it looks good
and it has very good documentation
That probably is the key
Make sure the distro you choose
has excellent docs and how-to's
and a web-forum for moans and groans
consider also a Uninterruptable Power Supply
if your local supply is in any way unreliable

floppy

Devil Linux is what I'd go for if it's just supposed to be a file/backup server. In fact, when I get the new parts for my server, I'm going to make it a Devil Box.

Pros: #No hd required for the OS, run it from a cd or a usb memory
#Possible to run on a 486 cuz there are no things that require loads of clock cycles and memory.
#Keep all your settings on a floppy
#Fast, stable, no unescessary crap clogging the system
#Secure, cuz the OS is on a read only media
#Ultra reliable if you run it from a USB memory
#No OS on the hds leave more space for your files

Cons: #Might be a bit tricky to get specialized software onto a cd, though that fixes it self if u run it from a usb mem-card
#No X-server, but that's not always a disadvantage

Thx for the replies...
So in general I should take a specialized distro, as long as I only want a fileserver (BTW samba in a windoz environment)...
Does anybody know something about a AFS?? Is it useable for my purpose - LAN-wide accessible storage area - , or do I only need it if I have a centralized fileserver...

what happens if I add ftp and firewall to the server, how would you answer look like...??? I am still not sure, what I want to put onto that machine; I'd like to keep my options open....

About CD/Floppy base Distro, I am not that convinced (I still need swapspace somewhere, don't I?) ... I prefer to have my OS on a HDD; I just a feeling of having something.

Greets
G.

PS: I am not always that complicated

Respectfully, I disagree with the use of specialized distributions for file serviing in the home/hobby/soho market.

Why? Well, because a general purpose distribution such as Slackware or Debian becomes a specialized file server distribution in your hands, because you simply install the packages you need, enable the services you need, and leave everything else out and/or turned off. When it comes to administration/ongoing maintenance, you have a larger user base/support community to draw upon -- and distributions like Mitel's SME Server impose much higher demands for hardware resources.

Face it, for most LANs of 5 or 6 Windows machines, a 486 or first generation Pentium with 16~32 MB RAM is powerful enough for SAMBA serving if you run the right distro and cram a big drive in for storage -- you can boot from a smaller drive, or even the floppy, if the BIOS won't let you boot from the 200 MB drive. SME Server demands -- and consumes -- more hardware resources without really offering more functionality in a deployment like this.

As a general rule, I try to avoid running web servers, fileservers, etc., on a firewall/gateway/router. Here I do recommend a specialized Linux distribution and one of my favorites is FreeSCO. A 486SX with 8~12 MB RAM, a floppy drive, and no hard drive, makes a very good portforwarding firewall with FreeSCO and if you need PCI slots for the NICs, a P75 with the same amount of RAM will handle any typical broadband connection for pocket change.