Detailed question on Samba

tatwood · 11-25-2005, 07:54 PM

I hope no one groans, but as a new person to Linux, I have some specific questions.

Problem: I was running Windows Server 2003 with XP clients. When XP clients would hit the file server, one would use a file. When the user even logged off and shut down the computer, other users could not do anything with the file, even delete it until the server was rebooted. This was a known XP bug as it never occurred with Windows 2000 Professional to Windows 2K server. Since it appears this bug is not fixed, plus I am looking for a better File Server, I began to look at NAS. However, the same complaint was that it was pitifully slow, and would time out with large file transfers (i.e. Buffalo, Thecus, Maxtor, Seagate, etc).

My idea is to create a linux box that will act as a NAS (really, a file dedicated file server).

1) I know I need to use Samba
2) I believe it can be interfaced to Windows AD
3) Are there any issues with Windows clients saving files on Linux file shares?
4) How is the performance - fast? Does copying of files time out?
5) I want to use RAID on this, so I will need a motherboard with a built-in SATA raid controller - are there drivers available for these?
6) I was even thinking of using a jump drive to boot Linux, thus all hard drives can be used for the File Server....any comments on this???
7) Anything else I didn't mention that would help me?
8) Which Distro would work best that is free (Red Hat no longer free, but Fedora is....)

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated - plus, you would be turning another windows person into a Linux person.

Thanks

Tim

Samsara · 11-25-2005, 08:01 PM

It strikes me that normally, that sort of consultancy would be paid for.

Samsara
.

soulestream · 11-25-2005, 10:09 PM

you will need samba

you may also need to look at openLDAP

linux makes a great NAS

check for hardware compatability.

SATA and SCSI RAID are supported, just check the controller card before buying

run linux on the drive. if you setting up a NAS, you can afford 2-3 GB for the OS

any distro will work.

if you want RedHat, CentOS is a better choice than Fedora.

soule