SO here is my problem. I have 3 TB of data currently being shared using windows server 2012 on my network. I'm looking to convert over to a Linux file share and slowly eliminate all windows services that I use.

What I need help with:
what is the best server distro to use for a newbie Linux server admin?

I'm thinking of either using NFS or Samba (are they the same thing?) to do file sharing, what is the best way to convert 3 TB's of data over to exfat(if I have the right file system?) from NTFS or do I even have to do this?
FYI I have no place to put this data during the conversion of the file system.

What would you suggest to replace active directory on Linux. I know I can build an LDAP server for authentication but what would you suggest for things like group policy or general permissions?

I understand these are very loaded questions and some of them may be complicated answers but i'm not yet looking for "how to" yet but just suggestions on how to handle my situation and i'll get to the how to later when I begin making this conversion. Also another FYI this is not a profession business environment so having downtime for any conversion is not a big deal.

Edit:
Staying with a windows Server for AD and file sharing is a possibility if what i'm asking is not worth it but i'm attempting to learn how to do this migration.

hello

about distro I cant tell you which one it is up to you. if you want to share files to windows machines you have to use samba it can be standalone server. If you want domain controller with group policy and complete AD you can use samba as domain controller it will act as back end server but you must consider that domain controller under samba cannot be used as file server you will have to install samba file server on seperate machine. samba DC can have server 2008 R2 domain with foresst and domain level of server 2008 r2.

link of documentation where you will find how to install AD on linux server.

https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Samba_AD_DC_HOWTO

good luck