How can we create a common Q drive using linux that meets the following needs ?

It should be possible to logically the common Q drive into smaller partitions, each managed by a custodian

The custodian of a partition, should be able to monitor and control the usage of a partition.

Presently, Q drives are used as shared folders in different locations over WAN. (so the network traffic and server load will be a factor, not all the files of Q - drive is required among locations.)

Present Q drives are on windows platform.

Do we have a better option over microsoft's DFS?

Thanks and Regards
Anuj

It has always been possible in Linux to have different portions a file system controlled by different people. You can use file permissions, ownership, and groups to split up the ownership any way that you want. The ownership areas do not have to correspond to partitions but they can if you want.

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Steve Stites

I'm not sure what you mean by 'Q drive', but SAMBA will support Microsoft DFS See here. There's also proper distributed filesystems like GlusterFS. Have a look here.