Recommendations for SMB/CIFS file server configuration

[Eric Shubert]

James Dugger wrote:
> I'm new to PLUG and new to LINUX but I have jumped in head first.  By
> head first I mean I have removed XP off of 4 desktops and Vista off my
> HP Pavilion dv9000 laptop and installed Ubuntu 10.04 i386 on each.  I
> have built an new headless server with and AMD Athelon (tripple core)
> 64bit chip and 2GB of DDR2 DRAM to be used as a file server, and print
> server to 3 printers.  I have installed 3 - 1TB drives in a RAID 5
> array (Configured as RAID on main board BIOS, no PCI controller) and
> software controlled using the OS which is Ubuntu 10.04 Server AMD
> 64bit.

I think you want to disable RAID on the MB, and let Linux handle the 
raid processing (aka software raid). I'm not sure what happens with the 
configuration you've described.

> I am trying to configure the file server but with so many options and
> settings I admit that I am a bit lost.  My file server will need to be
> accessible to a couple of work computers that run Windows.  Also I
> have an Apple TV box that I am trying to convert to XBMC, the media
> for this will be stored on the file server.  With this I have
> installed Samba onto my server and desktops.  However I don't know if
> I should use samba (SMB) or CIFS for configuration.  With several
> different mount points and different security settings for each mount
> point, is SMB or CIFS better?  I want to minimize or more accurately
> centralize the administrative control of user access to the file
> server.  I know there are different ways to accomplish this and wanted
> to ask what others have found to work best given the small size and
> scale of this network.

SMB and CIFS are pretty much the same thing. I could say simply that 
CIFS is 'better' (given that it's a newer dialect of SMB), but that 
would be misleading. Do some googling and you'll find links such as 
this: http://linux.derkeiler.com/Mailing-Lists/SuSE/2007-03/msg01423.html

> I am looking for recommendations in file server type (SMB, CIFS) and
> recommended configuration i.e. use of groups for users, passwords
> stored in database or text files and or matching user accounts in OS.

KISS. Use what's simple. In a home environment, centralized user 
accounts are overkill, and not simple (unless you're a seasoned *nix 
administrator). You might consider simply allowing guest access to 
everything, then tightening restrictions as you go.

I would use samba(CIFS) for windows access, NFS for linux access. 
Automounting is pretty slick with CentOS/RHEL, and I expect that Ubuntu 
has something similar. Also, you might consider using Netatalk for Mac 
access.

> Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Welcome.

-- 
-Eric 'shubes'