Do you use Linux file server in business?

[thavy]

I am new to Linux. I have been with windows and want to move my file server to Linux. I googled and read various articles and Samba/Posix ACL of linux file permission

My concern is about the permission in windows & Linux
In Linux there are only (read, write, execute file permission and my boss wants the file permission like in windows environment as below
- file owner can delete but other user in same group can only read/modify the file (or the content)
- file inheritance to sub directories

My question is, if Linux only comes with read/write/execute permission, do you think we can use Linux as file server to store business data with above requirement?


Could any one can give me any tips?

[coopstah13]

linux has ACL as well, you should google for how to set them up

[Irithori]

yes, linux also has ACLs
Just not the same and totally incompatible with anything known from windows.

Maybe it is a better approach to discuss with your boss what needs to be achieved -and I am not talking about specific features, but on a larger scale- and then develop a directory structure with a decent user/group permission set.

[thavy]

Thanks for all replied.

(1). Originally, my boss wants all data, stored on server, would not be deleted. All staffs could only create/modify file but not delete. if they want to delete they have to move (drag) the file/folder to a particular folder called DELETE_ME. Only Admin and him can empty the DELETE_ME folder.

(2). In Windows Server, i can only do part of what he wants. The file/folder owner can do whatever he/she wants to theirs file but other users, in same group, can modify but cannot delete it.

Now, i want to move all the files to Linux server but i am struggling to accomplish the above requirement.

Could you give me some helps?

[Irithori]

It sounds like there is some talking to do

Independent of the used operating system, the requirements dont make too much sense.

Suppose, it was setup as your boss demands it.
- What would stop a user from opening a file, delete its content and then save the empty file?
You would end up with a zero-byte file, thus the file is effectively deleted.
- The DELETE_ME folder is designed to be a pita..
The users usually know best, if they still need a file or not, because they actually are involved in a project.
How can you or even your boss make that judgement?
Only by constantly querying your users: "Do you still need that? Or can it be deleted?"
* Users will get bored and annoyed fast. First by the process itself, as it takes time. And also by the dis-trust they are facing.
* I -as an admin- would flat out tell my boss, that this is a waste of my time.
- KISS principle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia : A setup like this would surely open technical cornercases and also you would constantly have to teach (new) users what they can and cant do.
So you would end up babysitting a service, that is supposed to just work(tm)


Even in bigger companies you see relatively simple fileshare setups.
ie: several shares, each share belongs to a group.
If the user belongs to a group, (s)he has full access.
Probably, there are some shares where one group has readonly and another group has full access.
This is easy to understand, setup and maintain.

For unintentional deletes, there is a daily backup (hopefully )
Also for that matter: the Shadow Copy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia comes to mind.
Hopefully, I dont get killed by the guys here for promoting a ms feature, but ShadowCopy *is* nice.
Users can un-delete files by themselves or go back to a previous version of a file.


Other than that, one could think of a DocumentManagementSystem with (at least) versioning.
There are plenty and you would have to do some research what fits best for your company.
Document management system - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[thavy]

Hi Irithori,

Your words helps me a lot. Thank you. I will evaluate your solution and talk to my boss.

One thing i am still not clear. I mostly see articles/tutorials saying "how to setup or use linux as DNS/DHCP/MAIL/WEB server, etc". I am wondering do we use linux as file system in production environment (in real business server)? or it is only for home file server because when i googled "Linux file server" it shows some thing like, build linux home file server, etc.

As well when i asked my friends, He said "Linux is good for web/mail/dns server but not for file system because of inadequate file permission like Windows, especially, it is hard to manage when you have many folders with different user permissions." His words makes me confuse.

Is my friend's word correct?
Do you know any company that run linux as their file server?

[coopstah13]

I use linux file servers all the time at work. I have many NFS shares. Most of our SAN are set up to be NFS shares as well. I also have samba shares as well.

[HROAdmin26]

Is my friend's word correct?

No - he doesn't know what he's talking about. If you review the evolution of Samba, all of the work done to get Samba to be able to talk to Windows domains (*without* MSFT's help) was not done for the benefit of home users.

[Irithori]

Samba is great.
I used and still use it for multiple projects, most of them involve filesharing between windows and unix servers.
nfs is not an option. It´s just awkward on windows, imho.

The CIFS protocol itself has some issues.
Target of attack from time to time, quite noisy on the network, and the throughput could be better.

But I am not aware of another network filesystem other than cifs (ie with streaming, largefile support, (nearly) arbitrary chars in names, etc) in a heterogeneous environment.

samba against a windows server..
It depends.
I would say you will definetly have to read more before a samba server is up and running.
That is from the fact, that there are -for example- multiple ways of authentication.
Which might also be a advantage.

Also, samba has to "translate" unix file permissions to windows permissions, so there is config work, that you dont have on a windows server.

On the good side:
- you do have fine control if you know the magic incantations in smb.conf
- no licence issues

[beaker_]

Yeah Win is stronger wrt to permissions and arguably does it better. Yes Samba will do nicely.

As pointed out; ACLs (man getfacl, man setfacl - your interested in setting default ACL) round up your requirements nicely. You should also look at the vfs modules, particularly the recycle module as it fills another. Split personalities is another option.

Anyway you have some reading ahead of you so good luck.