need advice to setup a file server

[joneggk]

Dear all,

I have 7 users and they are using ubuntu 10.04 and now i need to setup a file server on the network but i'm not sure which server is suite for my case.

important: need to mount the the file server permanently on each user.

any advice appreciate

Regards,

[markcole]

If all the users are Linux based, you can use NFS to share the drive. If you think that windows users might be involved at some point, Samba is your best bet at this point.

[xurious]

Not much info.

Do you already have a server set up?
Do you plan on buying simple hardware?
How much space do you need?
Do you want a plain jane server, or do you need security for each user?

Buying and throwing together a simple server with 2tb's of storage is pretty simple, would allow for expansion, and cost less than 250 dollars.

As far as the operating system, if you are not concerned with different security settings, FreeNAS is BSD based, VERY easy to use and worked like a dream on all the computers I've tested it on.

[joneggk]

If all the users are Linux based, you can use NFS to share the drive. If you think that windows users might be involved at some point, Samba is your best bet at this point.

I was thinking NFS but i'm not sure that will be good for my case Thank you for your replay.

Not much info.

Do you already have a server set up?

no I don't have any server

Do you plan on buying simple hardware?

No i already have much hard ware

How much space do you need?
Do you want a plain jane server, or do you need security for each user?

I don't need a security for each user b/c they want to share a file

Dear, thank you for your replay i only want to setup an easy server. all my users are using Ubuntu i don't have a windows machine in the small network.

Regards,

[tyho]

If all the users are Linux based, you can use NFS to share the drive.

Linux NFS-HOWTO (first hit on googleing "nfs howto")

[joneggk]

Thank you i already started googleing about nts and already find that link to.

Regards,

[lenfree84]

try NFS.. good luck!

[tyho]

if all the users are linux based, you can use nfs to share the drive.

linux nfs-howto (first hit on googleing "nfs howto")

thank you i already started googleing about nts and already find that link to.

Regards,

...

try nfs.. Good luck!

? I think he figured that out already...

[ptkobe]

Another approach is to use a version control system (aka cvs).

NFS allows you to have a central partition (or directory) with common files that users may mount in their computers/file system.

In a sense, cvs is a follow up to NFS if you want users to be able to edit/change those files.

What happens with NFS if two users want to change the same file?
* or the first one locked the file and the second wont be allow to make changes,
* or the last one to save will override the changes made by the other

cvs addresses this type of questions.

pros: cvs resolves conflicts with changes and store revisions (history of changes). security?
cons: cvs its harder to learn. NFS on the client side needs almost no learning.

I use subversion (a cvs software)
Subversion Documentation
Version Control with Subversion
Running a Subversion Server

Both ways use a server/client system.
NFS server shares a data volume, subversion server shares a repository

other cvs software exists, like git, that uses a distributed server/client system

Just my two cents.

If I were you, I'll try NFS for now. Unless you are used to ssh, then you may want to check sshfs (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SSHFS)

Best regards
Luis

PS: Regarding NFS, this page also helped me in the past. Try to set NFS with firewalls off, and see this if you run into problems with NFS and firewall on:
HOWTO: Configure NFS for control by Firewalls and IPTABLES