Question on a server

[Coopercentral]

Hi:

I'm purchasing a laptop, and my parents have their desktop. I have a computer taht I'm going to dedicate as a server, that I'm just going to store in the basement, for storage. I'm just wondering, what is the best OS to use, and how should I do it, to just dedicate it as a file storage server? And also, I would like to map the network drives, so each user would have their own home folder for storage. How can I do this? I would appreciate any help you could give me. Thanks!

-Ken Cooper

 

[starcab]

You can do it with Linux,or Win2000.If you choose Linux you will find lots of tutorials and help on the internet.And it's also free

 

[SirKenin]

Linux is the worst pain in the nuts in the world for file sharing. Windows does it faster, easier and every bit as reliable. Just use 2000 or XP. Even with the tutorials it takes quite the nerd to configure Linux for every simple little task. I don't recommend it at all for home use.

 

[goosy22]

Linux is the worst pain in the nuts in the world for file sharing. Windows does it faster, easier and every bit as reliable. Just use 2000 or XP. Even with the tutorials it takes quite the nerd to configure Linux for every simple little task. I don't recommend it at all for home use.

agreed... i played with Linux for the 1st time with Ubuntu and it bothered me so much that i went back to being ruled by Microsoft... but like the guy before you said, their is a lot of support out there if you want to use Linux...

 

[tlarkin]

Linux is the worst pain in the nuts in the world for file sharing. Windows does it faster, easier and every bit as reliable. Just use 2000 or XP. Even with the tutorials it takes quite the nerd to configure Linux for every simple little task. I don't recommend it at all for home use.

That is a very biased statement, though I don't disagree with it being different for linux, harder I don't 100% agree with. Also, mapping home directories is not possible unless you run some sort of domain level server, AD, OD, NDS, etc.

In all honesty, setting up a linux samba server is not that hard at all, in fact I would say it is even as easy as windows if you do it right. There are plenty of FAQ, and walk throughs to do this. People who say Linux is too hard to learn are people who never take the time to learn it. yes there is a learning curve, but the benefits of using it are so worth the time spent. it opens up a whole new world of completely legit free software that is very powerful. Ubuntu just released a full on media center edition of their OS, completely free. Not to mention Open Source media players tend to play every single freaking format in existance with out loading any codecs. Just look at some of them out there.

Samba servers are also compatable with pretty much every platform: Linux, Unix, Windows, Mac OS X, Novell, etc. Which means once you have it in place, it can be shared with any computer that comes on to your network. it is also user level share, meaning that you have to authenticate to a share to properly gain access to it. Which means it is very secure. Samba servers can be easily configured by an application called SWAT, which is bundled in a very intuitive easy to use config app called webmin. Webmin allows you to configure all your servers, services, etc from one easy to use web based interface.

So, if you want to pay a thousand dollars for a server OS from M$ for file sharing and mapping home directories, go ahead, but it is kind of ridiculous when you can use Linux for free.