File Server for SOHO?

[Jonathan Ben Avraham]

Hi Amichai,
I think that you would be best to tell your friend to use genuine 
Microsoft Windows for the server for the following reasons:

a) He will remain your friend and will not curse you for setting up 
something that he can't understand and is not motivated to understand

b) He will not be exposing the core of his business operations to the 
risks of an unfamiliar technology and the risks of multiple technologies

c) He will be able to fix it himself or easily find someone who can

Instead, you should set him up an additional client workstation with 
Ubuntu and show him how to use it.

Sorry for deviating from the party line, but I have gained the above 
wisdom over many years of experience with small businesses.
Shabbat Shalom,

  - yba



On Fri, 20 May 2011, Amichai Rotman wrote:

> Date: Fri, 20 May 2011 13:37:50 +0300
> From: Amichai Rotman <amichai at iglu.org.il>
> To: Linux-IL <linux-il at cs.huji.ac.il>
> Subject: File Server for SOHO?
> 
> Hi All,
> A friend of mine has a small biz with 6 PC running Windows XP Home set up as a Workgroup. He
> has a dedicated app that saves files to a shared folder on one of them, and all other PC
> access these files as clients...
> 
> This specific PC that acts as a server is dying (the hard disk is failing and caused the PC to
> crash a few times).
> 
> I am trying to "sell" him the idea of a Linux based File Server. The dedicated app doesn't
> care where the share is, as long as it seems as a Windows Share. I was thinking this is a
> classic SAMBA Server scenario.
> 
> I need help with the following:
> 
> 1. A few "selling" points for the Linux based solution.
> 2. Which solution to implement?
> 2a. Ubuntu Server with SAMBA?
> 2b. A dedicated distro (FreeNAS or some such)
> 3. A way for him to see what's going on with the server, some basic admin tasks (like
> rebooting the server if it is not accessible) - some way to make them feel they have some
> control over it and it's not just a black box they cannot see.... or some way to make them
> drop that specific demand from their list....
> 5. This server should also handle backups to an external USB drive and send reports by e-mail
> in case of a failure.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Amichai.
> 
>

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