File Server for SOHO?

[Amichai Rotman]

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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