[Samba] big file server

[Jon Niehof]

> I plan to set up a big file server, something like motherboard with 4 ide
> ports and an additional 4 ide daughter card, a PIV proc and 512 or 1024 MB
> ram, a 100 or 1000 MB NIC, with 6 or 7 200 GB ide HDDs in a sigle box. I
> don't need lightning performance, just disk space. Of course this would be
> served by some linux os and samba
I would strongly recommend using a 3ware Escalade hardware 
RAID card rather than software RAID for putting the drives 
together.

> - is there a better fs type (ext2, 3, xfs...) for this ?
I have been happy with ext3; it has acceptable performance, 
high compatibility (can use ext2 rescue tools, etc.), and 
solid journalling. Many folks have reported better 
performance with XFS.

> - what about such space (1 TB at least), can i have only one fs for the
> whole ?
You can set it up as one filesystem or partition it into many.

> - what about huge files (over 2 GB)
Should be fine server-side; client-side you may have issues.