[Samba] RE: big file server

[Tom Dickson]

> I plan to set up a big file server
> Of course this would be served by some Linux os and samba
>
> questions (relative to samba configuration and behaviour) :
> - is there a better fs type (ext2, 3, xfs...) for this ?
> - what about such space (1 TB at least), can i have only one fs for the
> whole ?
> - what about huge files (over 2 GB)
> - any suggestions (kernel releases and patches, samba performance tips...)

I second the notion of using a 3ware card - much cleaner (though pricy!)

I use reiserfs at home for a dir of 16000 files, works nice. We use XFS at
work
 for the filesystem, and have had no issues with it. It nicely goes to the 2
terabytes that linux supports for a single disk/volume. Definitly don't use
ext2 (notice the 2), because fscking a 1.2TB drive will result  in you
taking a
fireman's ax to the computer......

If you use a 3ware card, in say, raid5, then 7 200 gig disks would look like
a
1.2TB disk, which would be /dev/sda. Both reiser and xfs should work fine
with that.

Files over 2 gigs work as long as you have the newer kernel and glibc
libraries
(Redhat 7.3+ has these, I'd assume any similarly dated distro has them,
too.)

I think that xfs may require kernel patches, at least, it did in the past.

(Also remember that reiser4 is coming soon.)

-Tom