[Samba] Q: Samba Proxy or SAMBA Cluster?

[Jason Haar]

Michael Heydon wrote:
> Hi,
>
>>
>> The main samba server holds all files and all user information. The
>> CIFS Proxy in the remote location have a copy of all files and a copy
>> of the user database.
>>
>> If a user open a file the file will be locked on all servers (main
>> server and all cifs proxy). If the user write a file (new file or
>> file change) the file will be still locked until the file is written
>> on all servers.
What about just using Samba as a front-end to a shared NFS backend? I
know that under Linux at least Samba and NFS can both ack locks due to
the "kernel oplocks" option.

Shouldn't that do what you want? Someone opens a file on Samba-Site1,
and the central NFS server locks it for the rest?

Obviously performance will be an issue as I assume you are talking about
sites being geographically separate. Neither NFS nor Samba/SMB perform
well over a WAN.

-- 
Cheers

Jason Haar
Information Security Manager, Trimble Navigation Ltd.
Phone: +64 3 9635 377 Fax: +64 3 9635 417
PGP Fingerprint: 7A2E 0407 C9A6 CAF6 2B9F 8422 C063 5EBB FE1D 66D1