[Samba] smb.conf for around 2500 users

[Nico Kadel-Garcia]

On Wed, Jul 4, 2012 at 1:53 PM, steve <steve at steve-ss.com> wrote:
> On 04/07/12 18:12, Nico Kadel-Garcia wrote:
>>
>> On Wed, Jul 4, 2012 at 11:11 AM, steve <steve at steve-ss.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> On 03/07/12 10:18, Jonathan Buzzard wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, 2012-07-02 at 18:20 +0200, steve wrote:
>>>>
>>>
>> NFS and autofs buys you some very, very useful things. One is that it
>> can support multiple upstream NFS servers, which might help distribute
>> the load for 2500 users. Another is that by automounting a set of
>> subdirectories, instead of one large master share, you can tune the
>> settings of those mounted directories for security. Another is that
>> you can mix NFSv3 and NFSv4 for environments that need TCP based
>> access or Kerberized authentication for fileshares. Another is that
>> unused material is not mounted and can be deleted or re-arranged on
>> the fileserver, which is priceless when managing 2500 accounts with
>> 2500 home directories.
>>
>> But with 2500 users, and hundreds at a time connected, it's maybe time
>> to think about running the CIFS fileshares directly on the NFS
>> *servers* and get the Samba clients out of the way Why introduce a
>> layer of complexity with a Samba client on top of NFS if the
>> fileserver can do it directly? And if it's too much for one
>> fileserver, maybe it's time to think about splitting up fileservices
>> anyway.
>>
>>
> Hi Nico
> Yeah, we have to stick with the automounter. Having 2500 home directories
> held up for only 80 (max) users can't be a good idea. Without a cluster, I
> can't see how we could deploy multiple NFS servers though.
> L x
>

Autofs supports a list of NFS servers to be checked, in order, for NFS
shares. I've found it very useful in migration situations. We could
spend a lot of time going over approaches for that.

I've also found it really useful to make "/homedir/{usernames}" a pool
of symlinks to an NFS automount layout. That way, I can switch users
from one NFS automoun to another by updating the symlinks in a
deployed network. Very handy for switching and re-arranging upstream
NFS or attached storage in a planned fashion. It ain't perfect, but
lord, it's useful.