[Samba] Samba4 Can we use two file-servers?

[Mike Howard]

On 26/06/2012 11:22, steve wrote:
> On 26/06/12 11:54, Mike Howard wrote:
>> On 26/06/2012 09:04, steve wrote:
>>> Hi
>>> We've just added a second DC to our domain, both DCs are Samba4
>>>
>>> DC1 is also the s3fs file server. If that goes down then so does the
>>> file-server. IOW, we can still authenticate via DC2 but we cannot do
>>> any work!
>>>
>>> What are my options here? Is it possible to sync the files to DC2 and
>>> use that in case of failure? Or maybe add a third box running smbd?
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Steve
>> It depends on your needs. For me, I use a couple of arm plugs as PDC &
>> BDC for authentiaction and dns etc and file serve files from elsewhere,
>> also plugs. Where ever you serve files from, if that box goes down you
>> lose your data/file serving capability. You can use (software or
>> hardware) raid to provide redundancy for the disks and/or a complete
>> backup device for full HA.
>>
> Hi Mike
> Sorry, my English is over 30 years old! Can you give me a one liner on 
> plugs and HA in a S4 context?
>
> We'd like to have a spare box with a backup of the data to substitute 
> the DC/fileserver. What do you think about the possibility of syncing 
> the data over to the secondary DC along with a copy of smb.conf and 
> using that when the primary DC/fileserver goes down. Would the clients 
> know to use the new fileserver: thinking about Kerberos here.
>
> Cheers
> Steve
Sorry, by plug I meant Sheevaplug/Dreamplug/Guruplug which arem compact, 
low power arm devices. HA is High Availability, put (over) simply, the 
provision of backup devices/components in case of failure.

Daniel mentioned in another reply, you can use GlusterFS (NAS type 
approach) to aggregate your data (you still need somewhere to aggregate 
it to though) or replication if your restricted to the two DCs, though 
I've never tried that approach. In either case the switch (of where data 
is accessed) should be automated from a client perspective.

Cheers,
-- 
Any question is easy if you know the answer!