From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Jun 29 19:03:47 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 125B716A4CE for ; Tue, 29 Jun 2004 19:03:47 +0000 (GMT) Received: from internet.potentialtech.com (h-66-167-251-6.phlapafg.covad.net [66.167.251.6]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B773643D49 for ; Tue, 29 Jun 2004 19:03:46 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from wmoran@potentialtech.com) Received: from working.potentialtech.com (pa-plum-cmts1e-68-68-113-64.pittpa.adelphia.net [68.68.113.64]) by internet.potentialtech.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 047F969A40; Tue, 29 Jun 2004 15:03:30 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2004 15:03:24 -0400 From: Bill Moran To: Thomas Moyer Message-Id: <20040629150324.3ca94637.wmoran@potentialtech.com> In-Reply-To: <40E1AC67.4010307@atlanticbb.net> References: <40E1A6A2.6060001@atlanticbb.net> <20040629134710.68550ab2.wmoran@potentialtech.com> <40E1AC67.4010307@atlanticbb.net> Organization: Potential Technologies X-Mailer: Sylpheed version 0.9.12 (GTK+ 1.2.10; i386-portbld-freebsd4.9) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: home directory questions X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2004 19:03:47 -0000 [Keep the mailing list CCed] Thomas Moyer wrote: > Bill Moran wrote: > > >Thomas Moyer wrote: > > > >>Is it possible to setup a file server with FreeBSD and use that as a > >>home partition and also share other files on a small network? > >>What kinds of utilities would I need to run? I imagine NFS for *nix > >>clients and Samba for MS clients. Also possibly share printers with > >>this computer as well. CUPS for that. > > > >Um ... yes. I assume you're just looking for verification that you're > >selecting the correct technology, and you are. > > > >>Also what kind a minimum system reccomendations does anyone have? > > > >That's impossible to even guesstimate without some idea of what kind > >of load the system is going to be under. I have a fileserver here that > >serves Windows and FreeBSD clients and it's a 200mhz with 96M of RAM. > >But I would never suggest that for a big installation. > > > At most the server will serve 4 to 5 clients at any given time. This > might increase later but for now it is limited to those few. Seriously. This is one of the biggest misconceptions around - that I can tell you what kind of hardware to purchase based solely on how many clients you have. Without a better usage profile, I can only guess. And here's my guess: With that many clients, it's likely that your reliability requirements will be greater than your performance requirements. Meaning: you could probably get a used computer at Goodwill for $100 that would perform acceptably for that load, but do you really want your server running on used hardware? You could probably buy cheap NICs that are advertised at 100mb/sec but can only really do 70mb/sec, and you'd still think they were fast enough, but that depends on your tolerance for delay, which is a pretty difficult thing to judge until people start complaining. All said and done, you can probably buy commodity hardware at a competitive price and get something that will suit. -- Bill Moran Potential Technologies http://www.potentialtech.com