Linux NFS server

[Jason Stephenson]

I've got some experience running NFS and SAMBA in a multi-OS 
environment. At the University of Kentucky College of Engineering where 
I used to work, they run a single FreeBSD-base NFS server (currently a 
Dell with some added parts) that serves user home directories to a mix 
of servers including several Linux machines, a couple of other FreeBSD 
machines, HP-UX workstations, and a couple of Sun Fire servers. (Sorry 
I've forgotten the model numbers on teh SunFires, but they're the less 
expensive ones.)

The only issues we ever encountered with the NFS had to do with hardware 
on the server. We had a box with a crappy RAID controller that we 
replaced with the Dell. Actually, before we got the Dell, just taking 
the RAID controller out of the machine and swaping it with a plain-old 
Adaptec controller (again, I forget the exact model, but it was whatever 
is a step up after the AHA 2940UW) boosted performance.

Having two NICs on the machine helps, too.

This setup did not serve thousands of client machines, but it did serve 
thousands of users, and about 100 were logged in at any given time. I do 
believe that the Power Edge server could easily have handled 10x to 100x 
the load.

They have a different machine for serving SMB file shares to a couple of 
workgroups. I don't have specifics on the number of users, but it never 
had any problems (out of the ordinary) either.

As far as setup, we had more trouble getting the Suns to speak plain-old 
NIS on our network than we did with NFS. We basically just configured 
them to automount the user's directory from the NFS server when someone 
logged in and that was it. It just worked.

My guess is you're hearing the horror stories from your Sun salesman or 
you NAS salesman, right?

That'll be $75.00, please. :-b