Subject: PC as a file server?

From: Taisung Lee <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 1995 09:18:55 -0400 (EDT)

Hi,

   Our group is looking for a machine as a file server via NFS.  We are 
considering to buy a high end PC running Linux or WindowsNT.  Is there 
anybody has experiences about that?  We will connect the file server to 3 
IBM RS/6000s and one SGI/R4000.  Is there any problem of compatibilty?
   Thanks in advance for any reply.

Taisung Lee ([email-masked])

---

From: Craig Taverner <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 1995 18:26:16 +0200 (GMT+0200)

Hi Taisung,

>    Thanks in advance for any reply.

We have a network with two linux machines (one 486dx100 16M/1G and on 
586dx100 32M/2G) acting as servers to a small network of four Windows for 
workgroups machines and two other linux machines, roughly speaking 
(actually all linux machines are partly servers).  Sevices provided to 
the network are file storage, internet e-mail, WWW server, ftp server, 
Database server (CSDS), computations, all via nfs.  It works very well.  
The pentium server is also being used by remote users on linux, Sun and 
SGI workstations to very good effect.

Considering the domination of unix in the computational field as well as 
in internetworking, I would recommend linux.  It also seems to be very 
much more efficient (ie. not resource hungry) than it's competitors in 
the PC market.

All networking between linux and other unix machines seems to work very 
well (we use extensive nfs and remote X11).  If your clients are only 
unix machines, then unix should be your server of choice.  If your 
clients are LAN machines (eg. windows for workgroups).  Linux can still 
be used (as we have with Samba).

Cheers, Craig

"If God had meant us to be naked, we would have been born that way."

Craig Taverner
Structural Chemistry, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa