Operating System for File Server

[Arnwulf]

I'm setting up a new file server for my work and was wondering what the best operating system would be to use. Right now all the computers at our office run Windows XP Professional, so I don't really want to use Windows 7. The computer isn't super powerful either, it's a last gen Pentium 4 with 3 GB of RAM. I'd prefer an operating system that would recognize the 1TB drive that is attached, rather than Windows XP only recognizing a portion of that, but I can deal with that if I have to.

Thanks.

[The Stig]

How big is your office/work place?

I've read extremely good reviews for the Microsoft Home Server 2011. The license is dirt cheap (£40, which is just under $100 if my exchange rates are correct) so if what you're doing isn't very large scale, I think it would suit it. I've not got all the information on me at the moment though.

Otherwise, I'm sure an open source fan here would be able to recommend you an alternative.

[Arnwulf]

Our office only has 8 employees that would be using the server, and it would be used strictly as a file server, not a workstation or anything. All it needs to do is host files and back those files up. Our current total file load is right around the 500 GB range. There are only 2 of us that are constantly using it and running and saving the files on it, other people just use it periodically during the course of the day.

[Bardicrune]

linux

[Isiolia]

http://www.freenas.org/ maybe (specs 4GB of RAM minimum). Just don't plan on using ZFS.

Home Server 2011 only supports 64-bit CPUs. While there are a handful of P4s that fall under that, it'd definitely be something to check. It also removed the Drive Extender feature, which was a major reason to use WHS in the first place.

[rezn0r]

Windows vs something else is a bigger topic, but if you want to go Windows DON'T skimp and use a consumer (XP/7/etc) version, it's crippled in the number of networking connections it can maintain and it will come back to bite you in the ass if you have about 5 or more users. Someone at my company set up both a document imaging system and a CRM package on an XP box and while it's stable as all hell, after 3 people logged into the CRM system there was nothing but trouble. I moved the CRM to a 2008 box and I'm going to move the SQL/doc system to another one when I get the chance. If 2008R2 is too much money I'd strongly suggest looking into the small business server from Microsoft which was mentioned above. Then again you can use a non-Windows OS for free and probably do just as well.

Edit- sorry, I read too fast, as usual, and missed the fact that you are planning on a P4. 8 users max on XP might be ok as long as it's not hosting printers and really doing nothing else at all. If you maxed out connections, people would just get failures when trying to access a share or map a network drive. I'd second FreeNAS if you want to look into it.

[Arnwulf]

Currently we run the file server on a Windows XP professional computer, P4 just like the other one that I'm going to configure. The current one used to be a work station and our old IT guy never bothered to clean any of the junk off of it before using it. We don't have many problems regarding file access, it is a bit sluggish, but I suspect that is from all the other crap on that computer. I'm thinking just a reformat and install of XP will solve most of our issues. I just wanted to make sure to use the best OS possible since I doubt this work I'm going to do will get done again for a very very long time.

[xopher]

I run Windows 7 in a workgroup but that's for four or less users.

You might look into getting SBS2011 Essentials.

[xerodok]

Load up Fedora and set up some Samba shares, it doesn't get any more simple/efficient than that.

[Arnwulf]

I tried Fedora but got frustrated with the Samba share and SELinux giving me issues, so I settled on Windows 7. Rolled the server out this morning and it works so much better than the crappy Windows XP machine. As a bonus, we can actually use our 1TB drive now!