I don't doubt that AFS is overkill for the size of the company. I could do some real simple things in the company to furfill their requirements. My question was, however, just as much out of curiosity about AFS and what the big boys use as it as about, is this practical for this company. Even if it is overkill, we might do it anyway, since it's cool technology, and we're all about that. My boss (the owner) is a really cool guy. He'd probably pay me to go the full monty on the network, especially if it's overkill, because it's a cool technology, and he likes playing around as much as I do.
I'm not terribly familiar with WebDAV, but it sounds interesting. Is there a good Linux client? How flexible is it? Can I do a clustered, location transparency thing with it? More generically, where's some good information about it? In terms of backup, a simple solution as you propose is not acceptable. We currently use a good tape drive with Veritas software, with daily differential backups, and full monthlies. Anything less than this is not acceptable. A hard drive in a USB caddy is fine (I've suggested this a few times) but the software needs to be more complex. (IE- I screwed up this file two months ago, and need a copy from just before that. Restore it. We've done this type of thing in the past.) Thanks John On Wed, 2005-07-13 at 19:05 -0400, David Zakar wrote: > AFS generally strikes me as overkill for your situation. What I kind of > got from your post is that you've got a buncha guys with Windows laptops > running around the world... > > One possible idea for the file storage is to use WebDAV, and back the > authentication with AD (I believe this is possible, since AD roughly == > LDAP). We use WebDAV with LDAP at work for file sharing, and it's quite > excellent. Windows has a built-in WebDAV client, too! > > As for backup, two USB hard drives, one offsite, one connected but > unmounted to the computer. Once a (day|week), cron mounts the drive, > backs up to a date labelled directory, and then unmounts. When the drive > gets full, we swap it with the offsite one, and wipe the returned one. > Repeat ad inifinitum. (We also have this backed against a RAID 1.) > > -DMZ > > On Wed, 2005-07-13 at 16:10 -0400, John Demme wrote: > > So currently at work, we run Windows servers for Active Directory and > > file storage (SMB/CIFS). I may have the opportunity to change this, and > > wanted some input from all you IT gurus on the current Unix technology. > > > > This isn't the most typical business, though it's becoming more typical. > > The main office has two people plus me, but I usually work from home. > > Then, we've got any number of people working across the globe- the > > number tends to change a bit, but is pretty irrevelant. > > > > There are two issues to address: file storage, and a login directory for > > the small office- it must authenticate Windows clients. Unfortunately, > > we can't dump windows altogether, since the software product these guys > > write is windows-only. > > > > I've been looking at AFS a lot lately- it looks killer. UMD runs it, > > and I've never had a problem with it. Even from home, I can get on the > > university file space from my windows install (unfortunately, OpenAFS > > and Arla seem to be very experimental and unstable for the 2.6 kernel). > > > > I'd also be running Kerberos, which I don't (yet) know anything about. > > > > So here's my question: has anyone here ever set up a network like this? > > AFS system, with Windows clients authenticating against a Kerberos > > system? (I think it can do this.) > > > > Although AFS seems to be a great system, I'm unsure as to the support it > > gets. The fact that 2.6 kernel support sucks seems to be an indication > > that it's not really used in new setups anymore. Am I wrong? If that's > > true, then what do Unix guys in enterpise systems use for file storage? > > Don't tell me it's all NFS- NFS sucks! Samba isn't so hot either. AFS > > seems to have the right idea, but are enterprises using it? Does it > > have any good graphical administration interfaces? > > > > If AFS is still an up-and-coming technology, that's fine with me, but it > > seems more stagnant than anything else. > > > > <humor style="Jerry Seinfield"> So what's the deal with AFS? </humor> > > > > Also, what network backup systems do people use? I'm investigating new > > ones since Veritas wants another $300 to do network backups. My boss' > > response was, "F*ck 'em- get me a new system. I'm sick of these greedy > > mother f*ckers. Backup isn't rocket science." Is Bacula > > (http://www.bacula.org/) any good? > > > > Thanks, > > John Demme > > UMLUG President > > > >
