Ubuntu

Need to know what file sharing system to use on my local network

Asked by mike

My friend and I would like to set up a file sharing system on Ubuntu over our local area network. This would make it easier for us to exchange projects rather than having to use a dinky usb drive.

Anyhow, i use ubuntu and he uses windows. I don't know if i should install samba or nfs. Or do neither work well over a local area network with windows.

Please, any responses are good.

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Answered
For:
Ubuntu Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

The share will be samba. You can access it using:

smb://windowshostname

to access the windows share, you will need to install samba and configure file sharing to get him to access your stuff. If the Windows system is Win7 you may need to setup an smb user as windows7 has a revised version of samba with smoe stupid authentication stuff which Ubuntu doesn't like

Have a go, see what you achieve.

Revision history for this message
Wyatt Smith (wyatt-smith) said : 		#2

Both work great over LAN

SAMBA is best for sharing files with windows machines. It is unix implementation of netbios protocol. It is relatively easy to setup and works very well.

NFS is best for sharing with unix machines. It uses unix-like file attributes.

NFS is much more complicated to setup. WinXP machine will require additional software: Unix Services for Windows from Microsoft Download Center. Vista and Win7 has NFS client by default, it just needs to be enabled in Windows Components.

I would only consider NFS if you are regularly transferring large amounts of data. I believe that NFS provides better data transfer rates.

Can you help with this problem?

Provide an answer of your own, or ask mike for more information if necessary.

To post a message you must log in.