SOHO NAS Solutions -- WAS: VR or 4K?

[thebs]

Moved from 'VR or 4K?' thread - viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5419

PREFACE: This started as a Linux comment, but quickly exposed it was about Samba, so more about CIFS/SMB file services, not Linux at all (much less re-installing Linux would 'solve' Samba configuration). Hence why I turned this into a NAS discussion, and now have decided to move it here.

So, the Linux myth, which I'll mark off-topic, but for completeness, will include prior to discussing CIFS/SMB, Samba and, ultimately, various point'n click, web GUI SOHO devices that use Samba (and other file services).

Off Topic

IAs for osvr I see no reason to need to be versed in *nix to get one.
They claim the install process is down to three clicks and supports most steamvr titles if you get some vr controller interface in addition.

I just mean the "tweaking required" might not be what people want. I was making a correlation to the type of person it's for.

And it's not *nix, but open source platforms. Huge difference.

Writing as someone whose attempts to come to terms with Ubuntu are tantamount to torture (current score: Ubuntu 6, Walter 1), I can understand this - I would be on reinstall 6 (at least) before getting anywhere.

Er, um, what? Linux shouldn't need to be installed more than once. Re-installing more than once will only result in the same issues every time you do.

GNU/Linux is deterministic, unlike Windows. I.e., you need someone who knows your hardware and Ubuntu to assist.

Side Note: Installing Linux is not using Linux. Just like installing Windows is not using Windows. Installing Windows is not fun either. That's why virtually all OEMs provide a recovery mode on-disk. It's usually a clone, so they can get a verbatim copy of what was originally installed, which is more deterministic than the Windows installer (let alone post-installation requirements).

On the other hand, the OSVR HDK2 has a modular design so that the end user can update different parts of the headset from different suppliers which, in theory, should give a decent ROI in the long term.

Which is how open platforms are supposed to work. Of course, you get to deal with all the reconfiguration all the way, so you have to deep dive into it.

Not so much Ubuntu (although I managed to finally cripple my first successful configuration)

Changing things left and right will cause that.

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But unlike Windows, it's simply solved on POSIX Systems (e.g., UNIX and Linux) by always backing up (or using version control on) configuration files before, and then after each time, you modify them. As I said, very deterministic. Much easier to manage, especially when you have thousands of POSIX user workstations.

In fact, you're the type of Linux sysadmin I come in and berate, you play dumb, then I show you exactly what you changed.
I.e., I run version control on all configuration files, whether a centrized Git or Subversion repo, or even just local comma-V (,v) files (aka RCS), I'll show you exactly the lines you changed and why it broke ... often with you denying you changed anything or "it wasn't related."

That is impossible to do on Windows (even the registry is difficult to utilize version control on), which is why Linux is becoming heavily preferred in mission critical enterprises ... including more and more workstations, let alone the cloud. This includes even Microsoft's own Azure team. Heck, Microsoft hired yet another Red Hat architect this very week, a good friend of mine.

Now the next post is on-topic ... as we focus on CIFS/SMB file services.

[thebs]

Moved from 'VR or 4K?' thread - viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5419

more Samba - trying to get Ubuntu, Windows and Mac OS sharing the same files on a network is my main problem.

That's not Linux then. Not at all. That's SMB/CIFS Windows Services, which is an utter mess on Windows, let alone when you start throwing more OSes in to the mix.

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Microsoft doesn't even guarantee it works between Windows systems of different versions. That's why, officially, Microsoft only supports companies all running the same NT minor version and SP1 of Windows with Windows Servers and the exact, compatible AD Domain Level (my long MCSE/MCITP/MSM history is showing ).

Side Note: Heck, SMB/CIFS is so bad for printing, along with the NT Spooler/IPP and GDI that can make systems seem to "hang" because naming resolution is tied to the NT executive. that most corporations use another solution. The most common is Apple's CUPS -- which literally stands for Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS), an open source project that Apple eventually purchased from the original developers (copyright holders) when it became very popular with large enterprises. On Windows, it bypasses the Windows GDI completely, and uses Postscript, even if the printer isn't Postscript. It's all based on all open source code, filters and other things that virtually every printer manufacturer supports, and even prefers (because Postscript Printer Definition, PPD, files are so cake to author).

So ... Samba is designed to emulate every LanManager/OS2/NT/Windows Server back to the '80s, and detects the client, trying to optimize for those specific versions. It's flexibility is legendary, which means it's got literally 1,000 configuration options. I contributed (about 100 pages written the weekend before publication, Steve's Multi-subnet and BSD/Solaris contributor pulled out, so I stepped in) to an over 1,200+ page book, Samba Unleashed, back in 2000 (it's old version 2.0, so well out-of-date today). Co-founder of the Gentoo distribution, Daniel Robbins, was also a fellow contributor, and now works for Microsoft.

So if you can master Samba, then you can troubleshoot any Windows Server from Microsoft. It teaches you every conflicting aspect of the protocol over its 30 year history.

Side Note: Also ... if you're trying to mount SMB/CIFS shares on Linux, understand that's not native. POSIX (UNIX/Linux) and NTuser (Windows) systems have entirely different schema, charsets, and case sensitivity (Windows is not, POSIX is). Microsoft long forked from the rest of the Internet standard world, and even Microsoft now agrees it's best to keep the systems separate. E.g., they've embraced Red Hat's solution for managing Linux systems in a completely separate domain, all while a Red Hat IPA domain can provide references in an AD Forest Trust compatible approach.

I don't think I'm sacrificing the right sort of chicken.

If you don't understand the internals of how SMB/CIFS works, which is laid out in all the endless Samba documentation SMB/CIFS (emulate Windows "bug for bug, in every version"), then yeah, you'll get confused easily. But even most Windows Server administrators don't know those internals either ... unless they are Samba gurus.

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Yes, learning Samba forces you to understand the protocols, and makes one a better Windows administrator. One of the major issues that always got customers into trouble when I was a Consultant for Red Hat was that I got pulled into a lot of Windows troubleshooting, because I have the deep internals knowledge of the protocols and various versions, including some really broken eccentricities, because I've been through the open source code. The SoW usually came out at some point, with Red Hat finally putting it's foot down to say, "nowhere does it say he's here to troubleshoot Windows."

It's the same thing with AD too ... master Kerberos and LDAP internals, and you can do anything with AD. But most AD admins, like Windows Server admins, don't learn -- although Microsoft is trying to change that by forcing PowerShell knowledge. PowerShell is very powerful, a full scripting language and even interactive interface based on .NET/C#, which was licensed Java + standard system, 1.1 at the lawsuit split, then 1.4 aka "2" after the re-license (including early "MONAD" versions of PowerShell being based on the 2 re-license), the CLR also having the exact same inheritance constraints as the JNI, plus added libraries -- Win32/.NET services being the obvious addition by Microsoft for Windows, with lots of standard interfaces, including for SMB/CIFS, Windows Services and the related AD RPC.

Key takeway: Open source forces you to learn the underlying technologies, whether open or closed/proprietary (but reverse engineered) standards. You learn technologies, not products, which makes you able to learn other platforms very quickly, and able to troubleshoot internals much easier. Since Microsoft heavily bases its networking on POSIX platforms, even the SMB/CIFS and AD RPC goes back to open source MIT and DCE developments, and AD is based on Michigan LDAPv3 and MIT Kerberos, you're already half-way there on the internals if you learn the underlying, original open source on Linux and other POSIX platforms.

Probably the best way to "use" Samba is to get a NAS device with a nice web GUI and be done with it ... continued in next post.

[thebs]

Moved from 'VR or 4K?' thread - viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5419

QNAP and Synology are probably the two most highly regarded "just works" NAS solutions for SOHO (Small Office, Home Office) to SMB (Small to Medium Business) customers. Synology has some really inexpensive options in the entry-level "j" series of products, and even a few of the "Value" ones.

Most NAS devices come with a very generic Samba implementation atop of a BSD fork or custom Linux distribution that works well with everything from Windows XP to Windows 8, probably 10 now too, typically via SMB/CIFS and other, emulated Windows Servers very "pared down" (instead of the kitchen since like Samba can be configured to do), and then also MacOS X Solutions, whether via IETF/POSIX NFS, AppleTalk or also SMB/CIFS . My favorite NAS solution is Synology, which uses a custom Linux release and various service implementations, including Samba, in their Disk Station (DS) Manager (DSM).

It's up to you if you want to just use a PC, and load something like OpenFiler or a full blown distro like Ubuntu LTS, but I prefer to get a SOHO NAS unit and be done with it. I mean, don't get me wrong ... I still have a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Server installation at home on a full system with 6 drives in RAID-6. But I don't leave it on 24x7, and it's for my own developments. My 24x7 box is a Synology, and that's what my wife and I use for everything else we do.

Synology makes it so freak'n easy to even move the disks from the same series product to another, if your box fails. Done that a couple of times now over the years. That sold me because the DSM OS in firmware is backed up, with its configuration, to the disks. So it can be "restored" if you move your disks to another box of the same product series. E.g,. I've now done an old DS211j to DS214j and an sold DS212j to DS215j, one being my parent's, the other being a friend's.

Today, I personally wone a pair of tiny little Synology DS416slim micro-boxes (actually one is a DS414slim, the other a newer DS416slim), which has over 5TiB of usable storage via 4x2TB 2.5" drives. I can fit one in my backpack and take it anywhere, while the other one stays on 24x7 and doesn't pull even 30W.

A lot of these SOHO devices already have a lot of pre-built open source that you just click and install, and gives all sorts of DNLA and uPNP client support, various Apple, Android, Roku, Set-top and other support, via various protocols. E.g., rip all your music and movies, and it will index various music and movies from the Internet and you'll get a very iTunes and Netflix-like experience with the Android, iOS, Roku, etc... DS apps (phones, tablets and, again, things like Roku and other devices), as well as the Java-based web front-end (on PCs).

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The only thing I don't like about Synology, and they do far more than QNAP, is skimp on the DRAM. DRAM really saves going to disk, but Synology is notorious for only shipping 512MiB-1GiB DRAM in their units, way, way too low IMPO. I would recommend 4x500GB (4xUS$100) NAND SSD drives, for about 1.3TiB usable, unless you really need >5TiB (via 2x2TB 2.5" platters),. That will give you very fast retrieval, as that's NAND's staple, and the NAND devices, aggregately, should have more DRAM internally for buffering writes, as NAND cells themselves are not fast at writes, despite common assumption. If you read and don't write much, then the should last, especially given the OS is in firmware, and the disks are just for files (on Linux Ext4, which is much easier on NAND than Windows NTFS).

[i]Side Note: Otherwise NAND, especially in the age of 3-bit TLC, then and often wear out faster than 2.5" platters, long-term, at least on Windows (don't get me started, the enthusiast sites don't benchmark against how hard FAT file systems and Windows are on NAND -- like 200x more writes during Windows Update than is actually changed -- e.g., 1GiB of Windows Update = 200GiB/0.2TiB of NAND lifespan lost).

Finally solved the problem and restored a semblance of sanity by buying a large thumb drive. Peace is restored.

Or, again, just get a SOHO NAS with a GUI.

Sorry - drifting off topic.

Well, File Services and sharing files is a popular topic. Has nothing to do with Linux though.

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Samba is really for experts, who understand the internals of Windows Services. But if you learn it, you will know how to troubleshoot things on Windows Servers that most Microsoft people don't. Learn Kerberos and LDAP atop of that, and you'll be an ActiveDirectory internals ultra-guru, and that pays a crapload of money in the IT world.