which distro for a file server

I am interested in setup a Linux file server at my office. Our
desktop workstations are Windows 2000/XP. Are there any suggestions
on which distro to use for this purpose. Is Redhat Enterprise Linux
ES a good choice? Or Debain, Slackware, or SuSe? I am not looking
for mail services, just a file server.
I have had some experience with a desktop linux, but I am looking for
a stable and easy to configure Linux for the file server.

Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.

thanks
Jeff

Jeff Godfrey wrote:

> I am interested in setup a Linux file server at my office. Our
> desktop workstations are Windows 2000/XP. Are there any suggestions
> on which distro to use for this purpose. Is Redhat Enterprise Linux
> ES a good choice? Or Debain, Slackware, or SuSe? I am not looking
> for mail services, just a file server.
> I have had some experience with a desktop linux, but I am looking for
> a stable and easy to configure Linux for the file server.
>
> Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.
>
> thanks
> Jeff
Any Linux distro will do supporting a file server function...Seeing that
your workstations are Win2K and XP, you want to consider running SAMBA
which supports MS file server services...(SAMBA is an application that runs
on top of Linux OS) Samba is an Open Source/Free Software suite that
provides seamless file and print services to SMB/CIFS clients.


www.samba.org

Jerry Smiley wrote:

> Jeff Godfrey wrote:
>
>> I am interested in setup a Linux file server at my office. Our
>> desktop workstations are Windows 2000/XP. Are there any suggestions
>> on which distro to use for this purpose. Is Redhat Enterprise Linux
>> ES a good choice? Or Debain, Slackware, or SuSe? I am not looking
>> for mail services, just a file server.
>> I have had some experience with a desktop linux, but I am looking for
>> a stable and easy to configure Linux for the file server.
>
> Any Linux distro will do supporting a file server function...Seeing that
> your workstations are Win2K and XP, you want to consider running SAMBA
> which supports MS file server services..
>
> www.samba.org

what he said.

but probably go with RH (HR9 should be fine), Mandrake, or SUSE.

I haven't used SUSE, but Mandrake and Redhat are both pretty easy to get
setup (you will need to know about Samba in any case).

-john


p.s. you will eventually want an email server. Sure you start out with just
a file server, but then you get hooked and end up running everything on
linux.

--
Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely
unintentional side effect.
--Linus Torvalds

"Jeff Godfrey" <jeff-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) om...
> I am interested in setup a Linux file server at my office. Our
> desktop workstations are Windows 2000/XP. Are there any suggestions
> on which distro to use for this purpose. Is Redhat Enterprise Linux
> ES a good choice? Or Debain, Slackware, or SuSe? I am not looking
> for mail services, just a file server.
> I have had some experience with a desktop linux, but I am looking for
> a stable and easy to configure Linux for the file server.

They really all have the same capabilities and underlying programs. The
differences are in the install procedures and administration tools. If
you want something that will come up working without knowing
anything about Linux system administration, SME server (previously
known as e-smith) is a good choice. The free version has recently
been turned over to a community development group and is at
http://contribs.org/modules/phpwiki/index.php/Downloads

---
Les Mikesell
(E-Mail Removed)