Topic: sme server ver 7.1 is it file server stable

[purvis]

hello to all
i am a newbie to sme linux,  but i played around with version 6 in the past.
but now is the time since our office has gone fully to windows nt 2000 to implement a true file server.
i am always on the trailing end of operating systems but what i need in systems is stabilty.
sme server ver 7 will allow me to setup a email server easily and it  has basically most of what i wanted.
but i really would like to get my server files off of a windows 2000 workstation computer that i actually just use as a server.
i am really scared about the placing my files on linux server which i know little about, and sme server seems like a good choice.
i have read some post on this site of how people have lost data, some have lost it all. some have tried to skimp to doing things correctly(safely) and paid the cost. one reason for using the sme server is the raid, i am only interested in raid1 only.
my question is this, should i trust sme server to my files, should i trust the server to go down and come backup with my data?
how can it get the data transferrd off drives if the operating system does not come back, and should i trust software raid1 built into sme server 7.
i would like to use the new sata drives and usb drives for backup without a
lot of fuss.
do i need to use a previous version prior to ver 7.1 that has the redhat linux as oppose to cent-os linux for a file server, once again i plan on using the email part of sme server v 7.1 on its own computer.
there are less than 10 people that would be using the file server.
there would be about 40 people using the email server.

i did not know of the convention that just passed, i wish i could have been there.
thanks in advance paul

[idp_qbn]

Hi Purvis,
Yes SME 7.1 will do everything you want, but like all systems, you need to put back=up procedures in place.

I use an addon (contribs, they call them for SME) that backs up user and system data to a USB disk once a day....your nominated time. It was develope by dmay (Darrel May) so you can search contribs, howtos and the forums for the link - use "dmay" and 'backup" and "usb" should find it.

After that, all I can say is:
1) RTFM,
2) try it it a test system
3) ask questions here when you have problems. SOmeone will get back to you quickly.

Cheers
Ian

[mercyh]

7.1 is stable and in use by many in your situation. I am not sure what kind of files you are serving. There are a couple of programs that do not like files served through Samba. The two that I am most familiar with are Quickbooks and Foxpro. I would guess that Access databases would have some of the same problems. There are workarounds for these problems but not possibly something you would want to get into with no experience with Linux at all.

If you are thinking of running two servers (one for e-mail and web and one for files) it might work to do the e-mail server first to get comfortable with the system and then move the fileserver later.

If you are only sharing MS office files this is very simple and easy to setup.

I personally would run the E-mail server and fileserver on the same machine. I cannot see a compelling reason to run two systems for the number of users you are talking about.

[purvis]

this purvis is nervous

would it be better to backup my data off of sme server to a usb drive located on a client  with some other o/s that may have a more friendliier usb drive interface, whether it be linux or not.

unless i messed up, i plugged a usb drive into my sme server and the server did not see it. the usb disk was fat32 formated, do i have to manually mount the drive?
also i did a desktop backup, and it seemed slow, maybe because of the compression, i do not know.
it would be nice to have a backup without the ibays except for the primary ibay, or maybe inlcude all the ibays, but leave out the files directory, except for the primay ibay directory, that 2 gigabyte is going to fill quickly.
the backup to desktop seems great, but i just cannot see everytime i do desktop backup, backing up a 250gigabyte server, when all i really want to do is store my servers basic settings, users, ibay settings, etc.
 
also apparently, you cannot restore more that 2gigabyte from the desktop.

what would you do then.
uncompress(extract) all the data(shared) files
then delete the data(shared) files from the compressed back file
then restore the compressed backup file that has the data(shared) files removed.
then copy data(shared) files back to the server.
is that how you restore a whole server.
thanks for you kind responses.
paul

[mercyh]

For backup I use the Dar2 contrib from here http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=34041.0

This gives you full control through a webpanel of what is backed up and where. It allows you to backup to a windows workstation share which is what I do. If you have sufficient disk space you can make multiple jobs for multiple days of the week and have restore points you can go back too.

I was using a commercial solution for Disk to disk backup and found that it was not holding the file rights and ownerships on restore. This basically made the backup unsuable although I could recover my data files with much hassle.

Dar2 removes the 2 gig limit and manages scheduling.

[imcintyre]

Purvis:

If you're a noob, I am whatever is lower than that. We had somebody set up SME 6, 2-3 years ago as strictly a file server and then they left.  I didn't know how, so no updates, no restarts, no IT, no nothing. It ran for a year without me even thinking about it until the power went off for a day (no UPS either).  It started right back up without lost data and still runs. It's an appliance (the highest compliment).

Since I didn't know anything I backed it up to a usb drive attached to an w2k machine (software is by 2brightsparks and is free download for personal use). I am sure there are other products but this is pretty good.

I have SME7 at home and it has withstood my brutal attempts (just look at some of my posts) at adding features and appears to have similar reliability.

Can't comment about W2* server but they all seem to need IT people on site.

[elmarconi]

hello to all
there are less than 10 people that would be using the file server.
there would be about 40 people using the email server.

I can only give you my experience: been using SME since version 4.

Never had a problem with it. Once a harddrive crash but good backup policy with rsync and snapshots had me up and running in less then a couple of hours.

I recently killed my test SME7.0 as I plan to upgrade the ol' faithfull 6.01, which I have to blame on myself for not reading the manual....

Anyway, we trust our business (> 15 persons) in SME. Fully. And 7.1 will touch earth here very soon!

[root@smeserver root]# uptime
  1:17am  up 332 days,  3:54,  2 users,  load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00

[root@smeserver root]# df
Filesystem           1k-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda3             97881424  55452740  37456568  60% /
/dev/hda1               101089     17500     78370  19% /boot
none                    257248         0    257248   0% /dev/shm
freenas:/mnt/RAID1/  151371296  83836960  55424640  61% /mnt/freenas/RAID1
freenas2:/mnt/BackupSME-3/
                      58775808  53056096   2734032  96% /mnt/backupSME
/dev/sdb1            115377640  48040876  61475852  44% /mnt/usbdisk

Yes, we're very happy with this fabulous piece of work.
Come to think of it, it is donation time...

[raem]

purvis

> what i need in systems is stabilty.

All final releases of sme server are stable.

I suggest you install a sme 7.1 from CD (and run all updates to get it to v7.1.2), in server only mode, alongside your existimg server(s) connected on the same network.
Play with sme and learn what it is all about before switching over to it as a production box (eg to server & gateway mode by reconfiguring from the admin menu). It will do everything you are asking for on the one box with ease (except MS AD stuff).

[mercyh]

elmarconi,

root@smeserver root]# uptime
1:17am up 332 days, 3:54, 2 users, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00

I used to do this with SME 6.xx. This is good for bragging rights (I had one that was behind a generater that was up for more then two years.) but it is not good for security. You will find with 7.1 that updates will come out almost monthly that require rebooting.

I would just like to give a big THANKS to the devs, moderators and the forum users that share their time and expertise.

[elmarconi]

Yes, I'm aware. It was not meant to brag, merely to show the stability of the unit.

[purvis]

thanks for the answers.
i know a lot of people have dedicated their precious time to this project for which i recongnize. i have been through a lot of pains since using computers since 1983, so i understand the devotation it takes from those people.
i am sure i am on the better days of the operating system and i would benefit from previous developers. i waited because when i first saw about sme the trend was to go from redhat to cent-os and i really did not know the difference in the two, even thought i had purchase many off the shelve linux systems in the past. i saw where there were some statments concerning sme version 6.0  stability and i believe that might have been the last redhat linux versions, but things change, hardware, devices, etc. who knows what is for tommorrow, we have to adapte, but we want stability in our software-hardware and standardization if we can get it, it sure makes life nicer. i will have to make some contribution in the near future if i use sme server and i am sure those that have babyed this project will not really see it.
so my warmest heart of a true thanks goes to those for i will benefit by the grace of others and those that have passed.
thank you again for the comments, as i feel i am on the right path.
paul

[phete67]

elmarconi, I noticed you use use FreeNAS to backup your smeserver.

I have recently changed the operation system on my storage server to FreeNAS (from a regular Linux distro) and am having a problems keeping owner/group permissions.

This is the command I used to use:
rsync -vaz --delete --progress --stats --exclude "/proc/" --exclude "/mnt/" --exclude "[cC]ache" / -e ssh root@192.168.1.4:/mnt/tmp/backup/sme/

Would you be so kind to post the command you use? I am guessing you use nfs to mount FreeNAS and then copy?

Thanks,
Pete

[elmarconi]

Would you be so kind to post the command you use?
I am guessing you use nfs to mount FreeNAS and then copy?

Thanks, Pete

Yup, I just mount FreeNAS nfs and use rsnapshot http://www.rsnapshot.org/