Shout out to OmniOS / IllumOS platform

[AveryFreeman]

Hey all,

Just wanted to mention how much I love the IllumOS platform since I changed file server OS last Aug.

I still use FreeBSD and Linux (primarily Ubuntu or CentOS) for software support every now and then, in a couple instances I use NFS shares from OmniOS to other OS and mount using fstab so it behaves like a local folder. This way I can use software unavailable on OmniOS but still keep all the storage centralized to my file server.

But man - when I need a file share OmniOS has just been so dead easy on my network it's saved me days if not weeks of fiddling with Samba.

I'm pretty active on the IX Community (FreeNAS forum) because I used to use FreeNAS before switching to FreeBSD then switching to OmniOS for my file server. Still like the forum, but haven't used FreeNAS in over a year.

Tried installing newest version of FreeNAS in a VM and integrating it into my domain network. User and group lists were immediate upon domain membership, but it all ended there. Samba file shares wouldn't work (dreaded "neverending password prompt") domain user auth not possible without lots of extra setup.

Just no appetite to mess with Samba for day after day anymore. OmniOS is where it's at.

Just set up a new dataset in domain-connected OmniOS server. # zfs set sharesmb=on zpool/dataset

Bam. On Windows network working properly, proper permissions (set by domain controller).

So ... Sooooo NICE!

I was hoping FreeNAS had caught up, but it's lightyears behind.

 

[gea]

Yes, Sun did a phantastic job with ZFS and the OS/ZFS embedded SMB server with integrated AD support.

Unlike SAMBA the goal was not to offer flexible SMB access with many options to any Linux/Unix OS and filesystems but to simply emulate Windows server shares with their ntfs based permissions and snaps as previous versions. Share properties are ZFS properties and permissions based on Windows SID instead of Unix UID/GID are extended ZFS attributes. Never loose permissions after a backup/restore - even to another server. No config file like smb.conf with all the settings to adopt the options and differences between all the filesystems and operating systems SAMBA is running under.

It just works with a set share = on/off for a ZFS filesystem.

 

[DedoBOT]

The ridiculous thing is when you need to tune Win server file sharing performance , the great way is just to mirror Solaris 11.4 out of the box smb and network related settings .

 

[AveryFreeman]

Yes, Sun did a phantastic job with ZFS and the OS/ZFS embedded SMB server with integrated AD support.

Unlike SAMBA the goal was not to offer flexible SMB access with many options to any Linux/Unix OS and filesystems but to simply emulate Windows server shares with their ntfs based permissions and snaps as previous versions. Share properties are ZFS properties and permissions based on Windows SID instead of Unix UID/GID are extended ZFS attributes. Never loose permissions after a backup/restore - even to another server. No config file like smb.conf with all the settings to adopt the options and differences between all the filesystems and operating systems SAMBA is running under.

It just works with a set share = on/off for a ZFS filesystem.

I love the "just works" part. I hate wrestling with samba, it's maddening.

Samba's developers regularly say that features will be removed or syntax requirements altered in upcoming versions. So if you stay up on it you can keep your system from breaking, but it's still a hassle.

Most people (like me) probably assume their system will keep working properly if they do an upgrade of their packages via package manager (e.g. apt upgrade) since most packages that make it into mainstream repositories remain stable, but that's NOT the case for Samba.

Samba changes upstream so often and it's so interdependent on other packages and config files that in my experience it WILL break, or at the very least require the most significant attention out of any software base commonly used on *Nix platforms.

Throw in the weird interplay between poorly emulated ACLs and unix permissions and it's a total shit show.

I have no idea how IT managers can manage for a an enterprise user base to rely on it for any significant amount of time. Maybe one of the highly curated repos like Samba Plus or Univention Corporation Server or something...

The ridiculous thing is when you need to tune Win server file sharing performance , the great way is just to mirror Solaris 11.4 out of the box smb and network related settings

Not sure I follow you, could you please elaborate on what you mean? I'm curious...

 

[DedoBOT]

Window's SMB security settings follows the "sharectl get smb" output, same for the NICs drivers.