Considering moving from a Samba file server to FreeNAS, looking for advice

bazzacad

Explorer
Joined
May 1, 2019
Messages
53
We're currently running a CentOS Samba Active Directory server & a Samba file server (on different VMs). I'm now considering moving to a FreeNAS box for our shared storage. Since FreeNAS has SMB & Active Directory built in, I'm wondering if we still need our Samba file server or not?

Option 1, have one big share on the FreeNAS box & have the file server mount it via iSCSI & keep managing all the shares & permissions.

Option 2, setup all the shares & permissions on FreeNAS and have all the Windows clients connect to it directly.

Any suggestions or advice on these options?

I'm thinking Option 1 will be easier up front, since all the users, shares & permissions are already setup, but it's basically just acting as a middle man.
Option 2 will be more work up front, but easy to manage in the long run with the FreeNAS UI.
How easy/diffidence is it to get FreeNAS with Active Directory? Are there any issues getting it to work with Samba Active Directory vs. Windows Active Directory?
 
Joined
Jul 3, 2015
Messages
926
Option 2 all the way.

Option 1 would require a zvol and then you could only go to about 50% capacity due to fragmentation plus you are adding layers that are just not needed.

I do Option 2 with AD integration on several large storage servers and it works just great.
 

bazzacad

Explorer
Joined
May 1, 2019
Messages
53
Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm going to give Option 2 a try. Hopefully it's not too painful to migrate.
 
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