Suggest a simple distro for me

G

Grentz

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May 5, 2006
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Ok, I know there are lots of places that show all the distros, etc, etc. but I am looking for some suggestions on a simple linux distro to do what I need.

What I need is a distro to run a simple file server. It will be run in a workgroup and on older hardware so I would prefer something simple. I also need it to have good options for permissions and such (groups and users). I have already tried some of the NAS linux distros such as FreeNAS but they do not have enough user permission control as far as multiple groups for users and such.

Any help greatly appreciated!
 
Grentz said:
Ok, I know there are lots of places that show all the distros, etc, etc. but I am looking for some suggestions on a simple linux distro to do what I need.

What I need is a distro to run a simple file server. It will be run in a workgroup and on older hardware so I would prefer something simple. I also need it to have good options for permissions and such (groups and users). I have already tried some of the NAS linux distros such as FreeNAS but they do not have enough user permission control as far as multiple groups for users and such.

Any help greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...

freeNAS is based off freeBSD, not any linux distro -___-

Cheetoz said:
debian.
Click to expand...

+1 for any debian based distro
 
Openbsd. A ten minute install.

Debian is always a good choice.

Ubuntu Server edition won't hurt ya badly.
 
Why wouldn't FreeNAS allow you to create more users/groups? Are you sure you're doing it correctly? Or were you looking for an ACL type solution?
 
Boomslang said:
Why wouldn't FreeNAS allow you to create more users/groups? Are you sure you're doing it correctly? Or were you looking for an ACL type solution?
Click to expand...

Exactly, looking for more of an ACL type thing and FreeNAS does not allow you to have users in more than one group which is a major limitation for the setup I am working on.

Thanks for the suggestions guys :cool:
 
Have you tried creating the groups with groupadd and adding users to multiple groups with gpasswd -a? I'm not much of a BSD user, but that works fine on Linux systems.
 
Yup, its a known issue on FreeNAS that you cannot have a user in multiple groups. Supposedly being worked on for the next release.
 
Wow, I'm appalled.

I'm sorry if it came off like I was insulting your intelligence in any way, btw. That's an unusual "feature" for a Unix-like system, and I didn't do my research.

My NAS is running Gentoo and serving over NFS, and I know for a fact that it's not a difficult task to include more precise ACL functionality to any Gentoo installation. I personally don't need that kind of control, but I'll put a vote in for either Gentoo, if you're familiar with it, or OpenBSD if you want a rock solid and secure OS. Neither will have all the "out of the box" functionality that it sounds like you're looking for, but both are sufficiently lightweight and will get the job done. You'll have to do some fiddling with both of these options to get what you want out of them.

However, if all you're looking for is the ability to add a user to multiple groups, most any distro or BSD variant (minus FreeNAS, apparently) should do just fine.
 
Ok, ya I am a noob to Linux/BSD OS stuff, but can get by if I can get good info (I am good with smoothwall mods and tivo hacking!). At home all I use is Windows 2000 Server so ya... :p

FreeNAS is VERY stripped down on purpose. They say clearly it is not meant for advanced permissions and it is made to be like that so it is very light weight. Supposedly it will be fixed in the next release but who knows when that will be?

It is very small and very well done though, nice and simple to use and would be perfect if it were not for the lack of permission features!
 
For anyone new to Linux that wants to play around with it and not worry about messing with your current system, and not having messing up any hardware or partitions, I'd say try out Linux in a VM.

http://linuxbasics.org/course/lbox-howto


*edit, VMware's download site is down for maintenance right now... hope it isn't down long.
 
Ya, I have no need to VM it. I have plenty of test machines setup and plenty waiting for a dual boot ;)

Thanks for the suggestion though, VM are very handy for some situations.
 
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