I have a client that already has a "Windows 2003 Server" server in their main office. He wants me to put a new server in a remote office, which is connected via a vpn. The only real connection between the two will be every night to copy all data files to the main server for backup. He has told me to use Linux/Samba or Win2003k whichever I think is best. Now, without a doubt, I prefer linux, that is all I've installed for several years. But, I'm also smart (humble) enough to know, I've never messed with getting a samba box to live with a Win2003k box. Yes, I know it can be done, I've read about it on this list, but, most of the time there has been alot of pain and many many hours spent getting there. I don't have that luxury. I can't afford to spend 40 hours getting it to work and only billing 2 hours or whatever. Also, the remote office is 2 hours drive at best away. I guess it boils down to, "How hard is it going to be to setup a cron job of some sort that will copy all data files to the Win2003k server every night?" I don't really need total integration I guess. The remote server can have it's own domain, users, etc. I just need to connect to the main office each night.
Hi Gary,> I guess it boils down to, "How hard is it going to be to setup a cron > job of some sort that will copy all data files to the Win2003k server > every night?"If all you're fussed about is copying the files then it's trivial at best. The problems only start occurring when you're playing with user logons, file permissions, domain integration, etc. If you want it done really quickly, you don't even need the Samba server - just create a share on the Windows box that gives you access to all the files, then mount that on the Linux box using cifs or smbfs and just have a cron job like "cp /mnt/remote/* /home/backup -Rv" or the like. The only pitfall to keep an eye on is getting the permissions copied across can be troublesome. The method above will just copy the files and maybe some permissions. If you also want the permissions copied over by far the simplest method would be to install some program on the Windows box that puts all the files into the one archive, permissions and all, and save that massive archive across the VPN. Not the most efficient method though. Cheers, Adam.
Gary MacKay wrote:> I have a client that already has a "Windows 2003 Server" server in their > main office. He wants me to put a new server in a remote office, which > is connected via a vpn. The only real connection between the two will be > every night to copy all data files to the main server for backup. He has > told me to use Linux/Samba or Win2003k whichever I think is best. Now, > without a doubt, I prefer linux, that is all I've installed for several > years. But, I'm also smart (humble) enough to know, I've never messed > with getting a samba box to live with a Win2003k box. Yes, I know it can > be done, I've read about it on this list, but, most of the time there > has been alot of pain and many many hours spent getting there. I don't > have that luxury. I can't afford to spend 40 hours getting it to work > and only billing 2 hours or whatever. Also, the remote office is 2 hours > drive at best away. > > I guess it boils down to, "How hard is it going to be to setup a cron > job of some sort that will copy all data files to the Win2003k server > every night?" I don't really need total integration I guess. The remote > server can have it's own domain, users, etc. I just need to connect to > the main office each night. >Try rsync. -- Regards -------------------------------------- Gerald Drouillard Technology Architect Drouillard & Associates, Inc. http://www.Drouillard.ca