Can I replace my Windows Server file/folder share service with a Raspberry Pi? [closed]

I have a Dell R720 on premise that acts as my primary domain controller for workstations. At one point the machine had many more functions and features and it was necessary to keep an on-premise server. However, over the years a lot of services have been moved to the cloud. All this thing is really used for anymore is simple file shares. Granted, these file/folder shares will likely need to continue with restricting access to certain groups or individuals.

But I was wondering. Could this file/folder share service be replaced with an SMB server? Or other simple file/folder sharing service provided by a Raspberry Pi perhaps? Then I can cut down my power consumption significantly.

If so, could I still restrict file/folder access through some sort of user account?

Solution 1:

while you can run file shares on whatever you want, why bother with such a large change? Both Dell to Pi, and Windows to Linux are relatively large jumps.

A rack server enables hardware features like 10 Gb or 25 Gb networking, expansion ports, dual power supplies, and a single vendor for parts. Pi is cheap and low power, yes, but only 1 Gb Ethernet, and how are you going to access storage, USB?

Regarding software, on a Pi you don't have Windows Server. Samba is a SMB implementation that can do file sharing. However Linux is managed different, different user scheme for security, different config files. And need to decide whether the identity system for auth remains AD DS or can be something else.

For the actual goal of reducing power consumption, consider smaller hardware changes. Put all the storage on solid state and retire spinning disks. Enable any power saving tuning settings in firmware.