Windows NFS Performance vs Windows File Sharing?
Has anyone set up NFS where both the server and the clients are all Windows? I am wondering:
- How Does Performance Compare to using builtin Windows file sharing (CIFS/SMB)?
- Can clients mount NFS shares as network drives just like with regular file sharing?
- Any recommended tools since Windows does not support this natively?
- Does doing this provide reliable file sharing?
Solution 1:
CIFS/SMB really should be your choice for Windows clients & servers - NFS can be very insecure without the hassle of Kerberos. Using SMB you get the standard Windows security model.
- Performance wise there is not not much much in it - possibly SMB is a bit faster.
- XP needs Windows Services for UNIX (here) to mount NFS
- Windows Server can only mount NFS shares not offer them. It has to use SMB.
- Reliability for an XP client mounting an NFS share from a Linux server so far has been fine, although we only have a couple of machines doing this.
In conclusion for a Windows server, NFS is not an option. For an XP client only use NFS if you have to - due to only having a Linux server when you don't want the hassle of setting up SAMBA