G5 to use as file server?

I have an old G5 1.8DP that I want to set up in the office as a file server. I also have a Netgear ReadyNas box that I use as for RAID storage for my archive, plugged into my LAN via a Netgear gigabit switch.
Problem is that the ReadyNas has permission problems which prevent use file sharing. Could I use the G5 as a sharepoint on my network so the other 4 Macs on the LAN can connect? If so, how would it need to be configured
The G5 is running 10.5, wasn't sure if I would need server software to do this.
Also, would it be possible to use the G5 as a Time Machine back-up for the other Macs?
Lat question, could the G5 be used for office tasks if it is used a file server? Currently it's a spare machine used in emergencies.
Any help much appreciated, my networking knowledge is pretty patchy!

What I'm unsure of is how do I specify a central shared location and have that automounted on each machine on the network
That's why I added the clause about it depending on your current network setup.
If you have a series of standalone machines then that's fine, but the file server will need to have an account for each user in order for everyone to log in independently and that's where it starts to get sticky. Without a central directory users will have two accounts - one on their own machine and one on the server. You now start to get into problems with passwords (although the accounts may have the same name, users will (or could) have different passwords on the server from their local machine, and changing one does not change the other.
With a central directory each user has one account across the network, which radically simplifies file sharing, automount, etc.
What I'm unsure of is how do I specify a central shared location and have that automounted on each machine on the network?
Well, the automounting is easy once the file server is setup - just mount it once and drag the icon to System Preferences -> Accounts -> (your account) -> Login Items.
Am thinking that it may be worth my while buying OSX 10.6 server (if that will run on a PPC machine?).
10.6 is decidedly Intel-only, so it won't run on your G5. It may be possible to pick up a copy of 10.5 server, though.
You will also need Mac OS X Server if you have more than 10 clients in your network (Mac OS X client's filesharing is limited to 10 clients), but at that point you should consider that a brand new Mac Mini Server costs as much as the unlimited client Mac OS X Server 10.5 software...
It would be really handy to set a TM back-up routine for all networked machines using the G5 rather than buying another NAS box, as the G5 has a spare drive bay.
Using the server for Time Machine requires Mac OS X Server - Mac OS X client can't do that.

Similar Messages

On A Budget - Options for Using a File Server.

Hi - I have this relatively old 2008R2 file server (8GB memory and 25TB disk) I'd like to use as file storage for a SQL Server VM. The network is a 1GB switched configuration. The VM resides on relatively new hardware (Server 2012, SAS) but doesn't
have a lot of disk. I'd like to make a bunch of the file server space available for SQL Server Data (2008R2) - its a small network (10 users) that we want to load a bunch of glob data indexed by a few keywords as reference. Kind of like a
GIS database. My first thought is to create fixed vhdx file on the file server via Hyper-V manager, but this takes days to initialize for the size I'm thinking of (10TB). I created an expanding disk and it was pretty quick to create. I copied
a 4GB file over the net to the mounted (from the Hyper-V Host) vhdx file and it went pretty fast. I thought about using the iSCSI trick to attach it to the SQL VM (turning the file server into a SAN sort of?), but I'm wondering if this is overkill.
I'm just looking for a few suggestions. There is a lot of stuff out there, some of it conflicting, about storage configuration.
Thanks

Yes, upgrading....
I need to emphasize the budget thing. I will look into the iSCSI option. The VM is Server 2012.
We might be able to convert the 2008 server to Windows 8. It doesn't really do anything besides file shares and security is not a concern as we are not connected. Is that an option? Win8 supports SMB 3 I understand.
Yes you can do that. But... Older desktop versions of Windows were limited on amount of TCP connections they could handle obviously affecting usability and performance as a server. Not sure what's accurate for Windows 8 as MSFT has been changing this policy
back and forth all the time )) Check within MSFT licensing specialists before you do that.
P.S. I'd spawn FreeBSD or openSUSE with a Samba instead of a desktop version of Windows OS being used as a file server. IMHO.
Cheers,
Anton Kolomyeytsev [MVP]
StarWind Software Chief Architect
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Migrate File Server data from one volume to another

I am looking for the best way to handle this situation. We have a VHD that has a 4KB cluster size that is getting close to the 16TB mark so no expanding past that due to the cluster size. In the past whenever i needed to pull this off i would preload as
much data as possible with robocopy, then during a maintenance window take the share offline, do a refresh with robocopy then flip everything that i needed to flip drive letter and share setup etc.
I have the space to do a complete copy like this so that is not an issue. But other things to keep in mind are the data is deduplicated so we are talking 20TB total. The other is the backup of the File Server is done at a file level with DPM so DPM will
see this as a new volume and be an issue.
At this point i have time to plan and am just looking for ideas.

Hi,
If you want to copy files/folders from one Volume to another volume, you could use the File Server Migration Tool (FSMT) or Robocopy to accomplish.
The tool can move all of the files from the shares on your original volume to the new volume.
FSMT and Robocopy will not copy Share permissions but only NTFS permissions. So if the drive letter will not be changed, you can backup and restore the Share permission with steps here:
Saving and restoring existing Windows shares
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/125996
Regards.
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected]

Failover cluster File Server role best practices

We recently implemented a Hyper-V Server Core 2012 R2 cluster with the sole purpose to run our server environment. I started with our file servers and decided to create multiple file servers and put them in a cluster for high
availability. So now I have a cluster of VMs, which I have now learned is called a guest cluster, and I added the File Server role to this cluster. It then struck me that I could have just as easily created the File Server role under my Hyper-V
Server cluster and removed this extra virtual layer.
I'm reaching out to this community to see if there are any best practices on using the File Server role. Are there any benefits to having a guest cluster provide file shares? Or am I making things overly complicated for no reason?
Just to be clear, I'm just trying to make a simple Windows file server with folder shares that have security enabled on them for users to access internally. I'm using Hyper-V Core server 2012 R2 on my physical servers and right now I have Windows
Server Standard 2012 R2 on the VMs in the guest cluster.
Thanks for any information you can provide.

Hi,
Generally with Hyper-V VMs available, we will install all roles into virtual machines as that will be easy for management purpose.
In your situation the host system is a server core, so it seems that manage file shares with a GUI is much better.
I cannot find an article specifically regarding "best practices of setting up failover cluster". Here are 2 articles regarding build guest cluster (you have already done) and steps to create a file server cluster.
Hyper-V Guest Clustering Step-by-Step Guide
http://blogs.technet.com/b/mghazai/archive/2009/12/12/hyper-v-guest-clustering-step-by-step-guide.aspx
Failover Cluster Step-by-Step Guide: Configuring a Two-Node File Server Failover Cluster
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731844(v=ws.10).aspx
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and un-mark them if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected]

Can't open files directly from file server (MAVERICKS)

since updating to Mavericks earlier today i have had the below problem
I use a file server at work to access all my work files. i have no problem accessing the servers but when i try and when I double click to open a file (excel, word, pdf, etc) it says "the application cant be found"
when Ihave the application open and i open the same file from within the application (file > open) it works fine. I just cannot open files directly from the file server by double clicking.
in previous versions there have been no problems with this,
any help would be great,

Same issue here; I hadn't related it to upgrading to the latest OS 10.9.2. I've shutdown and restared multiple times. I've also rebuilt permissions on my hard drive as I thought it was the Finder but files on my local HD open file. Off the server, I cannot double-click or even drag to the dock. Files open fine if I open the app first then browse to find the file.

Mac as a file server for windows -- mounting a mac disk at windows startup

Is there any way to use the Mac as a file server for a windows XP home service pack 1 system?
The best I can do is "mount disk at login". However, this fails to use the right username/password, and even then it fails to deal with programs that run outside of a user context, or with fast user switching (it seems every program gets a different set of drive letters to remote volume mappings).
Mac Mini 1.42 1G Mac OS X (10.4.3)

And this is my problem.
In windows terms:
I want to assign a drive letter to a network drive, and have that be a machine-wide assignment, that is activated during bootup, and is visible to all users and services.
I can do that for an arbitrary partition that is physically attached to the machine.
I cannot seem to do that for any partition that is mounted over the network.
The problems are:
1. It doesn't map for every user,
2. It doesn't map for services that run when a user isn't logged in
3. It generates annoying inconsistencies in what programs see what.
Is there really no way for an XP box to use a file server? Even a microsoft file server? (if there is, how do I make my mac os with samba look like a real microsoft file server).
Annoying tidbit: The "conncet at login" information is stored in the user profile; if you rely on that, then the user profile cannot be stored with the rest of the user's personal files. If it weren't for that, I could probably live with a work around.
(2 to 1 someone will say "Xp Professional can do that trivially" and tell me to upgrade. I thought XP home was supposed to support home and small office networking, and I thought that included a single shared file server.)
Mac Mini 1.42 1G Mac OS X (10.4.3)

File Server and Port 21

Hi Guys and Girls
Just a quick question here. To be able to use the File Server functionality do I have to open up port 21 in the main router? I was previously looking at NAS devices which require port 21 to be opened but my Dad wasn't too keen on opening the port on his router. I've watched a few setup videos and they don't mention anything about port 21. I just want to double check before I spend $400+.
Any input would be greatly appreciated

LaPastenague wrote:
I have previously looked into these NAS MyCloud options. They all require ports to be opened up with in the main router
Pros
• Freshened interface
• USB 3.0 for expanded storage
• Easy remote access without port forwarding
• 3 licenses for Smartware Pro backup software
• Apple Time Machine backup
• NAS snapshot backups
Not according to smallnetbuilder.
Says explicitly without port forwarding..
Hmmm Interesting...
You do need upnp of course.. but upnp is available on all routers nowadays.. (except apple ones of course).
Does this involve messing with the router in anyway?
If you are accessing it 90% of the time from LAN.. then you need faster access than TC USB drive. And really faster access than WD MyCloud then you need a real NAS.
I have actually just shared my 2TB WD USB 2.0 drive on my network and connected my Windows Laptop to it via IP and the speeds are 100% fine. Absolutely no lag. It's running like a native drive.

File Server Storage Planning

I am planning a large file server and I would like your advice and suggestions. We currently have 4TB of data and I anticipate, based on growth history, we will grow to 25TB within the next 5 years. I am planning our storage infrastructure for this.
Our files are 95% .jpg files and 5% word documents, excel docs and other misc. documents. We have 2 servers. One in building A and one in Building B (DR Site) that are connected via GB LAN. The plan is to replicate the data from serverA
to ServerB using DFSR. This will provide high availability in the event of a failure on ServerA. We also have a 3rd server in buildingB that is a DPM2010 server which will backup this data.
I am trying to decide between to options and would like to know your input and advise.
Option 1: Split our data into 4 volumes and then grow those volumes over time by adding storage and spanning each disk as necessary.
Option 2: Put all data on the same volume and grow that one volume over time by adding storage and spanning the disk.
Taking into account our scenario, which decision do you recommend and why?

Hi!
You have quite a few questions inside that question. :-)
To evaluate the impact of using DFS-Replication, you need to look into the rate of change of the files, not exactly the total capacity or the number of files. DFS-R has some known limitations (for instance, you can't replicate open files). Also note that,
when using DFS, both server are running and available to users. Users in building A will go to the server in building A and users in building B will go to the server in building B (if you configure your sites and subnets correctly in Active Direction). That
could potentially lead to a replication conflict if a user in building A and a user in building B edit the same file at the same time. In that case, the last writer will win the conflict.
For true high availability, you need to use a File Server Failover Cluster with a SAN for shared storage. Since you mention different builds, you need to have two SAN solutions (one in each building) and a SAN-based solution to replicate the storage
between them. With a failover cluster, your specific file share will be running in only one of the buildings. If the cluster resource is online on building A, users from both buildings will access tthe share on that server and the server in building B will
only take over that resource in case of a failure of the server in building A.
In regards to using one or multiple volumes, it's really your call. Having multiple volumes will require multiple replication groups (if using DFS-R) or multiple cluster disks (if using Failover Cluster). This added configuration might pay off in giving
you more flexibility. For instance, you could have different cluster groups that could be onlined on different cluster nodes. It also could influence how you plan your backups. You can mask the complexity of having multiple volumes and even multiple file servers
from the end users by using DFS-Namespaces.
DPM 2010 would work with either solution.
Jose

How do you check connection to a file server

I am using a file server to store test information. I can load this info onto a remote client but as an enhancement I'd like to check that the connection to the server is ok. I have used the error message generated after a call to the volume info vi but I was wondering if there are any more elegant ways of doing this.
Thanks,
Niel.

I would suggest calling the file/dir info function on a file/dir that normally exists on the server. If the function does not error (check the error status) then the network and server are probably Ok.
Stu

Securely setting Up a Web/ File server

I was just placed into managing my companies new xServe and had a few questions that I would not mind a second opinion on.
The Servers primary role will be a file server, iCal server and sharing a company wide address book.
The secondary role would be a backup web server for a few websites that are hosted outside, but have been known to go down from time to time.
Currently we have a firewall/ router that manages DHCP with none-routable internal IPs. We also have a 4 port cable modem that is used for our static IPs (we have 5 static IPs) Right now we are only using one IP for the router.
My Idea:
Plug one NIC into the cable modem giving it a real IP, then lock it down with the servers software firewall to port 80. Plug the other into our switch that sits behind the firewall. The thought was that if you wanted to use the file server or administer the server you would need to use the VPN, but the outside could still use the web services.
I am no security expert and linking the two networks together via the server kinda sounds like a bad idea... any thoughts?

NFS
Share a directory from your server using the command share. For example:
# To share the directory /store to all users in the network, use:
share -o ro=host1:host2:host3... -d "My first share" /storeThe previous command will share the directory /store only to the computers listed as host1:host2:host3.... No other computer will have access. You can check the entire share usage with man share.
From your client computer, assuming Solaris, issue the command:
mount -o ro,soft,bg host:/store /mnt/net/remove_host/store The use of option bg prevents the mount to hang during system startup if the remote computer is not accessible.
In your vfstab, use something like:
swap - /tmp tmpfs - yes -
wgtsinf01:/store - /store nfs - yes bg
...Cheers,
Andreas

Slow applications start from win 2012 file server using win 7 workstations

I hope someone can help me with why applications are slow to load i have replaced a 8 year old server running win 2003 and replaced it with dell t620 running win 2012 r2 it is like 20 times faster but it is slower than the old server. the office has
7 win 7 x64 machines all our applications are running from win 2012 file server. The server is set up as following the server runs with two hyper-v machines one machine runs ad, file server, dhcp, dns and printer server and the other is domino server and remote
desktop.
the machine is more than capable but it is not so i started reading after i run out of ideas. i looked every where but the issue is with the server after trying everything else i did a simple test If i go to the application folder and click on it apps load
instantly if i then type a unc path it takes from instant load to 3 and a bit seconds the same as the workstations. The same speed if I use ip address.
network cards are intel
i would really appreciate if somebody has suggestions that i could try
thank you

Hi,
Do you mean that applications in the application folder start slowly when you access the application folder on the Windows 2012 R2 file server from Windows 7 workstations using UNC path or IP address. Do all the files in the application folder have the same
issue? Please create a shared folder on the file server, then access the shared folder from Windows 7 workstations to check if the issue still exists.
You could disable SMBv3 on server 2012 to check if the issue related to SMB protocol.
How to enable and disable SMBv1, SMBv2, and SMBv3 in Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 8, and Windows Server 2012
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2696547/en-us
Warning: We do not recommend that you disable SMBv2 or SMBv3. Disable SMBv2 or SMBv3 only as a temporary troubleshooting measure. Do not leave SMBv2 or SMBv3 disabled.
Best Regards,
Mandy
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How can I use Airport Extreme just as a file server - no wifi

I'm setting up a new Apple environment for an invalid music buff. Here are the components, all newly purchased.
MacBook Pro
Airport Extreme
Airport Express
I was handed a G-Drive with a large iTunes file collection on it.
The user will have Comcast as his network provider and he already has a Comcast wireless router, so none of the Apple devices will need to be used as a wireless router or base station (assuming I understand what Apple means by a "base station").
The Airport Express has the primary function of acting as an AirPlay device, feeding an analog music signal to the user's hi-end audio system (Denon integrated amplifier, Thiel Loudspeakers).
The Airport Extreme has the sole function of acting as a network file share for the G-Drive.
The MacBook Pro will operate iTunes and will get its music files from the network shared G-Drive and send it to the AirPlay device, which will feed the music signal to the hi-end audio system.
I am able to get the Airport Express to simply act as a wireless client on the Comcast provided wireless network. The MacBook Pro is also on the network and can see the Airport Express as an AirPlay device and send music to the audio system.
What I'm having problems with is getting the Airport Extreme to simply act as a file server on this LAN. It can either work in bridged mode and just be a wireless network client, or I can readily run an ethernet cable from the Airport Extreme to the Airport Express, or even to the Comcast router.
I tried to connect the MacBook Pro to the Airport Extreme with an ethernet cable and get it to "join an existing network", but it refused to recognize the Comcast provided network. All it could see were some networks in homes nearby.
I was hoping that if I just ran a network cable between the Airport Extreme and the Airport Express, that it would just get a network address over DHCP through the Airport Express. Nope.
So I'm stuck. How do I get the Airport Express to simply act as a file server for the G-Drive on my LAN?

+Can I use the Airport Extreme base station as a wired router, with wireless disabled for the time being?+
Sure, but it will probably take just as much time...a few minutes....to turn the wireless off than simply change the name on the default wireless network to your personal choice.
The AirPort Extreme is pre-configured to create a wireless network when it is hooked up to a modem. All you need do is assign a name to this network and establish a password. If you don't want to do this, you can turn the wireless off and use the device as a wired only router.
AirPort Utility, the application that is used to setup the AirPort Extreme has a simple guided step by step process for you to configure the device the way you want.

Server 2012 R2 SMB - The process cannot access the file '\\server\share\test.txt' because it is being used by another process.

Hi,
We are having issues with Server 2012 R2 SMB shares.
We try to write some changes to a file, but we first create a temporary backup in case the write fails. After the backup is created we write the changes to the file and then we get an error:
The process cannot access the file '\\server\share\test.txt' because it is being used by another process.
It looks like the backup process keeps the original file in use.
The problem doesn't always occur the first time, but almost everytime after 2 or 3 changes. I have provided some code below to reproduce the problem, you can run this in a loop to reproduce.
The problem is that once the error arises, the file remains 'in use' for a while, so you cannot retry but have to wait at least several minutes.
I've already used Process Explorer to analyze, but there are no open file handles.
To reproduce the problem: create two Server 2012 R2 machines and run the below code from one server accessing an SMB share on the other server.
Below is the code I use for testing, if you reproduce the scenario, I'm sure you get the same error.
We are not looking for an alternative way to solve this, but wonder if this is a bug that needs to be reported?
Anybody seen this behavior before or know what's causing it?
The code:
string file =
@"\\server\share\test.txt";
if (File.Exists(file))
File.Copy(file, file +
".bak", true);
File.WriteAllText(file,
"Testje",
Encoding.UTF8);
The error:
System.IO.IOException: The process cannot access the file '\\server\share\test.txt' because it is being used by another process.

Hi,
There is someone else having the same issue with yours. You could try code in the article below:
“The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process”
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/shawncao/archive/2010/06/04/the-process-cannot-access-the-file-because-it-is-being-used-by-another-process.aspx
If you wonder the root cause of the issue, the .NET Framework Class Libraries forum can help.
Best Regards,
Mandy
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Query on integrating windows file server into SAP KM using WEBDAV

hi
I have sucessfully integrated windows file server into SAP KM using WEBDAV. I have query in it regarding the possible validation against the portal Database user. Can we configure such that the user comparison happens for LDAP as well as database user. Have anyone configured such a scenario?
Regards,
Ganesh N

Hi Ganesh,
this should work in principle.
However you would need a user in Active Directory for each user in the portal database that should connect to the file server if you are using the SSO22KerbMap Module as I assume.
In my whitepaper I have mentioned this for the internal user index_service that does only exist in the portal database.
Best regards,
André

How to publish to an FTB server in iWeb 2 using the File ➙ Publish to Folder option??

I was just given the following advice regarding publishing to an FTP other than MobileMe.
Web 08 does not have that feature (drop down menu to publish from "site" icon). You will need to upgrade to iWeb 3 in iLife 11 in order to get that feature. You can get iLife 11 at the online Apple Store while supplies last since iWeb (and iDVD) have been discontinued by Apple
To pubish to an FTB server in iWeb 2 use the File ➙ Publish to Folder menu option and then use a 3rd party FTP client like Cyberduck to upload the site files.
Follon-on question, can anyone provide more details on how to do exactly what was suggested? I toyed with it and can only get it to publish to a folder on my desktop, but not to an external FTP. (I have already purchased a web-host package, just need to publish to it!)

Okay. When you publish your site from iWeb to a local folder what you will get is one site folder - this site folder will have the same name as you gave your site in iWeb and one separate index.html file.
Your site folder contains an index.html file as well as the separate index.html file. You NEED both.
What you need to do is firstly using Cyberduck or whatever, upload your site folder to your host into whatever folder you need to upload to on the server - could be 'public_html', 'htdocs' or whatever - this is your root folder.
You then need to upload your separate index.html file to your server too, but this index file needs to sit outside your site folder because it needs to point in towards the index.html file that is in your site folder - this is the first page of your site.
You don't delete or duplicate any index files - iWeb produces the two index files that you need when you publish to a local folder - one index file in the site folder itself and one separate index file that sits outside the site folder and points into the first page of your site.
Also, remember to call the first page of your site something like Home or Welcome, but DO NOT name it index.
By the looks of things here you have not uploaded your index files correctly.
What I would suggest that you do is start over - so open Cyberduck and connect to your server and go and delete your site folder and your other index file if it is still there.
Go back to iWeb and publish to a local folder again and notice that you have both your site folder and separate index.html file.
Now go and open Cyberduck again and connect to your server and note where you need to upload your files to.
Now go and upload your Site Folder to your server and once this has finished go back and upload your separate index.html file, but this needs to sit outside your site folder. If you do this, then your site should display okay - as long as your other index file is pointing into to the first page of your site it should display correctly.

G5 to use as file server?

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