SMB would be GREAT except for FONTS

Question

Small mac network running a windows 2000 server for file sharing. 2 options for sharing:
1. AFP (Apple Filing Protocol) - Current
PROs
- Supports Mac OS 9 files (resource folks)
- No conversion of illegal characters.
CONs
- Requires SFM to be running.
- 32 character file name limitation
2. SMB (Windows Native) - Preferred.
PROs
- Existing shares.
- Long file names.
CONs
- Converts illegal characters.
- No Mac OS 9 files. (resource forks).
This year we completed the transfer from Macs running 9 to X. Classic no longer required. Currently using AFP, but would like to move to SMB to support longer file names. The biggest hurdle is that our font collections are from MacOS 9 and when copying printer fonts, the font appears as 0 Kb. (I suspect this is due to the info being stored in the resource fork which is not transferred correctly).
Is there a work-around for the Mac OS 9 Postscript fonts that will allow them to be copied to an SMB volume?
Thanks
Matt.
G5 2.0 x2, 2.5GB Ram, 2x160GB   Mac OS X (10.3.9)  

Answer 1

Hi Matt!
By moving away from Mac OS 9 and Classic support you're expanding your options for solutions. Any solution that requires both Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X support would require an AFP solution and the only real game in town is ExtremeZ-IP from <http://www.grouplogic.com>. MacServeIP is another AFP server solution but I won't recommend it because its support the past few years has been very sparse.
Any files placed on your server via AFP that you want to access via SMB must first be copied off the server via AFP and then replaced via SMB. Apple's implementation of SMB will preserve the characteristics you're after.
However, for regular ongoing file sharing for your Macs I recommend you don't use Apple's SMB. It's not very well done and you'll often come across file permissions issues due to the hidden "._" files. These files are also an annoyance to Windows users who like to browse the server showing hidden files.
If you have relatively few Macs I suggest you install a better SMB client on your Macs such as Dave or ADMitMac from <http://www.thursby.com>. It's a much better SMB client and is very well-supported by Thursby, which been around for years.
PROs
- Well-supported application
- Eliminates problems caused by Apple's SMB implementation
CONs
- Requires one license for every workstation (more administration)
I consider the best solution to be ExtremeZ-IP, which supports the Mac OS native file sharing protocol, plus ExtremeZ-IP supports backward compatible AFP clients such as Mac OS 9.
PROs
- Well-supported application
- Supports Mac OS native AFP file sharing protocol
- Is installed on each file server (less administration)
CONs
- Can be expensive compared to the number of Mac clients you have
Hope this helps! bill
1 GHz Powerbook G4   Mac OS X (10.4.8)