this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2025
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I recently replaced an ancient laptop with a slightly less ancient one.

  • host for backups for three other machines
  • serve files I don't necessarily need on the new machine
  • relatively lightweight - "server" is ~15 years old
  • relatively simple - I'd rather not manage a dozen docker containers.
  • internal-facing
  • does NOT need to handle Android and friends. I can use sync-thing for that if I need to.

Left to my own devices I'd probably rsync for 90% of that, but I'd like to try something a little more pointy-clicky or at least transparent in my dotage.

Edit: Not SAMBA (I freaking hate trying to make that work)

Edit2: for the young'uns: NFS (linux "network filesystem")

Edit 3: LAN only. I may set up a VPN connection one day but it’s not currently a priority. (edited post to reflect questions)

Last Edit: thanks, friends, for this discussion! I think based on this I'll at least start with NFS + my existing backups system (Mint's thing, which is I think just a gui in front of rcync). May play w/ modern SAMBA if I have extra time.

Ill continue to read the replies though - some interesting ideas.

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[–] BonkTheAnnoyed@lemmy.blahaj.zone 27 points 1 day ago (9 children)

See, this is interesting. I'm out here looking for the new shiny easy button, but what I'm hearing is "the old config-file based thing works really well. ain't broken, etc."

I may give that a swing and see.

[–] curbstickle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 24 points 1 day ago (8 children)

I'm at the same age - just to mention, samba is nowhere near the horror show it used to be. That said, I use NFS for my Debian boxes and mac mini build box to hit my NAS, samba for the windows laptop.

[–] roofuskit@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Yeah, Samba has come a long way. I run a Linux based server but all clients are Windows or Android so it just makes sense to run SMB shares instead of NFS.

[–] ImgurRefugee114@reddthat.com 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I've always had weird issues with SMB like ghost files, issues with case sensitivity (zfs pool), it dropping out and me having to reboot to re-establish the connection... Since switching to Linux and using NFS, it's been almost indistinguishable from a native drive for my casual use (including using a ssd pool as a steam library...)

[–] roofuskit@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I can definitely say in the past I had similar experiences. I haven't really had any problems with SMB in the last 5 years that I can recall. It really was a shit show back in the day, but it's been rock solid for me anyway.

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