Recommendations please - iscsi or cifs/smb

[robdaglish]

Hi All,

I'm currently playing around with vmware esxi and some Linux vm's. They live at the end of a 2gb connection to a 48 port switch. At the end of another 2gb connection to the same switch is a netgear readynas2100, and all 20 or so workstations connect to the same switch. users home folders need to be on the nas for ease of backup, machine swaps etc.

 

I'd like some thoughts on the following scenarios:

ReadyNas is set up with user authentication and users PCs connect directly to the nas.

 

ReadyNas is set up as an iSCSI target, and one of the linux boxes runs samba to share the home folders.

 

I've got LDAP running to do user auth for email/web/proxy servers, and i'd like to use the same accounts for my home folders ideally.

 

If I do go with scenario 2, am I better to vlan the connection to the nas from the server and use the 2 "spare" network cards in the server to team into the connection to the users PCs?

 

I had all this planned in my head, and now I've bottled it slightly!