Samba and CERNBox: experience in providing HA online access to Windows-based users

<!--HTML-->This contribution presents the experience in providing CERN users with direct online access to their CERNBox storage from Windows. In production for about 15 months, a High-Available Samba cluster is regularly used by a significant fraction of the CERNBox user base, following the migration of their central home folders from Microsoft DFS in the context of CERN's strategy to move to open source solutions. We will describe the configuration of the cluster, which is based on standard components: the EOS-backed CERNBox storage is mounted via FUSE, and an additional mount provided by CephFS is used to share the cluster's state. Further, we will describe some typical shortcomings of such a setup and how they were tackled. Finally, we will show how such an additional access method fits in the bigger picture, where the EOS-backed storage can seamlessly be accessed via sync clients, FUSE/Samba mounts as well as the web UI, whilst aiming at a consistent view and experience.