Samba and CERNBox: Providing online access to Windows-based users at CERN

<!--HTML-->This paper presents the experience in providing CERN users with direct online access to their EOS/CERNBox-powered user storage from Win- dows. In production for about 15 months, a High-Available Samba cluster is regularly used by a significant fraction of the CERN 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 describe the configuration of the cluster, which is based on standard compo- nents: the EOS-backed CERNBox storage is mounted via FUSE, and an addi- tional mount provided by CephFS is used to share the cluster’s state. Further, we describe some typical shortcomings of such a setup and how they were tackled. Finally, we show how such an additional access method fits in the bigger picture, where the storage is seamlessly accessed by user jobs, sync clients, FUSE/Samba mounts as well as the web UI, whilst aiming at a consistent view and user experience.