[OT-ish] nfs v. samba

[Todd Slater]

On 10/28/05, David Teague(T-bird acct) <davidbteague at verizon.net> wrote:
> Oscar wrote:
>
> >On Fri, 28 Oct 2005 09:25:19 -0400
> >Todd Slater <dontodd at gmail.com> wrote:
> ><SNIP>
> >
> >>I recently set up NFS to share files linux to linux. After mounting
> >>the shared directory I tried transferring some files; the transfer was
> >>incredibly slow. A folder of jpegs about 5.5 MB took well over 4
> >>minutes. I say this is incredibly slow because when I ran Mandrake
> >>(RIP) with samba, I could transfer a 700 MB file in like 6 minutes or
> >>something (Windows and linux).
> >>
> >>
> >
> ><SNIP>
> >
> >95% of all computer related problems are located somewhere between the chair and the monitor... :)
> >
> >Oscar
> >
> >
> I recall being told that NFS is pretty much insecure,
> and should not be used where an arbitrary machine
> from the internet can access an NFS file system?
>
> Is this fact? If so how serious is the insecurity? Have
> there been advances in NFS since such a time?

I believe this is more or less accurate. The problem is that the
server trusts that the client is who it says it is and is therefore
susceptible to spoofing. It does, however, require the user on both
server and client to have the same UID. I found this thread helpful in
understanding the security issues:
http://www.derkeiler.com/Mailing-Lists/securityfocus/focus-linux/2005-02/0001.html.

Todd