Creating an encrypted tunnel for remote shares

From: JDS (jeffrey_at_example.invalid)
Date: 11/14/05 

Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 14:32:42 -0500

Hi, all. I have several questions that I have not been able to adequately
find an answer. These questions revolve around a pair of servers, one of
which's /home I wish to mount on the other.

They are both RHEL 4.

Everything is "standard" RHEL 4 packages -- I do not intend to compile
anything from source or use any 3rd-party RPM repositories. (Consider
compiling-from-source as Not an Option(TM))

They have both been up2date-ed as recently as possible.

Question 1
Which remote share technology is preferred -- Samba or NFS?
To me, Samba is much more configurable (and easier to configure) than NFS.
I have tested shares mounted similarly, using either protocol, and from
the point of view of the way I am using the servers, I can't see any real
difference. Is Samba more or less secure than NFS? Or is that a moot
question?

Question 2
How can I tunnel SMB through SSH (or use SSL)? I understand SSL has been
removed from Samba3. What I can't figure out, though, is what people have
been doing in its place. Stunnel? All the references to configuring
stunnel I can find refer to older samba versions, and setting up stunnel
on Windows. There will be no Windows here.

Question 3
Can I just clamp down access to either server and not worry too much about
encrypting traffic? i.e., will encryption make my servers much more secure
or am I going on a wild goose chase?

Any advice in these areas would be appreciated. I can, of course, supply
much more detail as requested. Just not sure what at the moment; let me
know. 

-- 
    JDS | jeffrey@example.invalid
        | http://www.newtnotes.com
  DJMBS | http://newtnotes.com/doctor-jeff-master-brainsurgeon/

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