Samba is an opensource program running on a Linux serverand its designed to replace Microsoft file shares. Microsoft Windows clients can transparently store and access files without ever knowing that they are not connected to an NT, W2K, or other windows server machine. Samba on Linux is reliable fast , low cost and doesn't have any licensing issues. It has several methods of administration, command line, gui using SWAT or Webmin, both of the latter can be used remotely to configure, restart and add users.

You will need a current version of Linux, such as SuSE, Redhat. Any Intel machine can do duty as the server, it can also utilise hardware RAID and most of the versions of Linux support software RAID. For a starter system an older Pentium II PC with 128mb Ram and 8 Gig hard disk would work just fine.

The server should be connected to your local area network (LAN), along with your Microsoft Windows PC's.
Samba will normally use the TCP/IP network protocol for communication, not the proprietary NetBEUI protocol common on many Windows networks. It can also work with DHCP if that is required along with options like Domain Controller really do make it a versatile solution.

We have deployed this solution many times and we are always asked what is the catch, its simple their isnt one, Samba is a cheap reliable fileserver, which can save businesses thousands in licenece fees, ask us for a quote.