Hi all,

I really hope some of you can give me some direction. I have setup a linux server at home and through samba I can access files from different computers in my home. I would like to use this server as a file-server for my family (brothers, sisters and parents who all live in their own homes).

I really like the way it is set up right now with user and permission controls, but I've read that it is bad idea to open up the samba port to the world.

The requirements are simple:

1) it should be easy to access, by using standard web browsers or mounting the drive (shouldn't have to use any VPN setup or use putty etc)

2) should be somewhat secure. We just want to share family pictures instead of putting them on facebook or picasa or other web server, nothing top secret.

Here is what I've looked into:

1)Webdav. It seems decent but seems like it windows7 doesn't like it very much, even with digest mode authentication. User controls and permissions are not as flexible as samba (or at least to my knowledge). I really like the user and group permissions in samba, but if I could live with webdav if it worked seamlessly with windows, it should just work shouldn't it?

2) I read somewhere to stay away from ftp as it is outdated and that there are newer and better internet file-server setups? Was that a reference to webdav?

I am so confused, please help...

Manny