Tuxera Fusion: bringing SMB and NFS together on one platform

Multi-protocol storage lets SMB and NFS share the same data safely, something open-source Samba and NFS cannot do because neither tracks the other’s file locks or permissions. Tuxera Fusion solves this by running Fusion SMB and the upcoming Fusion NFS on one platform, with shared lock, handle, and authentication awareness across both protocols. Fusion SMB already pushes Mac performance well beyond open-source Samba, and Fusion NFS reaches up to 22.7 GB/s on a single 200 GbE connection, double the throughput of Ganesha.

Key takeaways

• Multi-protocol storage means serving the same files over both SMB and NFS at once. Open-source Samba and NFS cannot do this safely because neither tracks the other’s file locks, handles, or permissions, which risks files being locked out, corrupted, or deleted.
• Tuxera Fusion runs Fusion SMB and the upcoming Fusion NFS on one platform with shared lock, handle, and authentication awareness, so a single folder can be served over both protocols with no duplicate shares, no data migration, and no corruption.
• Consolidation onto one platform reduces duplicated data and capacity usage, and gives you one consistent set of permissions across both protocols.
• The shared foundation brings enterprise-grade resilience to both protocols at once: rolling upgrades, high availability, zero-downtime maintenance, encrypted connections, and SMB over QUIC.
• Fusion SMB has pushed single-port Mac throughput to 10.5 GB/s in live demos, and Fusion NFS reaches up to 22.7 GB/s on a single 200 GbE connection, roughly double the throughput of open-source Ganesha and faster than kernel-level NFSD.

Most enterprise storage environments use two file-sharing protocols, Server Message Block (SMB) and Network File System (NFS), and for decades, these have existed separately.

The multi-protocol problem

Multi-protocol storage means serving the same files over more than one file-sharing protocol at the same time. For most organizations, that means SMB and NFS, and getting them to coexist safely has long been the hard part.

SMB is everywhere. Every Mac, Windows, and Linux machine has it built in, and billions of devices rely on it. But many of the most demanding workflows, including high-performance computing, machine learning, media, and medical imaging, still depend on NFS. Most teams end up running both, typically using open-source Samba on one side and open-source NFS on the other.

The trouble is that those two open-source stacks do not know about each other. Neither is aware of the other’s file locks, handles, or authentication. Accessing the same data over both protocols can lock out, corrupt, or delete files. The usual workaround is to maintain two separate shares and constantly migrate data and reconcile permissions between them, which adds cost, duplication, and risk.

Watch Duncan break it down

In the first webinar of our new Tuxera Fusion series, Duncan from our Enterprise Division explains why keeping SMB and NFS apart creates real problems, and how bringing both protocols onto a single platform changes what is possible.

One platform, both protocols

Fusion takes a different approach. Because Tuxera Fusion SMB and the upcoming Tuxera Fusion NFS both run on the same Fusion platform, they share lock awareness, handle awareness, and authentication on both sides. That means you will be able to share a single folder safely across SMB and NFS at the same time, with no duplicate shares, no data migration, and no corruption. The result is genuine consolidation: less duplicated data, lower capacity usage, and one consistent set of permissions that simply works.

That shared foundation also brings enterprise-grade resilience to both protocols at once, including rolling upgrades, high availability, and zero-downtime maintenance where nodes can be taken offline one at a time. Security stays front and center, with encrypted connections, multiple authentication methods, and SMB over QUIC for encrypted transport.

The result is simple to describe and hard to engineer: one folder, two protocols, no compromise.

Performance without compromise

Performance is where the difference shows. On the Mac, open-source Samba had long been stuck at around 2.8 GB/s over a single 100 GbE port. Working closely with Apple, ATTO, and the networking ecosystem, Tuxera has pushed single-port Mac throughput steadily higher across live demonstrations: 5.3 GB/s at NAB 2025, 8.6 GB/s at IBC 2025, and 10.5 GB/s at NAB 2026, each from a single port.

Fusion NFS follows the same philosophy. It is designed to run in safe user space rather than deep inside the kernel, and it reaches up to 22.7 GB/s on a single 200 GbE connection, running roughly twice as fast as open-source Ganesha and faster than kernel-level NFSD, with full RDMA support. The goal is simple: the performance of NFS without giving up the safety and stability of user-space deployment.

True multi-protocol storage unlocks workflows across media and VFX, medical and life sciences, high-performance computing, machine learning, oil and gas, and education, anywhere teams need powerful SMB and NFS working side by side. A customer at a major medical research institution summed it up simply, calling the move to Tuxera “a no-brainer.” Fusion NFS arrives on the Fusion platform this November at SC26 in Chicago. Select customers have already been putting it through its paces in private preview.

See the multi-protocol story in action. Duncan walks through the locking and consolidation problem, the single-platform architecture that solves it, and the performance numbers behind both protocols.