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Enterprise SMB server software: a high-performance Linux SMB server for storage manufacturers, cloud providers, and enterprises
Tuxera Fusion SMB
Product overview
Fusion SMB is a Linux SMB server that gives your customers on Windows, macOS, and Linux fast, reliable access to large data sets on your storage platform. File transfers stop being the bottleneck, and the server keeps up as more users connect, with transparent failover to keep shares online if a node goes down.
On a single 100GbE port, Fusion SMB delivers 11.5 GB/s to Windows clients and 10.5 GB/s to macOS clients. Tuxera is a Microsoft SMB patent licensee, so enterprises get a commercially licensed SMB server with flexible support plans and avoid the licensing uncertainty that comes with Samba, the open-source SMB server for Linux.
In MLPerf Storage 2.0 3D U-Net training on 200GbE, Fusion SMB kept 15 H100 accelerators above the 90% utilization mark at 17.8 GB/s, against 9 for kernel NFSD on the same storage, with less server CPU. Checkpointing is where training clusters lose time: Fusion SMB wrote a 100 GB checkpoint in 7.2 seconds, while Samba, the open-source SMB server for Linux, took almost 27.
Kept above 90% utilization in MLPerf Storage 2.0, against 9 for kernel NFSD and 2 for Samba
To save a 100 GB checkpoint, against almost 27 seconds for Samba
On CephFS over RDMA through a native libcephfs module, against 1.74 GB/s for Samba
From one 32-core server in a single process, with 79% less CPU and 93% less memory than Samba
To a single macOS client over 100GbE
Samba’s IOPS on random and mixed workloads, and 4× on small-file metadata
Samba forks a process for every client connection, so CPU and memory climb with every user. Fusion SMB serves every client from a single, multithreaded process. With 500 containerized clients hitting one 32-core server, Fusion SMB used around 80% less CPU and over 90% less memory than Samba across read, write and mixed workloads. That means more users per server, and more room for the storage stack.
SMB Direct (RDMA) gives low-latency, low-CPU transfers for AI, HPC and media, and SMB multichannel aggregates bandwidth and resilience across NICs.
Secure access for remote and mobile users without a VPN, and SMB compression for less traffic on constrained links.
Transparent failover and persistent handles for Hyper-V and SQL workloads, with scale-out clusters and rolling upgrades at zero downtime.
Signing with HMAC-SHA256, AES-128-GMAC and AES-128-CMAC. Encryption with AES-128-CCM, AES-128-GCM, AES-256-CCM and AES-256-GCM. Kerberos, NTLM, IAKerb and local KDC authentication.
Access-based enumeration, VSS support for Windows “Previous Versions”, DFS namespace link targets and SMB quotas, with shares managed from Windows MMC and performance counters.
Finder and Spotlight performance optimizations, protection against Spotlight recalling offline, dehydrated files, and Apple Open Directory integration alongside Active Directory.
Frequently asked Questions
Get answers to the most commonly asked questions, or reach out if your question isn’t listed here.
Tuxera Fusion SMB is enterprise SMB server software for Linux-based storage platforms, built for high-performance file access, scale-out deployments, and cross-platform client compatibility across Windows, macOS, and Linux.
SMB, or Server Message Block, is a network file-sharing protocol that lets clients access files and resources on a server across a network.
Windows Server is often used for general Microsoft file services. Fusion SMB is built for Linux-based storage manufacturers, cloud providers, and enterprise storage platforms that need high-performance SMB access across large, scale-out deployments.
Fusion SMB offers capabilities that Samba can’t match, including SMB Direct (RDMA) support, SMB compression, significantly higher performance, and more efficient resource usage. Fusion SMB also offers features like scale-out clusters—supporting up to 32 nodes compared to Samba’s 4-node limit—using transparent failover and continuous availability to make sure the data is always correct and available despite unexpected downtime or interruptions. Tuxera offers comprehensive technical support, and our team of in-house developers are actively developing Fusion.
Handling large data across networked storage brings unique challenges, including massive file sizes, complex unstructured data, and cross-platform requirements. Fusion SMB is optimized specifically for these demands. With the fastest performance benchmarks in the industry, Fusion SMB is the ideal choice for data-heavy workloads. Our in-house developers are constantly developing the product and pushing it to do more. We also offer world-class technical support to make sure the product is working as intended. You simply cannot get that with open source.
Today’s SMB protocol is dramatically different than earlier versions. Modern SMB 3 includes built-in security with encryption and strong authentication, plus performance features like RDMA and compression. Fusion SMB gives you all these capabilities with extra security enhancements, keeping your data safe even in the most security-sensitive environments. Additionally, Fusion SMB is lightning fast and highly performant. It scales from the largest scale-out clusters with up to 32-nodes to the smallest containers with minimal footprint. Perfect for modern container microservices with Docker and Kubernetes, our technology delivers fast, secure transfers while our SMB compression reduces networking costs.
AI workloads often need fast access to large shared data sets across many clients. Fusion SMB supports high throughput, SMB Direct, multichannel, and scale-out deployment patterns built for data-intensive environments.
CIFS, or Common Internet File System, is an older dialect related to SMB. Modern enterprise environments typically rely on newer SMB protocol versions and the capabilities they add.
The perfect fit for your industry
Fusion SMB works best when you need to move huge amounts of data quickly across different platforms.
Choose our highly scalable, low overhead, container-based file server. Increase tenant density, while decreasing compute resources.
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Unleash the full potential of your platform's capabilities with the world's fastest SMB solution.
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Handle massive 4K, 8K, and 16K video files across Mac, Windows, and Linux at speeds other solutions can't match.
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Spend less time waiting for progress bars and more time innovating and making breakthroughs.
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Get the secure, scalable, compatible solution, with the most flexibility, without compromising on capabilities.
Learn moreTechnical specifications
Local evaluations are possible with our SMB server implementation. Get in touch or find a local partner in your region.
TUXERA FUSION DOCUMENTATION“With Fusion SMB, we found that we could instantly manage real-time transfers of the most demanding file types. The change was immediate.”
“This is truly a game-changer for content producers needing extreme performance and advanced workflow management capabilities.”
"Moving to Tuxera was a no-brainer. This is about enabling our researchers to succeed – we need things to work well all the time because you never know when inspiration will strike."
“We’ve found that connecting ATTO network cards to servers running Tuxera Fusion SMB delivers exceptional performance compared to traditional configurations.”
“With Fusion SMB, we found that we could instantly manage real-time transfers of the most demanding file types. The change was immediate.”
“This is truly a game-changer for content producers needing extreme performance and advanced workflow management capabilities.”
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Modern broadcast security must move beyond perimeter defenses, embedding encrypted workflows, zero trust principles, and resilient transport directly into distributed production infrastructure.
Ned Pyle compares Fusion SMB, a Linux SMB server, with Windows Server on scale, clustering, performance, and security, using side-by-side tests on the same hardware.
Tuxera, the award-winning global leader in quality-assured file systems and storage management solutions, is expanding its reach in Korea with Ocube taking responsibility for promoting and distributing Tuxera’s product portfolio in the country. Earlier…
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