Product overview
The fastest enterprise SMB server for Linux storage
Fusion SMB is a high-performance SMB server for Linux storage platforms, built for performance, scale, and security. Your customers can access and transfer huge data sets reliably across a network, whether on Linux, macOS, or Windows. Fusion SMB eliminates data transfer bottlenecks and cuts waiting times, scaling to meet as many access requests as the hardware can handle. As a Microsoft SMB patent licensee, Tuxera gives enterprises a commercial path for SMB deployment without the licensing uncertainty of open-source alternatives such as Samba, backed by flexible commercial support plans.
Built for the scale of AI
Fusion SMB is a commercial SMB server engineered from the ground up for enterprise storage. Owned by one of the architects of SMB 3, it delivers the throughput, reliability, and operational continuity that mission-critical workloads demand.
scale
2500
clients
Number of simultaneous clients per 4 Xeon cores
cluster size
32
Nodes in a single scale-out deployment
support
24
/7
A contracted service tier with direct access to Tuxera engineering, available on eligible support plans
heritage
+
10
Years of Fusion SMB RDMA, multichannel, and scale-out proven in mission critical production systems
network
48.8
GB/s
SMB over RDMA out of 50GB/s possible on 400GbE
MLPerf
24
AUs
More than double the AUs of NFSD on MLPerf 3D-unet storage test over 2x200GbE
Where open-source SMB implementations cap out at a low number of shares and clients, Fusion SMB scales beyond 130,000 shares and up to 32 cluster nodes, upgrading and reconfiguring without taking services offline. The result is a single SMB layer built for the throughput of large-scale AI training and the continuity that mission-critical workloads demand.
KEY FEATURES
Unmatched performance
Break through performance barriers with the fastest SMB server available. Fusion SMB achieves speeds that other implementations simply can’t match—up to 10.5 GB/s on Mac when using 2x100Gb network connections, and 12GB/s per 100Gb connection on Windows with linear performance. This means 24 GB/s with 2x100Gb connections, 48GB/s with 4x100Gb connections, and so on. With SMB multichannel, SMB compression, and RDMA over SMB Direct, your teams spend less time waiting and more time working.
Runs wherever you need it
Fusion SMB scales from tiny microservice containers to massive HPC scale-out clusters and cloud workloads—something no other provider can match. The data flows freely between Linux, Windows, and MacOS thanks to seamless integration with Active Directory, Open LDAP, and Apple Open Directory.
Peace of mind
As Microsoft’s SMB patent licensee, we provide legal protections unavailable with open source GPLv3 solutions like Samba. Tuxera Fusion SMB delivers both legal peace of mind and robust technical security features with fail-safe connections and the latest SMB capabilities—protecting your organization on all fronts.
Frequently asked Questions
Why choose Fusion?
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 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 tuxera difference
Read what partners & customers have said
“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.”
Media & entertainment
Handle massive 4K, 8K, and 16K video files across Mac, Windows, and Linux at speeds other solutions can't match.
Learn more
Cloud service providers
Choose our highly scalable, low overhead, container-based file server. Increase tenant density, while decreasing compute resources.
Learn more
Medical & healthcare
Spend less time waiting for progress bars and more time innovating and making breakthroughs.
Learn more
Data platform providers
Unleash the full potential of your platform's capabilities with the world's fastest SMB solution.
Learn more
System integrators
Get the secure, scalable, compatible solution, with the most flexibility, without compromising on capabilities.
Learn more
Technical specifications
Detailed product specifications
Local evaluations are possible with our SMB server implementation. Get in touch or find a local partner in your region.
TUXERA FUSION DOCUMENTATION
- Supports SMB 3.1.1 and previous versions (1.0, 2.0, 2.1, 3.0, 3.0.2)
- Supported on Intel, AMD, and ARM chipsets
- User or kernel space deployment
- RDMA through SMB Direct
- Multichannel support
- Compression
- Multi-protocol support: ACL, Shared access
- Scale-out awareness (active-active, active-passive)
- Persistent handles
- Transparent failover
- Continuous availability – single, dual, or multi-node
- Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) support
- Distributed file system support
- Dynamic configuration change
- Supports standalone file systems such as ext4, XFS, and ZFS
- Windows Active Directory Integration (join/authenticate Windows AD as domain member)
- Authentication: Windows AD services (Kerberos), LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access), NTLM, file-based local user and group databases, and more
- Custom clustering support
- Supports distributed cluster file systems such as GPFS, Lustre, CephFS, GlusterFS, WekaFS, GFS2, OCFS2, DAOS. Custom VFS module file system support is available.
- Encryption: AES-256-CCM, AES-256-GCM
- Log/audit support
- Internal health monitoring
- Runtime statistics
- Quota support
RELATED RESOURCES
More resources for inspiration
Why better SMB performance is key to speeding up data transfers
Learn more
Fusion File Share by Tuxera failover and recovery in Kubernetes
Learn more
Improving file server reliability using SMB transparent failover with continuous availability
Learn more
Fusion SMB read at 46.86 GB/s where Samba managed 4.17 GB/s on identical hardware, kept 24 simulated accelerators fed on MLPerf 3D-UNet where Samba kept zero, and replaced eleven Samba…
Quieter aisles, sharper conversations. Duncan Beattie on why NAB 2026 was Tuxera’s best show yet — and the performance numbers that made a year-old benchmark look quaint: 10.5 GB/s to…
When AI platforms underperform in production, most teams reach for more GPUs. But the real bottleneck is often the storage layer ; how data reaches compute, not compute itself. Shared…
Tuxera is showcasing breakthrough file sharing performance at NAB Show, highlighting its Fusion SMB platform and a technology preview of Fusion NFS. With speeds reaching 40 GB/s via Windows SMB…
Modern broadcast security must move beyond perimeter defenses, embedding encrypted workflows, zero trust principles, and resilient transport directly into distributed production infrastructure.
Heya folks, it’s Ned Pyle again. Last year I talked about how Fusion SMB stacks up to Samba in enterprise workloads. If you run or integrate cloud, machine learning, media & entertainment, or HPC services, Fusion SMB is the right choice for Linux file servers. But what about Windows Server? After all, Microsoft created SMB 3 and should have the best solution, right? I led that engineering effort for…
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…
Seamless data access and enhanced security across massive research data infrastructure. Helsinki, Finland [Dec 1, 2025] – Tuxera, a leading provider of quality-assured file systems and networking technologies, announces that…
SC25, St. Louis, MO, November 18-20, 2025: Tuxera, a global leader in commercial-grade file systems and storage solutions, is demonstrating enterprise-grade file sharing for Linux servers at SC 2025 (The…
How protocol optimization is transforming media workflows when every second counts IBC, the International Broadcasting Convention, stands as Europe’s premier media and entertainment technology event, bringing together over 50,000 professionals…
Heya folks, it’s Ned Pyle again with news: QUIC is coming to Fusion SMB. SMB over QUIC adds security and connectivity to cloud computing and storage platforms. Fusion SMB is…
Heya folks, it’s Ned Pyle again. Let’s talk about how Tuxera Fusion SMB stacks up to its Linux community alternative, Samba. If you’re a cloud service provider, media & entertainment producer,…
We are here to help
We’ll help you find the right solution
Have a question or need guidance? Whether you’re searching for resources or want to connect with an expert, we’ve got you covered. Use the search bar on the right to find what you need.
Most popular searches
Data Corruption
Functional Safety
RDMA
SMB Compression
File Systems
Automotive Ethernet
Transparent Failover
Data Platform Providers
Media Production
CRA
Our products
Your mission-critical systems demand uncompromising reliability. Tuxera products mean absolute data integrity. We specialize in file systems, software flash controllers, and secure networking and connectivity solutions. We are the perfect fit for data-intensive, mission-critical workloads.
Using Tuxera’s time-proven solutions means that your data is safe and secure – always.
Proven success
Our solutions are trusted by major brands worldwide. When you need reliable, scalable, and lightening-fast data access and transfer across any system or device, Tuxera delivers. Our track record speaks for itself. We’ve been in this business for decades with a clear mission: to be the partner you can trust. Read on to find out more.
Related pages and blog posts
