In our school division, we have a OS X Server sharing files to up to 120 Mac clients [for things like home folders and group sharepoints]. The AFP protocol is the easiest to set up and use, but that doesn't mean it is the best.
What are the pros and cons of the different protocols (especially as they relate to the Mac)?
Built in, and easily administered, are:
It is conceivable that one could install MacFuse and use ssh, ftp, or other protocols. I've also seen some cluster protocols mentioned, but don't know that they'd be appropriate when the use case is many users accessing different files instead of many machines accessing the same files.
The most useful related question I saw is:What network file sharing protocol has the best performance and reliability? The accepted answer is NFSv4. As there is a project to run NFSv4 on Leopard, I assume that it is running NFSv3.
Lastly, what have been your experience with using the different protocols? The AFP bug helped cause us grief last year.
Best Answer
One reported issue we have seen in production is that OS X servers, over AFP, seem to have an issue around 300 or so connections, and getting above that on a single server is really problematic. The client (who I have not checked back with lately so this may have changed) worked with Apple on it as well, with little luck.