Jonathan writes:
Under these circumstances, which operating system/distribution would you choose? And why? FreeBSD
Just a quick comment on FreeBSD. I would NOT recommend it for a NFS server; However if you have a clean network with a NetAPP you could use it as a client.
I have read of large deployments of NetAPP server with FreeBSD clients. In particular I believe Yahoo is doing that configuration.
Don't also forget that whatever you choose it should be something you are either already familiar or willing to learn.
If you get feedback that OS ABC is best.. but you have never used it then it is a mutt point. Perhaps you should decide which OSs you are most familiar with or are willing to learn and then from that small pool see which is good/best at NFS.