[elsmandino]

I am currently in the process of moving to a Linux-based server, from Windows 10.

I have decided on Openmediavault and have begun gradually setting everything up and running.

I currently have Kodi running on three RPis, a Linux-based laptop and a Windows-based laptop.

I also want to sync all my libraries, via MySQL on the server.

What is the best protocol for sharing?

If I have a Windows PC on the network, is my only option to use SMB?

[Dangelus]

Personally I use NFS with my Open Media Vault server.

I don't use Windows but I assume the Windows version of Kodi will be able to access NFS shares no differently. Besides you can also share the same directories via SMB with OMV so it's not either or....

[Prof Yaffle]

Kodi for Windows has its own SMB and NFS clients (like other Kodi versions), so doesn't depend on whether the underlying OS can see the files. You could thus use either, as they're both fast enough to serve media files.

That said, if you hope to *manage* your media from a Windows PC, then SMB would be the way to go - only the very premium versions of Win10 come with NFS, IIRC.

[wsnipex]

built-in SMB support in kodi is dated and rather slow.

[redglory]

I use nfs on Windows 7 for my media server.

I've bought an haneWIN NFS Server license and it works great.

[DaVu]

If I have a Windows PC on the network, is my only option to use SMB?

Some NAS systems are also able to share both, NFS and SMB. So you aren´t stuck to SMB. AFAICT (no benchmarks created) SMB works pretty good while using Kodi on Windows. For Linux based clients I always choose NFS. YMMV

[contadino]

NFS is faster than SMB. 3d-bluray-images can cause speed troubles with SMB.
At least with my equipement.

[speedwell68]

NFS.

I have tested this in the real world using NFS, SMB and SFTP and NFS wins hands down.  I am sharing video with 4 Raspberry Pi based clients, a Linux Desktop and a Windows 10 Laptop.  Here is my server setup....

https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=275081