Definition: Samba is an open-source implementation of the SMB/CIFS protocol that enables file and printer sharing and Windows-style network services between Linux/Unix and Windows systems. ... Ace your HR Round! ... Stay ahead in your career. More on ambitionbox.com

CIFS and SMB are Windows file sharing protocols. CIFS being the latest version of SMB. NFS is traditionally a Unix file sharing protocol but now Windows Server supports it natively (the old version anyway--see below). SMB/CIFS uses Windows-style access control lists (which are really complicated) whereas NFS uses Unix-style file permissions (User ID owner, Group ID owner, and read/write/execute permissions). On Unix/Linux systems you can use Samba to both share and access filesystems via SMB/CIFS. Samba does a lot more than that though... It can actually act as a drop-in replacement for Microsoft's Active Directory. Linux has built-in support for CIFS shares now so Samba isn't needed in most cases. SMB/CIFS is an insecure protocol. All data transferred is unencrypted as it gets sent over the network. Only crazy people would use it over the Internet. NFS (curently) comes in two versions: 3 and 4. Version 3 is old (really old) and has some strange limitations (for example, users may only be in 16 groups or less). It is also insecure just like SMB/CIFS for the same exact reason (unencrypted). NFS version 4 (aka NFSv4) can be configured to use encryption and does not have the limitations of prior versions. Configuring it in this way is complicated though and requires the use of something called Kerberos. Kerberos is an authentication protocol that is so complicated you practically need a Phd in cryptography to understand it, an entire computer lab to try it out, and the patience of a saint when troubleshooting it because the error messages usually have nothing to do with the actual problem. For example, a very common error with Kerberos is, "Server not found in Kerberos database"; this error message was apparently invented to indicate to the user that they don't understand Kerberos. Naturally, Microsoft chose Kerberos as the primary authentication mechanism in Active Directory. Samba also uses it extensively. Kerberos also requires extensive use and knowledge of DNS. Not normal DNS (A records, CNAMEs, etc), no. That would be far too easy. Kerberos instead uses things like TXT and SRV records. Kerberos has been around for almost 30 years, re-made four times to improve security (we're on Kerberos version 5 now), and has well-defined specifications and standards. Microsoft in its infinite wisdom decided not to follow those specifications. They took some of the security away (no salts with password hashes, used weak/broken encryption algorithms, and disabled man-in-the-middle attack protections, and more!) and also inserted obscurity (Global Catalog lookups instead of using the Kerberos Key Distribution Center or KDC, used userPrincipalName and servicePrincipalName attributes in place of just 'principals', I can go on and on...). All of these things--SMB/CIFS, NFS, and Kerberos--are all traditionally tied together with a thing called LDAP. I believe LDAP stands for Ludicrously Dumb Attribute Protocol or something like that. Think of it like a big, slow, excruciatingly inefficient way to associate attributes like "last name" with an identity of some sort (username, hostname, etc). For reasons no one can remember LDAP has these things called "schemas" that you define when you setup your "LDAP server". These "schemas" are meant to enforce certain constraints on what attributes you can and cannot associate with any given identity, or "object" as they are referred to in LDAP land. They're essentially just a way to ensure profits go to industries that treat hair loss. And that, kids, is why you should stay in school. Actually, never mind. There's only one school where the professors actually understand Kerberos: MIT. The place where Kerberos was invented. Just don't expect them to know anything at all about Windows. More on reddit.com

I don't see why sftp or samba wouldn't work. It depends on features and if bare bones is all you want, those two would suffice. If you want more, a bare bones nextcloud would work, but as you say will take a little setup (but honestly not that much). You are not required to use or even enable any of the collaborative software. The data is easily accessible without using the nextcloud software if you desire, the database is only for added features. If you want to share files or eventually add to the basic file sync functionality (say contacts, calendar, auto-photo backup, etc.), nextcloud is good for future build out. The basic sync functionality can easily run with 512 MB of ram, probably less. That being said, I think nextcloud/seafile shine when you need to SYNC things. If you just want a storage space then stick with sftp/samba. More on reddit.com

I'm using EasySSHFS (by not_w) from the Play Store on rooted Android 11 (Pixel 3a), and it works fine. The only caveat is that it can't mount to the sdcard. What I do instead is mount to folders within termux's home directory. If you need automation, you can script termux to run the sshfs binary directly from the EasySSHFS app's home directory. This negates the need to switch apps in order to mount and unmount your SSHFS share. More on reddit.com