netatalk, NFS, OS X and backup

[Alan Curtis]

I need some advice about integrating my FreeBSD server with some Macs 
running OS X.

I have a server running FreeBSD 5.3 with NFS and netatalk enabled, a 
Powerbook G4 running OS X 10.3.7 and they are connected through a 
wireless network. I used the Powerbook to administer the server using 
ssh, which works well. I would also like to use the server to backup 
files (for multiple users) from the Powerbook. I have played around 
with both NFS and netatalk (afpd) and both seem to be working, in that 
I can manually mount the shares on the Powerbook. I have got the NFS 
share to automount on the Powerbook but not the afp share. I can copy 
files to and from both the nfs and afp mounted shares, including 
resource forks. I have played with various backup utilities including 
rsync, psync and rdiff-backup with varying degrees of success.

Some observations/questions

1. netatalk afp seems consistently and significantly faster than nfs. 
Is this to be expected or might I have a problem with nfs? If so how do 
I diagnose and fix it?

2. I would prefer to use nfs, because I can automount it on the 
Powerbook and run a cron (actually anacron) script to backup the 
multiple users. I haven't yet worked out how (or if) I can do this with 
afp (this is really a Mac question I know).

3. I would like to use a backup scheme which is automatic, invisible to 
the user, yet configured in a way that the archive can be navigated, 
and files appear in folders on the Mac finder in a consistent way (with 
resource forks set up correctly).

All of this seems almost possible, yet I don't seem to have got it just 
right yet. Has anyone one any insight they can spread or experiences 
they can share of a similar set up?

Alan