creative Posted September 12, 2010 Share Posted September 12, 2010 Hey guys. I have a couple of old computers knocking around and I was thinking of cobbling them together to make a server for films and music. Building a pc is easy but I have never done a server before so my questions are: RAM: the more the better or does it not matter?? Does the server need to be wired or wireless into the router. What software will I need? Whats the best OS? We have 3 laptops in the house all running W7. I have access to W7 ultimate and XP pro. If the Server has no screen, do I need a vnc to make adjustments when its up and running? Im sure there will be more as I go along but being new to this networking malarky I just need a few pointers! Cheers folks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustGav Posted September 12, 2010 Share Posted September 12, 2010 Hmmm, depends on how far you want to go. I'd recommend either linux or Windows Home Server depending on your experience. This is what I run on my linux NAS Software Ubuntu 10.04 64bit, 256MB /boot, 4GB swap, 50gb /, 1.77tb /data (Raid0, but happy to reconfigure to redudant setup) Filesystems are all configured to be ext4, the RAID has 1MB chunk sizes, with 1% reserved and striped across all 4 devices. Samba, NFS configured (will tweak to suit your config if required) MediaTomb on the /data/media directory (setup for iphones/android and other upnp devices) firefly (provides media access for itunes DAAP clients) GPXE (For remotely booting XBMC clients, this is a bit more advanced) DHCP (For providing ip addresses round the network) ISCSI (I used file based images which are dished out to my disk-less clients) XBMC media library setup (Used to provide a central library for the XBMC clients) Webmin (A web based admin tool to make the linux setup a little less daunting for those who aren't sure) That said, it could just as easily be WHS which I've also got but I'm moving away from it. RAM wise, you want around 2G minimum really, but all depends on what you want it to do, always go wired to the router for quicker access however again not the end of the world if you don't. If it is simply filesharing, one of those appliance units may be sufficient. What are your endclients? Any dedicated media players? XP and Win7 would work as a temp server, but they aren't mean for running as a server (XP has limitations when it comes to sharing, and is slow) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creative Posted September 12, 2010 Author Share Posted September 12, 2010 Hmmm, depends on how far you want to go. I'd recommend either linux or Windows Home Server depending on your experience. plus lots of geeky stuff! Thanks gav. If im honest Im not to sure what I want! lol Its only for home use so doesnt have to be anything amazing. Like I say I'm just going to be cobbling a few old computers together to make it work. Initially it will be mainly to store films and music with all the computer/laptops in the house able to access it. Its no issue if I need to aquire more OS but if W7 will do the networking side for me thats fine. I will be honest and say I am not a fan of linux. After trying it for a while in VB, I just really cant be arsed trying to get it to work and faffing about and will be taking it off this laptop when my new HDD gets here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustGav Posted September 12, 2010 Share Posted September 12, 2010 Thanks gav. If im honest Im not to sure what I want! lol Its only for home use so doesnt have to be anything amazing. Like I say I'm just going to be cobbling a few old computers together to make it work. Initially it will be mainly to store films and music with all the computer/laptops in the house able to access it. Its no issue if I need to aquire more OS but if W7 will do the networking side for me thats fine. I will be honest and say I am not a fan of linux. After trying it for a while in VB, I just really cant be arsed trying to get it to work and faffing about and will be taking it off this laptop when my new HDD gets here. Hehehehe, okay understood, (yes I've spent a LOT of time designing my systems at home and they are probably a little OTT) I've used Win7 as a server before and yes it will work, just found some limitations, however for your sort of deployment it would work. As far as hardware goes, most of mine is cobbled together stuff as I've build it all on a very small budget for my prototypes. Since you are comfy with Windows, then I'd suggest WHS if you want something a little more practical. WHS is meant to be headless and has a nice GUI frontend for most users. It will also do backups and such like. If you are going to do media, you could use something like twonkyvision to do your upnp sharing (if required). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cashpoint Posted September 12, 2010 Share Posted September 12, 2010 your wasting time if you just want it as a media server, Just buy a Buffalo LinkStation Pro LS-XHL does what you want and has upto 2TB storage. I tried using bit that had built up in our office but at the end of the day it was to much hassle and the storage was small, also the power consumed by a server is alot higher than a small linkstation box.Buffalo Link station site Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smallshinyant Posted September 12, 2010 Share Posted September 12, 2010 I'd say go with a windows 7 machine. 2GB of RAM, should take care of most software that you will want to run on it. Advantage of win7 is you get the windows media centre, which is a surprisgly good DVR/Media viewer, which makes for a good big TV experience if you have got an extender (like an xbox). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.