Home Server

[Daniel]

Anyone use a home server? What do you use yours for? Im interested and looking for input.

Daniel R Diamond

[Greg]

I can't get my wife to do it. She insists that I serve myself. I'm a better man for it and love her dearly.

punatoons

[Jimbos]

Hi Daniel, I am not sure what you mean by Home Server? And great comeback Greg

[Daniel]

Ask your Geek friends. Is a kind of computer. You use one every time you use punaweb. look it up: Amahi home server, based on fedora and can be loaded on to any computer.

Daniel R Diamond

[konadave]

Daniel,

I have a business that I started out on a home server (web hosting). There are far too many things that I shouldn't get into here (because everyone would be bored and Rob doesn't have enough disk space LOL). There are three things which I encountered as an issue. First is security. You better be an administrator or security expert otherwise the hackers will find your server in a matter of hours and take it over. Second is your connection to the Internet. High speed connections seem like the thing until you realize that your upload speed at home is your download speed from the Internet. So if you have an upload speed of 56K or even 1Mbit/sec that is a fairly low speed to be downloading and serving web pages with. To get a fast upload/download speed from cable cost me about $140/month. This was 5-6 years ago so prices may have changed. The last thing I found is electricity. My bill went from ~$60/month to $130/month to run my server at my home in CA.

So if cost is not an issue and/or you have the proper high speed connections and you know your OS's security REALLY well then I would recommend trying it yourself. Otherwise I recommend getting a nice web hosting account for $5-$15/month and not worry about the above concerns. Virtual Servers run around $50+/month and a full server should start about $120/month from a reputable web host.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

The Kona Forum
http://www.konaforum.com

Da Kine PC Repair Upgrade
http://www.DaKinePC.com

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former". --Albert Einstein

[Daniel]

Well I think that most people aren't using them for website hosting, more like file sharing, calendar syncing, music and video streaming and back up storage.

kinda like your own free MobileMe service.

Daniel R Diamond

[knieft]

Daniel,

You don't say if you be Windows or Mac, but...

If all you want to do is file share, storage, etc. and you have Macs, you don't need a server. You can simply share any drive to all computers on your local network. Just use an external drive on a computer A (firewire, USB, or even a partition on the internal drive if you want), share it out via the sharing control panel on that computer A, and once it is mounted on another computer B (and C. D. etc), drag the icon into the startup items of computer B. You could also make an alias on computer B's desktop to easily connect again should you become disconnected.

Even easier would be to put an external drive into the USB port of an AirPort Extreme and is can be used by all computers on the local network. One advantage here is that computer A doesn't need to be on or awake to share out the drive. Another is that guests can use it without a user ID and password (if you set it up that way). Add a powered USB hub to the AirPort and you can connect multiple drives (even flash drives) and printers to your local network.

10 user limit either way, which is likely plenty for a home network.

If you are gonna pop for OSX Server software ($499 unlimited users) or the new Mac Mini Server ($999 http://www.apple.com/macmini/server/), the advantages would be the ability to host email, wikis, calendars, websites, etc. But server software would be complete overkill simply to file and media share. (And group calendars are available free via Google.)

The learning curve and upfront cost of a dedicated server is pretty hard to balance with the ease of MobileMe and simple drive sharing, but might save money over the long run (assuming you never upgrade your server software). And with "Back to My Mac" in MobileMe you can access your home network from anywhere via the internet--without a server. (That may be a Mac-only feature of MobileMe--not sure.) Further, MobileMe can host your own websites (easily constructed with iWeb) without the hassles of using your own server.

If you are Windows, I have no ideas because my ignorance is complete in that arena.

Cheers,
Kirt

[808blogger]

What about u?
tell us about your home rig..

quote:

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Originally posted by Daniel

Ask your Geek friends. Is a kind of computer. You use one every time you use punaweb. look it up: Amahi home server, based on fedora and can be loaded on to any computer.

Daniel R Diamond

---

[Daniel]

Yeah, I have a couple of macs, very easy to share files etc...I have mobile me, I like it for the most part, their online email UI stinks though. Yahoo mail is way better. On the mac mail app it is awesome however. Back to my mac doesnt work, so forget about that. I have an older desktop pc (the one i am considering converting into the home server) and a windows/ubuntu laptop. I also use an external hard drive for my time machine, and just got a brand new time capsule (possibly the greatest router ever!) I like the idea of having a home server and want to do it for the experience. I just wanted to see if anyone else has one up and running. Basically you get an old PC, put a TB or two of storage in it, load the OS of your choice (for me linux, either amahi http://www.amahi.org/ or ubuntu server http://www.ubuntu.com/products/whatisubu...veredition wich are free) then configure it and connect it to your router. Probably more geared to windows computers but still could be fun for mac/linux users too.


Daniel R Diamond

[knieft]

I have seen some chatter in the forums that BtoMM is working smoothly with the latest update. Have no need for it myself, but if you haven't tried lately, might be worth a try.

Have fun with your experience! I'd guess its relatively rare for folks to set up a home server just for fun, so useful responses might be limited, but consider reporting back after you do this with your joys and tribulations...

Kirt