Thinking About A Server @ Home, Need Opinions
- Thread starter Tony
- Start date
callsign4223
Staff member
A better gauge is your transfer speeds. Inside your local network 40+ mBps is good on a gigabit link. Your hard drive may be the bottleneck also, anything less than an ssd on both ends will not max your network pipe.
Tony
Staff member
Now that's true and something I didn't think about. I am running an SSD, but only for the OS and programs, not for files. Okay, so I may be maxing it out as it is then. The write speeds of these HDD's I have is not the greatest. Either way, I guess I will leave that at what it is. but it still remains, my network is still faster than my internet so I will give this a test here at home on the server then start looking for off site backups and whatever. Thanks for your help Matt. I knew I kept you around for a reason hahahahahaha.
callsign4223
Staff member
Ya, for all the crash stories!
Whirlybird
Member
I would have posted a link to it, but Tony wants to keep the site family safe
Torvalds is pretty much a genius
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RandyDSok
Well-Known Member
Just a few thoughts I had while reading through this thread... in no particular order
Tony... you mentioned you have 3 down on your internet connection at the house... if you are going to be using a server, it isn't the down that is as important as the uplink speed since the server will be sending data up more than receiving data down.
Currently the SSD drive's limitations on writes now exceed what the expected lifecyle on a mechanical hard drive. When these limitations are actually met, the data is still readable... but when a mechanical drive fails it is dead and the cost associated with recovering data directly from the disks are still very high.
Video.... If the system isn't going to be used as a workstation also... video won't matter. nVidia cards ( in most cases ) work fine at standard VESA VGA resolutions... not to mention that a new replacement video card can be had for under 30 bucks...
If there will be only one user expected to be accessing the files... basic access can be had with just running VNC or similar remote control software on the existing systems that are already connected to the internet. Windows Pro and Ultimate versions already come with Remote Desktop if you already have that version... but the VNC options available work well also.
In all scenerios ( server, VNC etc ) you will need to be able to have open ports to it through your router... most that I've seen do allow this at varying degrees of ease but not all do it well.
Tony... you mentioned you have 3 down on your internet connection at the house... if you are going to be using a server, it isn't the down that is as important as the uplink speed since the server will be sending data up more than receiving data down.
Currently the SSD drive's limitations on writes now exceed what the expected lifecyle on a mechanical hard drive. When these limitations are actually met, the data is still readable... but when a mechanical drive fails it is dead and the cost associated with recovering data directly from the disks are still very high.
Video.... If the system isn't going to be used as a workstation also... video won't matter. nVidia cards ( in most cases ) work fine at standard VESA VGA resolutions... not to mention that a new replacement video card can be had for under 30 bucks...
If there will be only one user expected to be accessing the files... basic access can be had with just running VNC or similar remote control software on the existing systems that are already connected to the internet. Windows Pro and Ultimate versions already come with Remote Desktop if you already have that version... but the VNC options available work well also.
In all scenerios ( server, VNC etc ) you will need to be able to have open ports to it through your router... most that I've seen do allow this at varying degrees of ease but not all do it well.
Tony
Staff member
You are correct on the upload being the speed that I need. I was thinking more of pulling the info from a cloud server. This is yet another reason I'm thinking about a local server just for my personal files. my upload sucks at 1.5mbps and it takes me forever to do anything. Hopefully here soon I will be able to get the 6 up and 6 down that they have out here. But that will be the fastest I can get.
I have thought about VNC but never thought about using it in this manner. I will just have to work something up and see what happens.
I have thought about VNC but never thought about using it in this manner. I will just have to work something up and see what happens.
RandyDSok
Well-Known Member
Locally... a server doesn't make sense in typical situations since you can share a folder or drive in Windows itself already... Home versions have about a 5 user limit... Pro versions have a 10 user limit. It is when you are trying to do other things than just share files or printers, exceed the user limit or trying to access it remotely that a server starts making sense.
Tony
Staff member
lol, I can swap out the nvidia cards since they are all on an x16 slot how ever the Dell with the ATI is on a slot that I can't remember the name of. Not PCI, but the other kind. I think it starts with an "A". I'm sure Randy or Matt will know what I'm talking about. But, it could also be a PCI, I didn't really look that hard. Btu I think I remember it being brown.
Whirlybird
Member
You probably mean Accelerated Graphics Port
I still have an oooooold ATI AGP card lying around somewhere if you want it
I still have an oooooold ATI AGP card lying around somewhere if you want it
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Tony
Staff member
Alright, today I'm going to start on the servers. I have actually looked online for a rack and I did find some. I would really like to just move somewhere that I cna get some really good internet and just host everything myself. I'm getting tired of making tickets just to fix a simple issue like raising the timeout limit that I don't have access to. It's annoying to say the least.
but, I"m going to run some tests on each of the computers I have. I can't remember if I have a gigabit port on any of them. I know the Dell with the P4 is a 10/100 port and it shows when transferring files. If I do it from my desktop (i7 maching) to my laptop (again, i7 machine) then I can move a 1gb file in about 45 seconds. I love it. Now to set the other ones up like that.
I am downloading Ubuntu Desktop just to play around with, and I just burnt Ubuntu Server to disk, also to play around with. I'm thinking about creating a LAMP server with the server disk just to test it out. It would be really nice to have a way to test the changes to the forums before putting them on the online server for everyone to see. These are just thoughts right now but may be useful after a while.
Ideas welcome.
but, I"m going to run some tests on each of the computers I have. I can't remember if I have a gigabit port on any of them. I know the Dell with the P4 is a 10/100 port and it shows when transferring files. If I do it from my desktop (i7 maching) to my laptop (again, i7 machine) then I can move a 1gb file in about 45 seconds. I love it. Now to set the other ones up like that.
I am downloading Ubuntu Desktop just to play around with, and I just burnt Ubuntu Server to disk, also to play around with. I'm thinking about creating a LAMP server with the server disk just to test it out. It would be really nice to have a way to test the changes to the forums before putting them on the online server for everyone to see. These are just thoughts right now but may be useful after a while.
Ideas welcome.
Tony
Staff member
Oh I could have used either bigger works, or a bunch of acronyms hahahaa. I just need a central place to store backups from all of my computers plus it would be nice to have a server for this forum here at home where I can test different settings rather than having to upload all of the files and test it out on the live site that you are on now. Just something to pass the time I guess.
murankar
Staff member
The biggest difference between desktop and server is the gui. Now as far as lamp, very doable just need to know the command:
sudo apt-get install apache mysql-server php
and maybe some other software titles to get it all up and running. If you are just testing it out I would do a USB thumb drive install using unetbootin. This will do everything for you to make a thumb drive installed verision of ubuntu. Good luck I need to go to work now it's 0330 am for me.
sudo apt-get install apache mysql-server php
and maybe some other software titles to get it all up and running. If you are just testing it out I would do a USB thumb drive install using unetbootin. This will do everything for you to make a thumb drive installed verision of ubuntu. Good luck I need to go to work now it's 0330 am for me.
Tony
Staff member
I'm going to do a duel boot with Vista 64. I need to make sure everything on this computer is going to run the way I want it to then after I make sure everything is fine, I will install ubuntu and start playing around. The P5B-e mobo that I have had a bad memory slot so it was only showing 71xx on the memory instead of 8xxx. Which is weird because they are 2 gig sticks. Put them in the P5Q Pro board and they are showing up. Not sure, but it has to be a mobo issue. We will find out when vista loads. fun fun.