# What can I use a Home server for?



## tompsonn

If you plan on wanting fast data transfers with IDE drives - forget it. They will be quick enough (relatively) for movie and music streaming but if you want to do a lot of file operations/file sharing it might be a hindrance.
Also good networking is essential for fast data transfers. What networking does the house have and what networking do you have in the parts to build the "server"?

Things I use my server for:

- Runs Hyper-V which runs a few Linux boxes which do a few things such as web caching, web server, MySQL DB server etc.
- In another VM I run a copy of Windows 7 + WMP for music streaming.
- On Windows it runs a web server too (cross platform server development).
- Runs a subversion repository and legacy CVS repository.
- DNS and DHCP.
- VPN/RAS for dialing in from outside.
- MediaPortal TV server.
- File and print.

I've got 4 Intel NICs hanging off my box, split between VMs and internal network.


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## TopicClocker

Whoa, It looks like I'm gonna have to invest some serious time and money into making a home server.
All I really have is blueprints to a desktop computer really







I was thinking of running a linux or windows server.

I have O2 internet with about 12mbps down speed and 1mbps upload speed, upload speed is vital for transfers, I may considering getting a different ISP, but I don't wish to spend a lot of money on internet speed, no matter how valuable the internet is







does the router I use affect the speed also?

When I download stuff from steam I download about 1.3MB/s - 1.4MB/s when speed test says 12mbps, I heard that MB/s and mbps are different but I'm not entirely sure. and when uploading to you tube It's about 900kb/s.

I just want a basic server, data transfer, data streaming, maybe a website and hosting a mine craft server, I don't think I have sufficient internet speed to do all of this, my MC server ran well but ate a lot of Up speed, It didn't really download a lot but I can't recollect the numbers.


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## tompsonn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TopicClocker*
> 
> Whoa, It looks like I'm gonna have to invest some serious time and money into making a home server.
> All I really have is blueprints to a desktop computer really
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was thinking of running a linux or windows server.
> I have O2 internet with about 12mbps down speed and 1mbps upload speed, upload speed is vital for transfers, I may considering getting a different ISP, but I don't wish to spend a lot of money on internet speed, no matter how valuable the internet is
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> does the router I use affect the speed also?
> When I download stuff from steam I download about 1.3MB/s - 1.4MB/s when speed test says 12mbps, I heard that MB/s and mbps are different but I'm not entirely sure. and when uploading to you tube It's about 900kb/s.
> I just want a basic server, data transfer, data streaming, maybe a website and hosting a mine craft server, I don't think I have sufficient internet speed to do all of this, my MC server ran well but ate a lot of Up speed, It didn't really download a lot but I can't recollect the numbers.


Internet speed won't matter for your file transfers in the same network...
Right so, speed test is measuring your transfer speed in mega*bits* per second, while what you see when downloading or copying files is measured in mega*bytes* per second. So for every mega*byte* transferred, there are 8 mega*bits* transferred. 8 bits in a byte









Now, internet speed will affect things like website hosting and minecraft server. What's your upload speed test from speedtest?
The modem inside your router (or if you don't have a modem/router combo then just the modem you use) CAN affect internet speed. Assuming you're on DSL that is...


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## Sodalink

My server is still in progress, but here are some of the things it does and I plan to use it for:

Currently does:
Stream music to 3-5 other computers
Stream Videos/Movies to 3-5 other computers
Data storage
Back up images of other computers
HTPC plays Blu rays
Torrent machine
Light Gaming

Hoping to later use it for:
DVR for security cameras
VPN
Virtual Machines
Cable Streaming if possible


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## Kylepdalton

I think you'll find some great uses for a server and honestly I would be hard pressed to not have one. So talk your brothers into letting you put it together and maybe all chip in for some newer drives. My uses are:

1. Incremental Backups for 6+ PCs. (New images written every 2 days and going back 4 months.)
2. Shared Storage.
3. Media Streaming (Both LAN and WAN)
4. Websites
5. VM host
6. VPN
7. DVR
8. DHCP/DNS
9. Home Automation

Things I would check are your internal network (1 Gb nics, swtiches, routers, etc...). Your WAN connection is faster than mine so you should be good running whatever you want.


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## TopicClocker

Wow the more I hear about home servers makes me want one even more! But what are NICs for are they easy to integrate into the server and setup?
Also is it possible to connect to the server safely from a different place? I'm not talking about the Minecraft server I mean if I go on holiday or something and I wish to obtain or stream files from the server while I'm somewhere else?


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## tompsonn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TopicClocker*
> 
> Wow the more I hear about home servers makes me want one even more! But what are NICs for are they easy to integrate into the server and setup?
> Also is it possible to connect to the server safely from a different place? I'm not talking about the Minecraft server I mean if I go on holiday or something and I wish to obtain or stream files from the server while I'm somewhere else?


NICs = network interface. It's what you plug that blue cable into








And yes it is possible to do that. Depending on what you ACTUALLY want to do, there will be various ways you can achieve remote access.


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## blupupher

My server is for media streaming and backups. I had plans for more, but have not gotten around to it.
A home server can be as simple or complex as you want it.

As said, your home network speeds (not your internet speeds) play a big part in it. I upgraded to a gigabit home network because I was having stuttering with 100 Mbps when streaming on 2 computers and other stuff was happening on the network.

As for drives, I had no real issues with IDE drives. the problem you do have is multiple smaller drives. Linux has several options to pool the drives, and Windows Home Server v1 has a built in drive pooler. WHS 2011 does not, but there are options for that too.
The other option is to sell the IDE drives to pay for a larger SATA drive.


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## parityboy

*@OP*

A server is more about the job it does on the network, and less about the specific hardware. The role of a server is to provide a central point of access for a given resource - that resource might be storage space for backups, it might be music, it might be video. The role of a server does tend to dictate what resources you give it - for example a server will likely need more disk space than a workstation, but will not need a fancy video card or sound card.

Being centralised means you can put everything in one place and then control who gets access to what, so yeah servers are much more useful than having stuff scattered around multiple PCs.

Give us some more details about the hardware you have: what motherboard is it? Does it have an Ethernet port built in? If so, how many?


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## Sodalink

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TopicClocker*
> 
> Whoa, It looks like I'm gonna have to invest some serious time and money into making a home server.
> All I really have is blueprints to a desktop computer really
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was thinking of running a linux or windows server.
> I have O2 internet with about 12mbps down speed and 1mbps upload speed, upload speed is vital for transfers, I may considering getting a different ISP, but I don't wish to spend a lot of money on internet speed, no matter how valuable the internet is
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> does the router I use affect the speed also?
> When I download stuff from steam I download about 1.3MB/s - 1.4MB/s when speed test says 12mbps, I heard that MB/s and mbps are different but I'm not entirely sure. and when uploading to you tube It's about 900kb/s.
> I just want a basic server, data transfer, data streaming, maybe a website and hosting a mine craft server, I don't think I have sufficient internet speed to do all of this, my MC server ran well but ate a lot of Up speed, It didn't really download a lot but I can't recollect the numbers.


Yeah you will need lots of time and research, but it is a great learning experience and it pays off. As for Money it just depends. It can be fairly cheap or expensive depending if you want to go high end or cheap with parts that do the work and is not over kill.

Here is my server... I spent a bit more than I should so I could use it for gaming and HTPC.

AMD APU A6 3500 x3 core
Patriot 16GB DDR3 1600 1.5v
Corsair 430CX v2
Asus Blu-Ray Drive
PCI-e 2 sata card
OCZ Agility 3 90GB SSD
Hitachi 5x2TB 7200rpm HDDs
NZXT H2 Case
Zerotherm Nirvana CPU Cooler

I spent like $320 just for the HDDs and SSD. But all together I spent like $570. You just have to look for bargains and use the market place here.

Right now I'm actually having some fun using Active Directory in Server 2008 R2 making shares and adding setting up rights to certain shares. Like my Anime folder I can only access it since of them are R+ rated and I wouldn't want my 4 year old watching that or my brother watching somethings I want to keep secret


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## TopicClocker

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sodalink*
> 
> Yeah you will need lots of time and research, but it is a great learning experience and it pays off. As for Money it just depends. It can be fairly cheap or expensive depending if you want to go high end or cheap with parts that do the work and is not over kill.
> Here is my server... I spent a bit more than I should so I could use it for gaming and HTPC.
> AMD APU A6 3500 x3 core
> Patriot 16GB DDR3 1600 1.5v
> Corsair 430CX v2
> Asus Blu-Ray Drive
> PCI-e 2 sata card
> OCZ Agility 3 90GB SSD
> Hitachi 5x2TB 7200rpm HDDs
> NZXT H2 Case
> Zerotherm Nirvana CPU Cooler
> I spent like $320 just for the HDDs and SSD. But all together I spent like $570. You just have to look for bargains and use the market place here.
> Right now I'm actually having some fun using Active Directory in Server 2008 R2 making shares and adding setting up rights to certain shares. Like my Anime folder I can only access it since of them are R+ rated and I wouldn't want my 4 year old watching that or my brother watching somethings I want to keep secret


Haha I see, I dont wish to spend much or any money on it at the moment considering I have spare components lying around, the IDE drives could pose a problem depending on what I use them for, I may try and pool them with an OS which is compatible.


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## TopicClocker

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *parityboy*
> 
> *@OP*
> A server is more about the job it does on the network, and less about the specific hardware. The role of a server is to provide a central point of access for a given resource - that resource might be storage space for backups, it might be music, it might be video. The role of a server does tend to dictate what resources you give it - for example a server will likely need more disk space than a workstation, but will not need a fancy video card or sound card.
> Being centralised means you can put everything in one place and then control who gets access to what, so yeah servers are much more useful than having stuff scattered around multiple PCs.
> Give us some more details about the hardware you have: what motherboard is it? Does it have an Ethernet port built in? If so, how many?


My intentional server hardware:
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4, I have an Asus P5QL Pro which happens to have died on us, either that or someone accidentally remove the jumper pins -_-, I removed the jumpers from my board and had to go on a scavenger hunt to find them again, I'll never make that mistake again!
It should have one eithernet port built in.

CPU: Two Core 2 Duo CPUs, I think one of them is a 6000 or 7000, I wish to use one and I don't think I could use them together anyway if I wanted to.
These are 775 socket CPUs.

IDE Hard Drives: I've seen a lot of these buddies around, I don't know how many there are









PSU: A 500Watt non 80 Plus PSU, I don't trust these things anymore maybe I'll try and invest in an 80Plus PSU which is 400 Watt or more.

GPU: AMD Radeon 4670 1GB
I have this lying around but I shouldn't need to use It as I don't want to do any rendering or gaming on the system, I think the motherboard has integrated graphics too, I'm not entirely sure because I have it buried in a box and It's gonna be tricky to find, also that GPU would just only waste watts.


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## Sodalink

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TopicClocker*
> 
> My intentional server hardware:
> Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4, I have an Asus P5QL Pro which happens to have died on us, either that or someone accidentally remove the jumper pins -_-, I removed the jumpers from my board and had to go on a scavenger hunt to find them again, I'll never make that mistake again!
> It should have one eithernet port built in.
> CPU: Two Core 2 Duo CPUs, I think one of them is a 6000 or 7000, I wish to use one and I don't think I could use them together anyway if I wanted to.
> These are 775 socket CPUs.
> IDE Hard Drives: I've seen a lot of these buddies around, I don't know how many there are
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> PSU: A 500Watt non 80 Plus PSU, I don't trust these things anymore maybe I'll try and invest in an 80Plus PSU which is 400 Watt or more.
> GPU: AMD Radeon 4670 1GB
> I have this lying around but I shouldn't need to use It as I don't want to do any rendering or gaming on the system, I think the motherboard has integrated graphics too, I'm not entirely sure because I have it buried in a box and It's gonna be tricky to find, also that GPU would just only waste watts.


A core 2 duo cpu should be more than enough for a server. I would recommend getting a Corsair 430CX v2. They are very often $17-20 AR at newegg or an Antec Neo Eco 620w which are also very often for $30-40AR at newegg. Both are 80 plus. As for the video card I would rather use onboard so you save some energy. The only thing that might slow you down are the IDE HDDs. How big are they? I would try to sell them on craigslist and try to get a cheap 500GB or 1TB HDD which I think might be more space than the IDE drives you have







.

I think I sold like an 80GB IDE for like 20 bucks and got lots of ppl interested on it. So if you got a couple you could make up for a SATA HDD.


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## parityboy

*@OP*

Your base hardware is good enough. I found the specs for your motherboard - the Ethernet is GigE, so hopefully your Ethernet switch is GigE also, otherwise you'll be restricted to 100Mbit transfer speeds on your home network.

I wouldn't bother with the PATA drives. The board has 8 SATA ports so you'll likely be better off using these, although you could use a PATA drive as boot drive and use some SATA drives for your data.

For a home server OS, you could give Amahi Home Server a look.


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## TopicClocker

Thanks for the suggestions!


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## TopicClocker

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *parityboy*
> 
> *@OP*
> Your base hardware is good enough. I found the specs for your motherboard - the Ethernet is GigE, so hopefully your Ethernet switch is GigE also, otherwise you'll be restricted to 100Mbit transfer speeds on your home network.
> I wouldn't bother with the PATA drives. The board has 8 SATA ports so you'll likely be better off using these, although you could use a PATA drive as boot drive and use some SATA drives for your data.
> For a home server OS, you could give Amahi Home Server a look.


Thanks for doing so, Also since you wouldn't bother with the PATA drives how slow are those things?
Whoa that AMAHI looks really nice! Is there a chance that It's possible to run multiple OS at the same time like this and a Windows Server? It's for compatibilty issues because the server I use for minecraft uses Windows and I doubt you can run windows Apps in AmahI.


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## TopicClocker

I also heard Core 2 Duos were great overclockers Is it possible for me to get a clock like 4GHZ on a H12 or something equivalent?


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## TopicClocker

Here we go, Ain't seen the name of this chip in ages!
http://ark.intel.com/products/30784/Intel-Core2-Duo-Processor-E6750-%284M-Cache-2_66-GHz-1333-MHz-FSB%29
I just remembered my bro got this to 4.2GHZ running perfectly cool, 5 should be possible unless there is stability issues.


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## blupupher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TopicClocker*
> 
> I also heard Core 2 Duos were great overclockers Is it possible for me to get a clock like 4GHZ on a H12 or something equivalent?


with servers, you tend to go for reliability and lower power than overall speed, so overclocking usually is not done.
A lot will depend on what you plan on doing with it too.


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## BeerPowered

Something I use a server for: Hosting Private game servers. Storing video and music which are streamed to my PS3/360, Galaxy SIII, Motorola Xoom, Home Theater Receiver, Smart TV.

You can setup the server for remote access, so you can access it anywhere 4G/Wifi is available. That way you can stream all your movies/music while at Starbucks or anywhere in the world.


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## overclocker23578

Personally i use the server in my sig for Blender renders, along with my XW6400









Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk 2


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## TopicClocker

How powerful is the Prolliant build considering It's old cpus, and you've got four of them O.O with 90Watt consumption.


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## TopicClocker

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *blupupher*
> 
> with servers, you tend to go for reliability and lower power than overall speed, so overclocking usually is not done.
> A lot will depend on what you plan on doing with it too.


Yeah I forgot about that







I may reconsider the overclocking.
Oh and btw I hope your family keeps fighting and winning against cancer, what a horrible disease.


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## parityboy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TopicClocker*
> 
> Thanks for doing so, Also since you wouldn't bother with the PATA drives how slow are those things?
> Whoa that AMAHI looks really nice! Is there a chance that It's possible to run multiple OS at the same time like this and a Windows Server? It's for compatibilty issues because the server I use for minecraft uses Windows and I doubt you can run windows Apps in AmahI.


It's not so much the slowness but the hassle of cabling them - SATA is easier to deal with and gives less trouble. However, considering the *age* of those PATA drives, yes they will be slow. Using one for a boot drive will be fine, simply because servers don't tend to be rebooted very often.

As for the Amahi/Windows Server thing, you're right - I forgot you wanted to run a Minecraft server. What you could do is run Windows Server directly on the hardware and then run Amahi in a virtual machine like VMware or VirtualBox. Or, you could put Ubuntu Server on the bare metal (it's very lightweight), and then run Amahi and Windows Server in two separate virtual machines.

The possibilities are vast...


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## jrl1357

I'm setting up mine now, so i might as well post what i'm using it for.

-file server (servering files around to house
-backup point (importent files and sometimes a disk image from the pcs will go here just in case
-game server (xonotic)
-web server, for my blog when finished, maybe email, maybe as a volunteer miror for some linux repos.

The host is freebsd but just for the heck of it the web and possable game server part from a centos vm


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## TopicClocker

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *parityboy*
> 
> It's not so much the slowness but the hassle of cabling them - SATA is easier to deal with and gives less trouble. However, considering the *age* of those PATA drives, yes they will be slow. Using one for a boot drive will be fine, simply because servers don't tend to be rebooted very often.
> As for the Amahi/Windows Server thing, you're right - I forgot you wanted to run a Minecraft server. What you could do is run Windows Server directly on the hardware and then run Amahi in a virtual machine like VMware or VirtualBox. Or, you could put Ubuntu Server on the bare metal (it's very lightweight), and then run Amahi and Windows Server in two separate virtual machines.
> The possibilities are vast...


Wow cool, I've used VMware and VirtualBox before, very powerful software.


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## TopicClocker

Cool, does anyone know how DDR2 ram will measure up to the task? especially for a Minecraft server?
That Intel Core 2 E6750 Is a bit old but It's still powerful, I hadn't known it was neck and neck with my processor at stock without It's two extra processing cores, If I'm not to worried about power consumption I could overclock it to 4GHZ or something.

Oh and Is there any software that can turn on my server (If I build it) when I want it to and turn it off when neccessary or put it on sleep mode until It is needed? this would certainly save a lot of electricity.


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## tompsonn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TopicClocker*
> 
> Cool, does anyone know how DDR2 ram will measure up to the task? especially for a Minecraft server?
> That Intel Core 2 E6750 Is a bit old but It's still powerful, I hadn't known it was neck and neck with my processor at stock without It's two extra processing cores, If I'm not to worried about power consumption I could overclock it to 4GHZ or something.
> Oh and Is there any software that can turn on my server (If I build it) when I want it to and turn it off when neccessary or put it on sleep mode until It is needed? this would certainly save a lot of electricity.


I doubt DDR2 will be limiting you much here








I guess you could use wake-on-lan software! (But this requires hardware support from both the motherboard+BIOS and the network adapter).


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## TopicClocker

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tompsonn*
> 
> I doubt DDR2 will be limiting you much here
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I guess you could use wake-on-lan software! (But this requires hardware support from both the motherboard+BIOS and the network adapter).


Alright thanks for the help everyone, I'll have a look around still at software which I can use.


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## TopicClocker

I've just remembered, there seems to be a misplaced CPU Cooler -_- gonna have to visit maplin and grab one for my rig or the server, I could give the server my arctic cooler 7.


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## The_Hairy_Yak

... why don't all of you fold on your servers?


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## Oedipus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *The_Hairy_Yak*
> 
> ... why don't all of you fold on your servers?


Several reasons, but the main one is that the server can't do much serving if the CPU is maxed out all the time.


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## The_Hairy_Yak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Oedipus*
> 
> Several reasons, but the main one is that the server can't do much serving if the CPU is maxed out all the time.


But... not even a few cores? I'm new at this so put me in my place here haha


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## blupupher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *The_Hairy_Yak*
> 
> But... not even a few cores? I'm new at this so put me in my place here haha


Some servers are only a single core, most are dual cores at most (at least home servers).
I had a Sempron 140 till just recently in my server and only upgraded to a dual core because it took forever converting tv shows in VLC to watch on the iPad. Plus, my CPU gets maybe 1200 PPD if it folded 24/7, but then it would not be doing it's server duties, plus defeats one of the reasons I got a 45w CPU.


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## DaFirnz

Most people that aren't hardcore would mostly use a home server for
A) media
B) back-up

The easiest set-up would be to keep all of your media' personal files etc on it the you could just run an ssd (or 2) in each computer not really storing anything on them. From what i've read windows home server will do most everything you would want it to. And its relatively cheap.
For disks i would say just buy new, get 2 or 3 (or more) in a raid, but you do need a boot only drive. I believe at least 160g, I might be wrong. You may need a raid car.
Acer I think it was makes some pre-built home servers that you just plug in, setup and go. You can get them with more storage or add drives yourself.

If I had a home server (as I plan to soon) I wouldn't have a 100lb paperweight sitting on my desk right now, I could have just restored to my last save.

Just make yourself a small one and play with it for a while if you have the hardware then you can figure out what you like or dislike and go from there.
just watch some videos and read some forums.


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## The_Hairy_Yak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DaFirnz*
> 
> Most people that aren't hardcore would mostly use a home server for
> A) media
> B) back-up
> The easiest set-up would be to keep all of your media' personal files etc on it the you could just run an ssd (or 2) in each computer not really storing anything on them. From what i've read windows home server will do most everything you would want it to. And its relatively cheap.
> For disks i would say just buy new, get 2 or 3 (or more) in a raid, but you do need a boot only drive. I believe at least 160g, I might be wrong. You may need a raid car.
> Acer I think it was makes some pre-built home servers that you just plug in, setup and go. You can get them with more storage or add drives yourself.
> If I had a home server (as I plan to soon) I wouldn't have a 100lb paperweight sitting on my desk right now, I could have just restored to my last save.
> Just make yourself a small one and play with it for a while if you have the hardware then you can figure out what you like or dislike and go from there.
> just watch some videos and read some forums.


Haha, so what your telling me is that folding on one is perfectly viable if you have the CPU power







. I have quite a bit of time to plan out a server, but If I do infact build one it would be a 2p or a 4p for use as:
Folding
file-server
Security Camera DVR
Streaming
VMhost
web-server
Backups
+whatever else


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## jrl1357

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *The_Hairy_Yak*
> 
> ... why don't all of you fold on your servers?


Noise, heat, no freebsd client (and the linux compatability layer is 32bit)


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## 2002dunx

I admit to getting carried away with BOINC....







my mITX Gigabyte H55N-USB3 ended up with an i7 870 clocked to >3.5 GHz, by using a decent PSU I had a GTX 480 hanging off it and by using 75% of the CPU for BOINC + GPU of course, I ended up with a decent little rig, but the 24/7 use pushed temperatures up in my Fractal Array case.
Then went to a Corsair H70 AIO cooler to try and quieten things down....









I also have a full sized HTPC case that had a similar spec ATX system with similar components, but two HD 5870's were too noisy whilst watching a movie or video...

Greed is a terrible thing.









dunx


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## TopicClocker

Haha, have you seen the sexy Bitfenix Progidy?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-073-BX

Comes in white too.




I'd definetly go for an ITX board and this case, nice and compact and most importantly a mobile design.


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## The_Hairy_Yak

Put that away. I don't need anymore convincing that I want to sell my ATX+CPU for an ITX and ivy i7. fitting my 580(+thermally) would be the interesting part.

Back OT.

How do you setup remote user accounts? Just create them on your server (probably much simpler in WS2011) and then just use the domain in your login? what is behind the scenes here? I have created accounts but not the initial setup of the whole system. The reason I ask is eventually (family and such) I would like to host everything on a server and be able to login to my account from any computer on the network.


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## Reptile

Why not make a dual system build?


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## The_Hairy_Yak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Reptile*
> 
> Why not make a dual system build?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> [/QUOTE]
> 
> ...because I don't have enough appendages to use them both, or the attention span. Plus all around it is just kind of pointless unless you need them separate for work. A 2p build or 4p build would be way better.
> 
> Later my plan is to have a bunch of ITX builds around the house for the family and such, then host everything on a server with roaming user accounts.


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## jrl1357

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Reptile*
> 
> Why not make a dual system build?


Thats pretty god damm wickied.


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## DaFirnz

A good reason not to build a dual build is if you ever had to move it. My 600t is heavy enough with everything in it.

I never said anything about folding.


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## The_Hairy_Yak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DaFirnz*
> 
> A good reason not to build a dual build is if you ever had to move it. My 600t is heavy enough with everything in it.
> I never said anything about folding.


I mean, If I had the idle CPUs


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## Oedipus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Reptile*
> 
> Why not make a dual system build?


I did.


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## Lord Xeb

I have a media server in my house that I do the following:

24" Macbook Early 2009 - Primary media server - has 2 MediaSonic RAID totaling 10TB of storage

21" Late 2008 20" - Used for NFS (network file share)

My desktop - When running linux, do video crunching between the imacs and my rig


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## TopicClocker

Whoa nice comments all of you, the dual system build is intresting, I happen to have two processors which are very similar and are 775 socket chips, but since they aren't Xeons I can't use them in a dual system build







.

However I think It should be easy to find cheap opterons or some Xeons and replace the MOBO and make a dual system, I probably wont because of the miser budget I intend to use but It's intresting find out more.

I've laways been interested in dual CPU systems, but I want to know the benefits and the drawbacks of using one, I gather that conversion and rendering should be drastically improved but I wish to find out more, like If it's possible to deactivate a processor while the system is running or at all, and not only that If It's possible to allocate a processor or a few cores to performing a certain task.


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## TopicClocker

Looks like I was wrong.
http://www.pcupgrade.co.uk/productdetails.asp?productid=9462&categoryid=260


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## Oedipus

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_775/P5P41TD/

Not dual socket.


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## TopicClocker

Oh, bummer, but that allows us to create two servers then since these chips came from our first custom builds in 2008 or 2009, I can't remember It was so long ago..


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## Gunsrunner

Hello, I'm on my 4th build of a server. Everytime my desktop gets an update parts get handed down through the PC's in the house.

One of the versions had a E6750 with 4gig of ddr2 and a gigabyte G41M-Combo. It could use ddr2 or ddr3 tried both no big difference.

Just put all your stuff in a box, pick some software and turn it on. Make sure you have a seperate back-up of your most important stuff.

WHS 2011 needs a drive bigger than 150gig so you could have trouble with your IDE drives if small, for the OS, but there are other OS's.

The networking in the house is important, go for a giga network if possible, a giga switch can be had fairly cheaply.

Reliability is the key, it needs to be there when you want it or it is a big pain in the but, because the file is not stored anywhere else.

When you want to access files over the net/ overseas, yes it works well but be careful of your download limits overseas.

Check my sigs server for the latest build, stronger and faster, but all of them have worked.

Good luck and have fun.


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