1st foray into serverdom.

[farscape]

I have a spare system ( PIII 450, 128 pc 100 ram, Biostar M6TBA mb, 10 gig hd) lying around that I would like to set up a server for home use. Whereas I have done a bunch of builds and repairs on home and business systems, my understanding and knowledge of servers and networking is very limited. Since this would be my "getting my feet wet" experience with setting up a server, I am looking for some helpful advice. Presently I'm looking at running W2K as the op-sys. My ideas are for setting it up as an e-mail, and application server, and hopefully eventually as a small web (site) server. Any ideas as to what to avoid, and helpful hints would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks,

'scape

Also, does anyone know if the 450 is a locked CPU? If I can't get it all set up as a server, can this cpu be OC'd?

Thanks again!

 

[RemyCanad]

All pentium 3s are locked. But you can overclock by rasing the FSB. But I don't know if your board supports small FSB steps.

I don't see any reason you can't run win2k on it. But you will need to download a mail server for it. Hmm I will try and gather up some links. I am sure there are others here that have good links if I can't get many.

 

[Hessakia]

If you want to put Win2k Server on a P3 450, your going to want some more ram in that system, nothing snazzy tho, Newegg has PC 133 Kingston Value Ram for 45 dollars (49 shipped). Do your self a favor and pick up another 256 or even better 512megs, you'll see a world of difference.

 

[Thor86]

Main things to know, what are you using the server for, and how many users are serving off it. This will help in determining your server specs.

If you are just using it for home with 2-4 people, then that should be fine with Win2k Server, or even NT 4 server if you can still find it. Better yet, get your reading glasses on, and start with Linux. There are many freely available distributions and server applications for Linux, BSD out there, but do require some extensive reading/knowledge base if you know nothing of it.

Also be aware, that running a server comes with responsiblity of setting it up securely so no outside user can use it for malicious means. This only affects servers connected to the internet, even though it is behind a router/NAT gateway. There are too many exploits these days to run something at default installation/out-of-the-box setups. Do your research and you should be fine. Most/all information is readily available on the net.

Lastly, have fun. You probably won't set things up right the first time, you rarely do, but it is a learning experience.

 

[farscape]

I am taking this a learning experience. Right now its going to be a home setup w/2-3 users, and hope to eventually adapt it to a small office w/8 - 12 users. I would rather make the mistakes at home before trying to do set up security an office.

I have loads of info on W2K and server, but not too much on Linux. Guess I'll have to expand on my library.

Thanks so far, and will be keeping an open mind on which way to proceed.

'scape