Pros and Cons of separate "Fileserver" PCs ??

[HepDude]

Hi !

So, I have a small home network (using cheap LAN cards) and I just upgraded gf's PC and so now I have an extra complete slow PC circa 1995 (ie Pentium P133) with no hard drive.

I remember posts here talking about using a fileserver PC on their home network, and I was wondering what the advantages and disadvantages would be (as opposed to just having files accessed on other PCs over the network).

 

[Goosemaster]

I have a fileserver setup here at school(don't tell) simply because I ran out of space in my mainpc. I have it hooked up to an SMC router /switch, so it really isn't acting as a server or anything' just an extra box for me to use as storage..I'm not really messing with the AUP anyways. . Actually, I only left both of my scsi HDs in my main pc for speed. Whenever I need to tranfer stuff off of my secondary SCSI HD to storage on the Fileserver, I don't feel a thing.

Advantages

-Speed
-Resources...let the Fileserver mess with them...I like my main pc free to do stuff
-can be romtely controlled using Terminal Server or VNC or Telnet
-Can be an unsecure box to leave on that can continuously be set to allow you to access important files wihtout leaving you main pc open for attack


Disadvantages...

-Electricity
-Another beige box to hide( mine is under my bed...)

 

[HepDude]

^

 

[vash]

Severs are too useful not to own, even for home use. I have 5 PCs at home and my server isn't a slouch and has the most amount of disk space. It serves as web/ftp/local share/hlds/ofp ds/gamevoice/etc server (its connected to the router with ports forwarded). When I need a file, I don't need to create seperate shares for everyone, they just pop onto my FTP or netshare, etc, and they get files mucho quick.

In my sig, the 1.0ghz is my server.

vash

 

[SUOrangeman]

I'm using a P166MMX box as an MP3 file server, playing files via SPDIF-out to my home theater (web interface) and streaming MP3s to me at work (again, web interface). Even have databases manging the backend to help me search through my 5000 tracks to find the right one for the occassion.

-SUO