Turning old computer into a server

[doanster]

Looking to quickly turn an old PIII computer running windows xp into a basic file/print/ftp server. Was thinking of installing FreeNAS, but decided that it was too much work for what I need

Tips? Suggestions?

My home network has both Windows and Mac computers, so compatibility with both is a must.

Computer specs: PIII@800MHz, 512MB PC133 memory, misc hard drives to be installed. hardware should be adequate?

Thanks!

 

[JackMDS]

No need to NAS just use Windows File sharing, and mapping.

Or get for it Windows Home Server and do it in style.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16832116550

http://www.ezlan.net/WHS.html

 

[somethingsketchy]

Originally posted by: doanster
Computer specs: PIII@800MHz, 512MB PC133 memory, misc hard drives to be installed. hardware should be adequate?

Thanks!

Oh yeah, most times your server needs will hardly exceed what you are planning to do with it. Unless you were streaming HD content you might need beefier equipment, but what you have will be great for the job.

 

[Winterpool]

As Jack has pointed out, simple SMB / CIFS file-sharing is sufficient for both Windows and Mac OS X clients. Windows Home Server is more powerful and has (for Microsoft) a rather promising interface. Officially the WHS minimum spec is a 1 GHz cpu, but I wonder if an 800 MHz PIII could slip through (I've an 866 MHz PIII I'd like to try myself).

The one hardware addition you might consider: a Gigabit network adapter.

 

[doanster]

I wonder if I will see a noticeable difference with a gigabit connection for this project? My router is currently a dated 10/100 router, wonder if it'll be worth it to upgrade my entire network to gigabit.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Originally posted by: doanster
I wonder if I will see a noticeable difference with a gigabit connection for this project? My router is currently a dated 10/100 router, wonder if it'll be worth it to upgrade my entire network to gigabit.

If you are using raid or SSD setups, yes it may be worth in for the burst speeds. Otherwise no, its really not worth it at all.

 

[Madwand1]

Originally posted by: doanster
I wonder if I will see a noticeable difference with a gigabit connection for this project? My router is currently a dated 10/100 router, wonder if it'll be worth it to upgrade my entire network to gigabit.

Yes, all you'd have to do would be to add an inexpensive gigabit switch, connect that to the router, and then connect your (gigabit-capable) computers to the switch. Gigabit NICs can be bought for around as little as $10, and gigabit switches for not much more.

Even though your hardware is dated and will not reach the full potential of gigabit, you could still get say 2x the speed of 100 Mb/s, which would be a significant real-world improvement.

 

[doanster]

Originally posted by: Madwand1

Originally posted by: doanster
I wonder if I will see a noticeable difference with a gigabit connection for this project? My router is currently a dated 10/100 router, wonder if it'll be worth it to upgrade my entire network to gigabit.

Yes, all you'd have to do would be to add an inexpensive gigabit switch, connect that to the router, and then connect your (gigabit-capable) computers to the switch. Gigabit NICs can be bought for around as little as $10, and gigabit switches for not much more.

Even though your hardware is dated and will not reach the full potential of gigabit, you could still get say 2x the speed of 100 Mb/s, which would be a significant real-world improvement.

You're right, I saw a very noticeable improvement with upgrade to gigabit. Not sure if it was due to the bandwidth increase or the decrease in overhead from enabling jumbo frames, but it was well worth it

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: doanster
Looking to quickly turn an old PIII computer running windows xp into a basic file/print/ftp server. Was thinking of installing FreeNAS, but decided that it was too much work for what I need

Tips? Suggestions?

My home network has both Windows and Mac computers, so compatibility with both is a must.

Computer specs: PIII@800MHz, 512MB PC133 memory, misc hard drives to be installed. hardware should be adequate?

Thanks!

I would do WHS for the backup functionality, but if you don't need that then sticking with whatever OS you have on there now (XP), setting up a few file shares and printer shares, and poof - you're done. It's very simple.

 

[dbcooper1]

If you go with WHS, Gb network is probably the single most cost efficient upgrade you can make, especially if you use the back up function and have several machines backing up/mapping drives to it. (you can use up to ten at a time).

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: dbcooper1
If you go with WHS, Gb network is probably the single most cost efficient upgrade you can make, especially if you use the back up function and have several machines backing up/mapping drives to it. (you can use up to ten at a time).

Sure, if you're moving large (DVD-sized) files around your little LAN. Otherwise, stick with what you've got.

Sure, GBe makes the WHS backups faster - but you'll also need to upgrade all the other hardware on the network for any benefit, and for most people, well, we just don't move files that large around every day, so there's just not much point right now.

That said, it is a cheap, easy upgrade that would make backups faster. The question I'd have though is - is it worth spending $50 to save 20 minutes of backup time at 3 am in the morning, when you're asleep anyway and wouldn't notice the difference?

That said, I have GBe. I have a more complex network setup with many client machines, many ESXi setups, and I do routinely move large files around, so for me GBe makes sense.

 

[dbcooper1]

Not sure what your point is exactly; I stand by what I said.

 

[dclive]

My point was for the person moving an occasional file around upgrading to GigE doesn't make sense. For someone routinely moving DVD-size or larger files around, it makes more sense.

 

[Madwand1]

Originally posted by: doanster
You're right, I saw a very noticeable improvement with upgrade to gigabit. Not sure if it was due to the bandwidth increase or the decrease in overhead from enabling jumbo frames, but it was well worth it

Congratulations, and thanks for the feedback.