Windows XP x64 edition as a file server..is this is a good idea?

[Qianglong]

I have a file server box at home that currently runs Ubuntu. Since there are 8 drives in that box and I couldn't find any power save features to turn off the drives, i've decided to move into Windows that offer better power saving features.

I do not have a copy of Windows 2003 serverbut I do have a legit copy of Windows XP x64. I am wondering if that OS will give good and stable performance for my file server needs.

My system specs are of the following:

Dual Core Opteron 1.8Ghz
1GB of RAM
3Ware 9550SX SATA RAID CARD.

 

[bsobel]

You'll be limited to 10 connected systems over SMB at one time, if you have less than that then XP64 should be fine.

 

[spyordie007]

There are some other reasons to consider 2003 for your file server, such as volume shadow copy, but like Bill said if all you need is a basic file server and you wont have more than 10 connections at a time XP Pro (x86 or x64) is fine.

 

[hennessy1]

Sorry if I am just a little ignorant on the subject but I was wondering since xp x64 is based on the server 2003 wouldnt that mean they are on the same playing field? Like server software wise?

 

[spyordie007]

The code base is the same, but the feature set is not.

 

[imported_djnes]

Originally posted by: hennessy1
Sorry if I am just a little ignorant on the subject but I was wondering since xp x64 is based on the server 2003 wouldnt that mean they are on the same playing field? Like server software wise?

You'll still need utilities designed for XP, instead of Server 2003, such as defraggers, AV solutions, etc.

 

[Nothinman]

Since there are 8 drives in that box and I couldn't find any power save features to turn off the drives,

You can use hdparm to set each drive's spindown time. http://knoppmythwiki.org/index...?page=Power+Management

You'll probably also want to disable atime updates with the noatime mount option and possibly lengthen the amount of time between journal updates if you're using ext3. I believe the laptop-mode package can take care of that stuff for you.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: hennessy1
Sorry if I am just a little ignorant on the subject but I was wondering since xp x64 is based on the server 2003 wouldnt that mean they are on the same playing field? Like server software wise?

They happen to be on the same branch of the Windows source tree, XP64 has the XP feature set not the 2003 server feature set.

 

[RebateMonger]

As long as you only have a few users, XP64 should serve you just fine. Reliability issues with OSes nowadays are more related to the APPLICATION programs than to the OS itself. Pile games, poorly written apps, and spyware on top of any OS and it won't be very reliable.

If you install an Anti-Virus program, turn on the XP firewall, don't browse the Internet from your Server, and install quality applications, you should be fine.

 

[t0mn8r]

I don't agree with bsobel (sorry!).

It is easy to think that the limit of 10 is 10 PC's. Not true. It is 10 connections. In other words if one PC opens 2 files you only have 8 connections left. 64 bit won't help you there.

There is a bad hack floating around which CLAIMS to lift this limitation but it does not.

Use a proper server OS.

HTH

 

[Nothinman]

It is easy to think that the limit of 10 is 10 PC's. Not true. It is 10 connections. In other words if one PC opens 2 files you only have 8 connections left. 64 bit won't help you there.

That's not true at all, you can have as many files open as you want (well, within any open filehandle restrictions) over 1 connection.

 

[bsobel]

It is easy to think that the limit of 10 is 10 PC's. Not true. It is 10 connections. In other words if one PC opens 2 files you only have 8 connections left.

That is incorrect.

 

[dphantom]

Originally posted by: t0mn8r
I don't agree with bsobel (sorry!).

It is easy to think that the limit of 10 is 10 PC's. Not true. It is 10 connections. In other words if one PC opens 2 files you only have 8 connections left. 64 bit won't help you there.

There is a bad hack floating around which CLAIMS to lift this limitation but it does not.

Use a proper server OS.

HTH

Wrong. Open files has no affect on the number of connecitons to XP.

 

[nerp]

It's also worth nothing that the limit is to 10 CONCURRENT connections, which means you could have more than 10 machines on your network accessing the server as long as they weren't all trying to connect at the same time.