Building a cheap server computer, need component suggestions.
 

OK, my goal is to build a small, C H E A P, server for my home that would connect and serve as a file back-up and LAN for three computers throughout my household.

What would be the best way to go about this? I already have an old 15" monitor and a friend of mine has a copy of windows server 2003 that he said I could use.

We are currently connecting at 40 Kbps on our dial-up, so connection sharing isn't a priority but I would like to have it easly upgradable to a broadband router solution once BB is avaiable at my house.

What I am looking for is a list of very cheap components that would suffice. IE. case, MB, dvd-rom, and processor.

For storage I will probably be going with a couple of these:
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=HD-HT250S1&c=pw
I heard Hitachi's are quite reliable compared to maxtor and what not.

[Someone on another forum suggested Seagate however]

So yeah, gimme some feedback and I will be very appreciative!

Thanks for your time and help!

From what I understand, you can have a really really shitty system, and run it as a Linux server and it will be perfectly fine.

I don't really have the time right now to invest in learning the ways of the linux, I understand that windows server will probably need me to reset it 50 times before it gets up and running but such is life sometimes :)

Why do you even need Windows Server 2003? XP can get the job done. Also, remember that you need a license for it, and those are around $699 for the Standard version.

And you're willing to reload Windows 50+ times instead of learning something new?

I'm running a P2 400mhz for my everything server. This includes SSH, FTP, Apache, Subversion, Ventrillo, Samba, Tomcat, whatever else. It works fine and there's no issue with the speed at all.

I agree with Bendsley - unless you want to go down the path of exchange server or something else that requires windows server, you would be better just using another windows XP box running as a workgroup. With file sharing turned on, you can easily create a shared drive mapping.

If you are doing it to learn windows 2003 server, that is a different matter...

When and if you get broadband, you can just get a router (wireless or not) to share the connection.

An alterative would be an olde computer (pentium 2 or even lower), running Linux. I know, I know, you already said you didn't have time to learn how to use it. But you don't need to! Try <a href="http://www.clarkconnect.com/">Clarkconnect</a>; it works fine, is very simple to install and uses a simple web-interface to communicate.
There is no need to learn Linux commands at all.

I've used it to run a very olde pentium (1!) 133 Mhz, with 32 megs of ram. It can do everything you need.

Yeah, ran clarkconnect myself a while ago, and it works very well. You don't need a very powerful computer either which is a plus.

I have a PIII 1.3 Ghz server running Win2kServer. complete overkill. i only put server on it to keep up my tech skills, but if I had to rebuild it I would rebuild it with just shared folders since it's much easier logistically from an admin point of view.

It started out as a PIII700Mhz...upgraded after the mobo died. no monitor, I just VNC to it to configure it.

I have an old 1.2 GHz celeron running Server 2003. Try to find an old P3 system on ebay for your server.

Find the cheapest box you can. Seriously, nothing on a server like that will tax the system. I ran a similar thing on a P2 400 for a long time (until the hard drive blew up, actually), and that was complete overkill. Of course, you have a bit more overhead running Windows, but even something like an 800mhz machine would be just fine. So yeah, just find something cheap.

Hmm, can that clark connect have a torrent clinet by any chance? That would be awesome if it could... it dosen't look like you can add apps to it though.

-- edit --

Disregard that, I didn't relize that the whole system was controlled via web browser. Back to server 2003 I go.

Hello,

Until recently, I had a Pentium III 550 Mhz running Windows 98 as my backup/media sharing/printserver/scanner machine. Just dropped in 384 MB Ram, 3 hard drives, and shared everything where appropriate. i can still use it to surf the net while it's acting as a fileserver.

For a home setup, you need very little in terms of hardware power. And, as people said, if it is a Linux box, you can use even less.

Good-luck

...but then again, you didn't realize that the whole system is essentially Redhat Linux, which can probably do a lot more than Windows 2003. :)

But seriously, if you have a powerful server, Windows server is fine. If you happen to have a rusty olde box around, Linux is better.

You remember that box I talked about? P133, 32 megs? It ran a mail server (including spam filter), proxy server, ftp server, webserver and firewall. It may not have been the fastest thing on earth, but it *kept going*.

Think I can intall KDE on it and still use the web interface?

Well, that's one of the problems with a pre-made linux: you need to do a bit of work to install KDE. But yes, if you do, you will still be able to use the web interface.

But why install KDE in the first place? If you want KDE, you can just as easily use a "normal" linux distribution.

run FreeBSD or Unix... :D

shit.. that's the only suggestion I have

I agree that a good linux distro will get you further along than Windows, and often without any learning. But if you have a licensed copy of windows that you can use... well, whatever floats your boat. Win2k3 does have higher requirements than Win2k server, so if you require windows, you may want to look into 2K instead.

Any parts you need to buy new, get from newegg.com... they'll ALWAYS have tight deals on a lot of products. You can get a cheap LG or Lite-On DVD-ROM there (if you need one) or CD-ROM. Try getting parts on Ebay, or a local small computer shop that may deal in used products. Go to a PC trade show (they have them once a month somewhere near Milwaukee I think) and pick up some dirt cheap items.

The drive you listed, however, is SATA, which means you'll likely be picking up a new mobo. Brand of mobo can be a make or break for your system. Personally I recommend none of the "cheap" boards. I tend to go with Soyo or Asus myself, thoguh Abit and Tyan are both also top tier.

Newegg has the PATA version of the drive you mentioned : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822145058 : for $2 less. Hitachi is good, Seagate and Maxtor are also good. Each model of drive needs to be looked at seperately for reliability rather than brand overall. Hitachi/IBM had a HUGE problem that ended in a class-action lawsuit over three models of DeskStar drives. Since then, they've regained most of their reliability status in the market.

If you want more info (specifics), send me a PM.

go with a FIC motherboard, cheap and have always had good luck with them

Linux and Hardware
 

I would recommend TONS of RAM and HD space. If you are trying to find a cheap OS you could try Ubuntu Linux www.ubuntulinux.org it is painless to set up, but if you are relying on your modem of internet I would not recommend linux at all.

mark

Why? Never had a problem using a modem in Linux. (Well ok, except those nasty winmodems, but that crap doesn't count)