Beginner Server Build

T

toasterpop

Weaksauce
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Jan 27, 2007
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I've been reading a bit about building a server at my home for personal use, and practice. I've got a spare tower and I'm wondering what it would take to turn it into a server tower.
This is strictly for educational use and I would prefer to not spend any more money if possible. The most I would like it to do is be accessable from any of my computers in the house and perhaps some light database software I've been working on.
And for the life of me a cant get Outlook to work on anydesktop. Doesnt it need to link with a server? Please forgive my ignorance about all this.
 
Do you want to play with Windows...or linux?
What part of "learning" do you want to learn? Windows server active directory, DNS, and stuff like that? Or basic peer to peer networking?

Outlook can be used in both POP3 Internet e-mail (such as from your ISP)....or in the corporate environment..with MS Exchange Server (which is what Outlook is really designed for). Note that "Outlook"...which is part of the Microsoft Office Suite...is not the same as Outlook Express..which is the lightweight e-mail client Microsoft includes with Windows for home use.
 
So, you want a server just for setting up a database you've been working on? What is it written in? What OS do you need?

As for outlook, what do you mean "work"? are you trying to get email from MSN,gmail, aol or w/e, or are you trying to setup your own email server?
 
I'll be running Windows XP 32, as I have a zero for knowledge of Linux at this point.
I would like to learn about Server Active Directory, as well as DNS (Domain Name System?) but for starters DNS.
The database is a SQL Server 2005 version and I'm studying C# and C++
I would also like to set up my own email server.
I have a copy of Office 07 EE (which should have just about all i need on the email side, right?) What would i need to start an MS Exchange Server?
thanks for speedy replies
 
Well, for starters, you are going to need a server operating system. You cannot setup exchange or active directory on a spare XP desktop you have laying around.

Do you have access to copies of server 2003 from your work or school? If not then I think you can get eval copies which are good for 60 days and then expire. If MS doesn't do that anymore then you are going to have to cough up some cash just for an OS to play with.
 
Captain Colonoscopy said:
Well, for starters, you are going to need a server operating system. You cannot setup exchange or active directory on a spare XP desktop you have laying around.

Do you have access to copies of server 2003 from your work or school? If not then I think you can get eval copies which are good for 60 days and then expire. If MS doesn't do that anymore then you are going to have to cough up some cash just for an OS to play with.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. You can get MS Virtual Server run that on XP then get VHD images of complete installs from:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/bb738372.aspx
All this being for evaluation purposes of course.
 
Ok i got my hands on a copy of MS Server 2003 and I'm currently installing it. So far it seems its pretty self explanitory, though it looks like ill have to reinstall some drivers before i continue much further. I will post updates as i go, thanks for all the help!
 
Great, wont install, says it cant install a certain driver so after three tries, I'll see if i can find another copy. just one more delay...
 
toasterpop said:
Great, wont install, says it cant install a certain driver so after three tries, I'll see if i can find another copy. just one more delay...
Click to expand...

finding another copy of 2003 isn't going to help you with the drivers. You need to find drivers from the manufacturer that are compatible with server 2003.
 
sorry to thread jack, but is it easy to make a file server so i can access files from anywhere in the world?
 
Captain Colonoscopy said:
finding another copy of 2003 isn't going to help you with the drivers. You need to find drivers from the manufacturer that are compatible with server 2003.
Click to expand...

Yuppers....best to install Windows Server on hardware that is officially supported.....that is...if you want a good stable system.

You wont have the best of luck installing it on home grade PCs like Presarios or eMachines....or on "motherboard of the month club" parts.
 
so more or less, without building an actual server machine, or installing a vertual server program im probably not going to be able to get a test server up? in which case, the most compatable route would be to install something like MS Virtual Server?
 
toasterpop said:
Great, wont install, says it cant install a certain driver so after three tries, I'll see if i can find another copy. just one more delay...
Click to expand...

Depending on the driver, I've used XP ones to fill in the gaps. But that's very rare.
 
My home server is a P4-2.8with 1GB of ram and a few HDD's running Windows XP Pro, YES!! XP Pro. I use it for network storage, an FTP server, an HTTP test server running PHP and MySQL, as well as a torrent seed box. I have a 60GB system drive and a 300GB storage drive, as well as a 250GB external backup drive. It is also totally headless. There are 3 cables plugged into it, a power cable, a network cable, and the USB plug for the external drive.

Depending on what you truly want to use it for, the need for a server OS really isn't necessary. I like mine because I use "RadMin" to access it. If I want to do something that's time consuming like converting movies for my PSP, my server gets that job. Converting a DVD to Divx for my kids to destroy in their DVD player is also done on there. You can install Apache on XP, but I use a very small program called "Abyss" and it's great for testing a script to see what it's all about. PHP and MySQL also works great on XP.

I have run 2000, XP Pro, and 2003 on my server. I have also tested 2008 as well as running different distros of Linux on there, and my linux SUX! so I ran back to Microsoft like a crying school girl. XP is easy, secure enough for what I use it for, and considering it's behind my router, it's totally secure, except for a possible SQL attack or weakness from another program, but it hasn't happened yet and truly doubt if it will.

If you tell us what YOU want to use a server for in YOUR home, it might help us to suggest what OS and possible software for ya.
 
Well to tell you all the truth, I am about as ignorant with servers as one can be, im scratching the surface with SQL as I teaching myself C++ and C#, but as far as practical use? educational. So when you whip out PHP (another scripting language yes?) im just not sure if thats what i want to do with it. I have used FTP servers for downloading files and such but i really dont know much about them either.

For starters i want to be able to run this PC totally headless, (perhaps later connect it to the living room TV for watching stored content. But i want to be able to run it remotely. Im in no hurry right now as i have switched cases and this one is a bit different so im having to fabricate some fan mounts and a few other things. I have a copy of XP Pro and its running a GB of ram, and an old FX5200 video card...(why that matters? --->headless). And its running a 2.6GHz Intel P4. Network storage would be great too once i get a few HDDs for it.
 
I'm not sure about Windows specific apps, but I'll speak of home-servers in general. For most intents and purposes, a home server can do so much. I have an old PII rig behind my router. My router runs DD-WRT, which is an alternative firmware available for select consumer-grade routers, like my Linksys WRT-54Gv8. My lil server used to be an Apache server hosting a small web-site until Comcast caught on. Now it's a private email and DNS server. I'm also playing around with proxy, database, Active Directory-type (OpenLDAP) apps, not to mention handling back-ups and file-server duties when I get a couple larger harddrives for RAID1 in an external enclosure. As my screen name implies, I'm running Linux. Linux is a bit difficult at first, but if you approach it with an open mind, and not be afraid to read and experiment, then Linux isn't that hard. I've been using it for 3 years now and I learn new things about it every day. I don't run it on my desktop as much as I used to since I'm back into gaming and realizing how much I suck at Team Fortress 2. lol.

If you're looking for things to do with your server, look at things that aren't exactly practical, but can be done. Gmail loses my emails sometimes. I have some emails for 2 years ago, but some are gone after mere weeks. So I set up a mailserver that just pulls emails from my 3 email accounts. Yeah, Outlook or Evolution can do the same thing, but it gave me an excuse to set up a server. My network only has 2 client machines and a server. It's easier to just edit a hosts file on the server, but I set up DNS anyway. Why, because I can. I don't need a proxy server, but It can be implemented. As for a back-up server, everyone needs one of these. But it can more easily be setup for a small network by simply writing a small script rather than an enterprise-grade app.
 
@ That Linux Guy:

Not trying to hijack, but this could be useful for the OP. What software for the mail server are you running? Could something like outlook connect to it? When I get setup with some new hosting in the near future, I'd like to have a mail server that pulls all my emails and stores them (be leave at host too), and I can view them with outlook. I've already got a box with Server 08 running a few different purposes.
 
tgabe213 said:
@ That Linux Guy:

Not trying to hijack, but this could be useful for the OP. What software for the mail server are you running? Could something like outlook connect to it? When I get setup with some new hosting in the near future, I'd like to have a mail server that pulls all my emails and stores them (be leave at host too), and I can view them with outlook. I've already got a box with Server 08 running a few different purposes.
Click to expand...

There's a lot of options on the Linux side for this, but if you already have a 2k8 box up you could probably look for a windows open source server (a quick google search brings up hmailserver as a popular choice. I've never used it but I can't imagine that any current-day mailserver program cant at least do the store-and-forward that you're looking for).
 
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