Home Network Server Setup (please help--hardware/software questions!!)

D

Dane

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jun 1, 2004
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Hey everyone--going to say thanks for even reading this (let alone for any suggestions) before I start.

I work from home with a buddy. It's a two story building with a "warehouse" out in a secured garage outside. The computers look like this:

Two main computers that we use in the office
One computer in the garage (w/ a wireless card, as running wires would be a pain)
One computer in the basement (w/ a wireless card, as running wires would be a pain)
Two laptops (not necessary, but we use in the house)

I'd like for all of these computers to be on a network that saves everything on a server (the computer garage could be the server if needbe, or we can have the server somewhere in the house). I'm upgrading all computers in the next month, so they should all have the necessary software for us (one new laptop and two new PCs).

I want to be able to log into any of these computers in either my name or my coworkers name (and be able to change anything on one, then log into the other and access the changes...you know, like a network should be)

I'd also like the computer in the garage to be wireless (we can have a laptop out there, that would be fine).

My questions:

What's the best server to set up (HP, Dell...going to use a newer server that uses SAS 2.5" drives, and we don't need much storage (I think a couple 73gb drives would be more than fine for now)

What software should be used? I'm assuming win 7/8 home would suffice?

Any other info/help would be greatly appreciated!

I'd be willing to give paypal to anyone who helps walk me through this, or you can just be a kind soul ;-)

Dane
 
Do you need email or anything like that or just file storage? It its just storage, I'd stick with a mid-grade Synology or QNAP NAS. Get a couple NSAS drives or enterprise SATA drives and call her good. I'd personally go Synology over QNAP. You can then backup to USB HDDs or an online service like Crashplan.
 
Dane said:
...(I think a couple 73gb drives would be more than fine for now)
Click to expand...

73 GB drives? why SAS drives? I don't know anything about SAS drives.

I just built my windows home server 2011 and I have 15TB of storage in it.
 
Looks good--I think I might know what I"m doing now. Any others?
 
If it's just file storage you need, then I'll add another vote for the QNAP products. I've been running a simple two-drive unit at my place (set as RAID-1), and it's been wonderful. Fast throughput, lots of features, decent UI for settings/permission management, and no issues with various clients connecting to it.

It would help if we knew the business you and your buddy are running, and the applications you guys use/require.
 
Dane said:
I'd like for all of these computers to be on a network that saves everything on a server (the computer garage could be the server if needbe, or we can have the server somewhere in the house). I'm upgrading all computers in the next month, so they should all have the necessary software for us (one new laptop and two new PCs).

I want to be able to log into any of these computers in either my name or my coworkers name (and be able to change anything on one, then log into the other and access the changes...you know, like a network should be)

I'd also like the computer in the garage to be wireless (we can have a laptop out there, that would be fine).

My questions:

What's the best server to set up (HP, Dell...going to use a newer server that uses SAS 2.5" drives, and we don't need much storage (I think a couple 73gb drives would be more than fine for now)

What software should be used? I'm assuming win 7/8 home would suffice?
Click to expand...

According to the requirements you set down you are looking for a Windows Server system where you can create a domain for single sign on, each computer will need to be added to the domain and the local accounts will not be what you are going to log on with. You will want to map your My Documents directory to your home directory on the server.

This could all be done pretty easy using any Dell, HP or IBM server running Windows 2008 R2. You may need to bring in a Server/Network consultant to help you setup your Active Directory but that would depend on your knowledge level and how comfortable you feel doing it yourself.

For the client side you will want Windows 7 Professional.

You could also do a Homegroup instead, but that involves each computer having the same logins on them and setting up Homegroup sharing. The only down side with homegroup sharing is that all your files are not stored on the server, they are just available from any of the machines. So you need discipline to save your files to the same homegroup share everytime. Where as an Active Directory means you setup a single account on the server and use that account on all the machines.


The questions you didn't ask about are:
Backups

So how are you planning on backing this up?
 
Wouldn't SBS2011 Essentials be a good fit for this. WHS doesn't do DC/unified logins but full blown WS2008R2 seems a bit excessive.
 
-Dragon- said:
Wouldn't SBS2011 Essentials be a good fit for this. WHS doesn't do DC/unified logins but full blown WS2008R2 seems a bit excessive.
Click to expand...

pre-pair to buy some decent hardware and give sbs atleast 8 gigs ram :)

I run sbs2011 at home and love it!
 
Ianshot -- What do you suggest for backup?

Dragon--yes, this might work.

Dashpuppy--I have no problem getting a server/tower with at least 8gb RAM. I have the $$ to do this.

Thanks!

x * I think I'm good with SBS2011. I want to have a server running to back up everything and store all of our business files, then be able to log in from my main office PC, or else a computer in the basement/storage area and my laptop from anywhere in the house (along with a couple other PC and laptop). I'm prepared to buy a smaller tower server and use SBS2011 on it and have two new PC using Win 7 (home I hope...??)
 
Last edited:
Looking now.

I have a PE1950 here w/ dual 2.33ghz DC SL9RR and 32gb RAM (8x4gb pc4200)
 
Or a Dell 2900:

Two 146GB SAS drives
12 Gigs RAM (12 1GB sticks)
DVD drive
Dual Xeon Procs:
PROCESSOR TYPE : INTEL XEON DUAL CORE
CLOCK SPEED : 1.6GHZ
L2 CACHE SIZE : 4MB
FRONT SIDE BUS : 1066MHZ
PROCESSOR SOCKET : SOCKET-LGA771
 
Dane said:
Or a Dell 2900:

Two 146GB SAS drives
12 Gigs RAM (12 1GB sticks)
DVD drive
Dual Xeon Procs:
PROCESSOR TYPE : INTEL XEON DUAL CORE
CLOCK SPEED : 1.6GHZ
L2 CACHE SIZE : 4MB
FRONT SIDE BUS : 1066MHZ
PROCESSOR SOCKET : SOCKET-LGA771
Click to expand...

I have 2 quad core lga771 processors for this beast you can have :) just pay shipping.. they are quad core 2.4's I believe. Then this box could run sbs 2011 :)
 
Hrmm, maybe I'll just use the PE1950 then! I'm going to pick up SBS 2011 today.

Any recommendations for the wireless?
 
Avoid it as much as possible. I swear to god I wish my iphone had a ethernet port.

Just use what you have it probably doesn't suck much worse than the next best thing, if you don't have anything maybe go Unifi. Go 5GHz when possible, 2.4GHz spectrum sucks ass in most places.
 
Fair enough--thanks. I cannot run a cable out to the garage, so that would have to be wireless....

I guess I can put the server in the basement...
 
I'd look into a heavy duty WAP like a ubiquiti UniFi or something along that line and secure it.
 
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