Server…What Is It & Who Needs It?

J

jedihobbit

Gawd
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Nov 3, 2005
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Trying to understand what a server is/does so going real noob here (a natural talent)……:eek:

What is a server? My take is…. very basic (primitive?) computer components (CPU, Mobo, GPU, Memory) matched with a ton of HDD space used for storage (reason for posting here?). Oh, and it is associated with a network (my next noob project for later).

Who needs one? My take is…..Clueless. :rolleyes:

EDIT: Please note that this question really meant to ONLY be as it applies to the little guy, like little old Harry Homeowner me or equivalent.
 
a big expensive computer with careful consideration to be stable.
Some have lots of processing power to handle ERP (enterprise resource management) and other large applications for business uses.

Businesses mostly.

Lots of research is also carried out on servers, I just read on slashdot that the military is doing an earth simulation on a massive scale.
 
A server is what you define it to be. Generally they have some measure of redundancy over a normal desktop machine - redundant power supplies, ECC memory, disk arrays, and so forth - but it's not necessary to have all that stuff. Usually these are the type of boxes that can be run headlessly (especially if you're not using Windows) - there's no keyboard or monitor, you manage them over the network.

But definitions are kind of pointless. What's your objective? What's your budget? Why are you contemplating the concept of "server"?
 
A server provides services to someone/something. :p

Web servers host web pages.
Email servers provide email sending/receiving-related functions.
Icecast/Shoutcast servers stream media out.
Database servers run a database for some application(s).

You could turn basically any computer into a server, the hardware can range from super basic like an ancient Pentium to enterprise-class systems with redundant power supplies and drives, SCSI hard drives, ECC RAM, 8 CPU cores, 16+ GB RAM, etc.
 
Sorry!!! Semantics has done me in!!! Need to revise my original post as the question was really meant to ONLY be as it applies to the little guy, like little old Harry Homeowner me or equivalent.

This is what I have or planned to do and it looks like I need to do some planning here!

1. Oz1 (100GB) >> Word apps, web surfing, limited old games
2. BluHaz reDux (74GB) >> Look Pretty, backup LAN, Print Server?
3. DreamCatcher (150GB) >> Primary now/bkup when CS is finished, LAN
4. Celtic Spirit (150GB + 500GB when finished) >> Uber Primary/Gamer
5. Yoda's SMN (TBD if built) >> ????

Had planned on using BH rD as a print/scanner server (2 printers plus a scanner) when the network is "built". However, kept seeing the mention of a file server (3+ large capacity HDDs) and that's what started this noob note.

I really don't see us having a "running" music library as the only ripping I see happening is when we will create some compilations from multiple CDs. We're not the "I-Tune" or whichever type. There could be a need for picture storage, but right now all our pictures (including "roughs") currently fit on my 2GB thumb drive with room to spare. There’s the outside chance I dig out my old copy of AutoBAD rev 12, but I’m sure by now there are simpler “CADD” software out there by now (and less “bloated”).

Besides the above HDD sizes, I have an external enclosure with a 250GB SATA II drive.

BTW when all said and done will share the units with the various sites' that have help me over the years folding teams.

So.......???????
 
It sounds like you don't really have much use for a fileserver. If you don't have large amounts of digital media - music, pics, and especially videos, there's not a whole lot of point to having a home file server. Certainly what you can do with the machine that's going to be a print server is share its hard drive over the network if you need some centralized always-on storage space, but sounds like local storage covers all your needs currently.

Most of the people around here use their file servers either for lots of video and music, or business purposes. Personally I've got one that has all my TV and DVD rips on it, so rather than hunting through DVDs I have a centralized and organized collection that I can open up on any computer on my network, but if you're not the type to watch movies etc on your computer, it's not that useful.
 
My server is purely for education purposes. In my situation my server is actually really a mid range desktop computer that I've simply installed a server OS onto.

Operating System: Windows Longhorn Server Beta 3

Specifications:
Antec P182 Case
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 PSU
ASUS P5W DH Deluxe WiFi-AP Edition Motherboard
Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 965 (3.73GHz) w/Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme
2GB (2x1GB) OCZ Flex XLC PC2-9200 DDR2-1150MHz (rated) memory
2xBuilt By ATI X1950Pro 256MB video cards (Crossfire)
2x300GB Maxtor Diamond Max 10 SATA HDDs (RAID-1)
Plextor 755SA DVD-R/DVD-RW drive
Viewsonic VX2025wm 20.1" LCD
Logitech G5 Mouse
Aural EluninX Keyboard
 
I just built a 'server' this weekend using a beta of Windows Home Server, it's built on Windows Server 2003. It can scale up with additional hard drives, runs backups of your other PC's on your network, has remote connectivity, and places for all your media and data files. Might be worth seeing if you can still get in on the beta.

I found a link in the OS forum here a couple of weeks ago, but alas the search button is not back yet.
 
[LYL]Homer;1031215303 said:
I just built a 'server' this weekend using a beta of Windows Home Server, it's built on Windows Server 2003. It can scale up with additional hard drives, runs backups of your other PC's on your network, has remote connectivity, and places for all your media and data files. Might be worth seeing if you can still get in on the beta.

I found a link in the OS forum here a couple of weeks ago, but alas the search button is not back yet.
Click to expand...

I have mine to do Active Directory, and group policy stuff. As well as provide DNS and DHCP to devices on the network.
 
A home server is not just for huge amounts of storage. It could just be for keeping all of your files organized in one place rather than scattered around. Just create a shared space on any one of your PCs that everyone on the network can access and put all of your files there. Have the PC running at all times and may be hook up a shared printer to it and you have a perfectly good home server.
 
Right now me and my roommate went halfsies on an old AMD 800mhz Duron.. threw two 500Gb Drives in it, and hardwired it into our network... What ever we come across we just save/rip onto there. We store tons of pictures, back our saved games, maybe 50-60 ripped dvd's 8,000 mp3's or so...
 
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