Building A Home Server Part II
I was bored yesterday, so I spent some time buying components for my Home Server. I set myself a budget of £250 for the system and I ended up spending just over £130 which I’m very happy with. Here are the components I purchased:
Case: Foxconn TLM397 £28 (pictured above)
I went for this case as it had a lot of expansion slots (2x 5.25 External Bays, 2x 3.5 External Bays and 4x 3.5 Internal Bays) so there’s plenty of space for internal HDDs and external drives. It also has a 360W PSU which will be more than enough power as I won’t be running a graphics card. I didn’t need anything sexy as I’m going to stick the box behind my sofa. I just hope the fans are quiet…
Motherboard: Foxconn 6150BK8MC-KRSHN2 £60
I spent a bit more on the motherboard than I would have liked, but I was determined to get a micro ATX motherboard with Gigabit LAN for lots of streaming capacity and also one with 4 SATA II sockets. I also wanted a Socket 939 so I could use some of the ram in the study PC which has 4GB of RAM which is overkill.
CPU: AMD 64 x2 4200+ £45
After doing some reading on various Windows Home Server forums I decided to go for a dual core CPU as apparently the single core machines are ok for backup and file transfer, but struggle with streaming multiple HD graphics files. I went for the 4200+ as it was only £12 more than the 3800+. It’s the same CPU as I have in my main machine (HTPC has a 4600+) so I know it’s more than powerful enough.
Memory: 2×1GB DDR400 Free
Will take 2GB out of my main PC which doesn’t need 4GB anymore (I don’t think it ever did!)
HDD: 2×750 SATA II drives and 1TB Lacie External HDD - Free
‘Borrowing’ from HTPC. I have a 400GB in the study PC which is unused which will replace these drives. Hopefully the prices of 1TB drives will come down by the time I need one.
OS: Windows Home Server - Free
I’ll be starting with the 120 day demo. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get a full version out of Microsoft for free.
Overall I’ve specified a very powerful machine, which will definitely last a very long time. It’s probably got too much power, but for only £130 I’m not going to lose any sleepless nights over the cost. I really think I’ve built a system for the future, that will power my home for at least 5 years, maybe even more.
The bits should all arrive this week so I’ll let you know in part III how I get on with the construction. Hopefully I’ll have everything working smoothly before I go to see my parents over Christmas, so that I can test out the remote access to the full.
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Comment by Smackall on 5 December 2007:
I dont know if we have defrag option for ext3 file formats in unix based OSs. But I have never used it in linux.
yes, it just maps as a virtual drive.
Comment by Insomniac (Ian) on 5 December 2007:
So how do you defrag a remote drive when the file server has no monitor/keyboard/mouse attached to activate a defrag?
So mapping really just let’s you copy/paste/save files onto what looks like virtual drives - yeah?
Comment by Smackall on 5 December 2007:
You cannot do the defrag on a remote drive.
Comment by Insomniac (Ian) on 5 December 2007:
@ Everton
Pleased to hear that you feel I haven’t taken over this thread - thanx for that.
Not sure what you mean in your reply. I am setting up a NAS server, it’s my file server. Were you referring to Naslite & other CLI OSs?
The bottom line is, I’m insistent (I’m a middle aged guy stuck in his ways!) that the file server’s OS has a GUI as I’m not happy with using CLI. Is there any non hungry resource GUI OS designed for file administration out there or is my only option XP?
@ Smackall
Just read your response - mapping the remote drives on the client machine , now that’s an interesting one - when they’re mapped will I be able to execute my system management program (System Suite) to maintain/defrag, etc. the mapped network drives?
At the moment System Suite only recognises local drives, does mapping con the system in thinking the remote drives are local? If so, this may well be my answer as I wouldn’t have much need to remote access the file server.
Comment by Smackall on 5 December 2007:
When you really dont often use the interface of the OS, I am sure a linux based OS does the best. Moreover its Virus free. Even if your xp gets affected by any virus, the files are still safe in case of Naslite, But when you have Xp as file server, the virus is still happy to affect it.
And I think you can map the drive into your xp machines, that will show as another drive in xp machine. This is what we do with our linux server here.
Comment by Everton on 4 December 2007:
@Ian
I wasn’t complaining-leave as many comments as you like!!!
In terms of spec you just need something that can run XP comfortably. But I would seriously consider setting up a NAS server as the spec is much lower and managing the server remotely is much easier e.g. no hassles with creating directories, moving files, access permissions etc
Comment by Ian on 4 December 2007:
@ Smackall - only my stomach knows about your location! Not sure where Chennai is but will have a look for it on Google map. I’m at Lincoln in the UK. Don’t know what we all did before the www came along!
Anyway, back to my sharp learning curve - never thought the answer was in the Naslite title “lite”. I’m now going back to my original thought of installing the spare licensed copy of XP on the file server (when I’ve built it) & gaining remote access by either XP’s own remote access facility or running VNC. I’ll just have to make sure that the file server’s spec is up to handling XP Pro.
@Evereton - I’m sorry if I’ve taken over this thread with all my questions but you guys have been most helpful in raising my understanding of the issues involved in remote access for LANs
@ both of you - one final (I hope) question if I may - have you guys got any suggestions as to the bare minum spec of hardware for a file server running XP Pro that won’t frustrate the user (me) on waiting times. Don’t want to shell out loads of money on components that aren’t neccessary. What CPU/RAM do you think is the bare minimum?
Comment by Everton on 4 December 2007:
you can’t manage NASlite via HTTP but you can access the files via a browser. This thread would have been ideal for the forum - will get that working again once the main theme is completed.
Comment by Smackall on 4 December 2007:
For xp to xp remote access, you can also install VNC server and client for windows.
Meanwhile, I am not sure if we have GUI for NASlite as it is meant to be lite. May be you need to check if NASLite allows you a web interface for file access.
Ah, you know a lot about my location. And I am here in Chennai (city). I hope you are somewhere here around.
Comment by Ian on 4 December 2007:
Delighted to learn you don’t suffer from amnesia! By the way, Indian food is my absolute favourite, English food’s so boring!
Thanks for your response, my head is beginning (I think) to grasp the basics.
I’m familiar with Windows Remote Access facility but on this occasion I was trying to emulate a remote session to see what appears on the client monitor, ie. I was expecting to see the XP OS on the host PC but I can’t get past puTTY’s connection error message.
From what you say it looks as though testing a connection between 2 XP PCs is no good using puTTY.
Befor I go ahead & purchase Naslite can you confirm or otherwise whether Naslite has a GUI interface & that puTTY will allow me to see it (the GUI). Or do they both only utilise CLI?
If the answer is CLI then have you any recommendation on the best method of remotely accessing (only across my LAN) the file server where I get to see a GUI so I can use my favourite pet mouse. I appreciate I could use XP on the file server but presumably I would need a reasonable spec’d server as XP is a little resource hungary.
I wish my Hindi was as good as your English!
It’s nearly lunchtime here & I’ve got a sudden craving for Takka Dhall, Sag Peneer, Chicken Madras & a Stuffed Paratha, not forgetting the Keema Rice