Make the perfect home server… out of junk
These days with everyone in the house having (multiple) desktops, laptops and/or netbooks, the appeal of a common household server becomes clear. Many people have been talking of the possibility of getting new, highend Windows Home Server machines such as this nice one which james built. But why spend so much on a new machine with a cut down version of what is already a second rate server OS when you could rig up an old machine to provide a more capable, more reliable and more secure server at completely no cost. Whilst new machines are becoming increasingly cheap, there is always something to be gained from putting an older one to good use.
Ubuntu Server is a fully powered, Linux server which is very easy to deploy with much more advanced capabilities than other home server solutions such as remote SSH access, SVN and other versioning servers for programmers, the ubiquitous apache web server for if you want to gain an online presence and PHP support so that you can integrate online applications and CMS such as WordPress with MySQL databases. On top of this it will support file sharing for Windows, Linux and OSX via Samba and provide network printing. In short it can do almost on a old computer everything that a much more expensive new Windows server device whilst providing the capabilities of a top end commercial server which go above and beyond what would be possible with such consumer level devices.
You can download a CD for installing on any computer newer than about 1998-2000 so whether it is the relatively new computer you had to write off when Vista was released or the old neolithic clanger which has been lying around in the attic, it can now be the perfect home server.
Desktop or server:
Ubuntu comes in two versions, Ubuntu Server which provide a ready made server environment with to option to choose server components on install and no graphical interface wasting space or resources or Ubuntu Desktop, a fully customizable Desktop operating system on which you can install server component later. Which you choose depends on how you want to use the machine; if you want it to still usable as a desktop machine then Ubuntu Desktop can offer server functionality on top of this but if you want to get the maximum power out of your machine as a dedicated server, controlled remotely then Ubuntu Server is the option to go for.
Uses of your home server
Whilst there are many potential uses of a home server here are some of my favorites:
- Web page testing - When designing websites, especially those which rely on server side scripting and databases, it is often helpful to have your own server to test out your work.
- Bittorrent client - If you want to download a lot of content legally available via bittorrent (e.g. creative commons and public domain music) then you can set up your server to download it for you. As it is always on and you do not have to access it directly then it can be a much easier solution.
- File/printer sharing - You can do what I do and have a computer connected to your printer and with some shared folders that anyone on your local network can access so that they do not need to get up in order to print/access the photos.
- Much much more… Really, the thing I love about computers is that the possibilities can be potentially endless. With a general purpose, high end server like apache combined with popular scripting languages like php many people have built great online applications that you can easily make use of to create the ideal solution.
As an example of what little power is needed the min specs for Windows Home server is just a 800mhz processor (and some people have run it on 600mhz), 512MB RAM and at least a 20GB hard drive!
The example on my site took just £250 to construct out of new components and are hoping to shift it for at least £300 on that wonderful online marketplace
Windows Home server does provide quite good functionality for basic level use but of course you do not have the flexibility to just deploy whenever without having to worry about licenses (I am not sure what Windows Home server costs but I don’t really see what it would give me that Linux can’t do better
, I just don’t think that IIS and its available scripting languages can support the same wealth of powerful web applications as Apache and PHP). If you really want to stretch it you can run a Linux server (but not Ubuntu) on anything upwards of 16MB of RAM but seeing as machines that old are usually on fire anyway, the servers I have been looking at are 300mhz-1.2ghz Pentiums 2-4s with 256-500MBs of RAM. I also run a web server in the background on by other laptop for development work which I find a great tool – I did try running on in a VM on Windows 7 but whole OS was just too slow (and I will not even attempt to run a native web server on windows).
I admit as it was early in the morning when I was typing I did not actually read the article in depth and I missed that it was a custom build
It does look like an excellent machine though, just dying for a good install of Linux to make it an ideal option for storage or development work (pity I am not on the lookout for a new server at the moment – as nice as old boxes are they tend to be excruciatingly noisy). I was just attempting to do a writeup of how I set up my various servers – I have been getting increasingly interested in this server stuff ever since I switched to Linux and my work experience working with Solaris machines at SUN.
What you have remember Tom is that WHS is aimed at the average everyday consumer who has little or no experiance with the concept of SSH/PHP/Samba.
When you receve a WHS in its shiney new box all you have to do is plug in power and network cables run the local install wizard and boom your in!
Full media sharing features are instaly setup including instant sharing between Windows Media Center enabled PCs allowing you to stream live/recorded TV accross a network.
Full smart backup and restore ablity is included saving only a changed copy of a file (thus saving on total space used).
WHS can also use the features of any UnPn enabled router (which is all of them now) to allow secure remote access to any file stored on the WHS and includes full remote desktop.
Microsoft have made aviviable the SDK for the highly easy to use Managament console open to all and there are already 50+ plugins all of which can be installed with just 3 clicks.
So…..
WHS=Easy to use Consumer Product
Ubuntu Server=Errrrr whats going on…..proffesional only product
Oh and just an addition-
You can host a website on WHS which includes MySQL + you can share files accross multiple OSs (including OSX and Linux ever since PowerPack 1).
Generally I think this is a contradiction in market – people who want such a consumer oriented ‘blackbox’ type product would be better off going with something like a drobo which just does a small number of functions but very well or just using the file sharing capabilities of a desktop OS. File sharing in Ubuntu is just a matter of right clicking and it is done. Once again printer sharing is just a matter of ticking a single box. Also why have media center when you could go with Tivo or the NeurosOSD which gives you something which simply does the job and make it easy enough that anyone can use (I admit that media center is fairly easy once it is set up but still basic users will struggle).
I know that the full Apache MySQL and PHP stack will run on Windows but these are products designed for Unix based OSs – it will not be as effective, easy to setup or well supported (if you ask for help on running the stack on Windows the general answer given is to switch to Linux
). But at the same time I do not really think that WHS was designed as the kind of development testing server that I am interested in so it does not matter much for its target audience.
I am not saying that running a fully fledged server is an option for all users but neither is the more cutdown WHS which is still a server product however much Microsoft sugar coat it (even if a server only had one button it could still never be ‘easy to use’). I can only see such solutions appealing to IT professionals who use more highend products at work. Ultimately both are different products with different strengths; whilst it is easier to use whatever knowledge you do have to setup your testing server/shared file storage/network printing with Ubuntu, if you already work with Windows a lot and you want something to share stuff and do media things then either WHS or a more standard consumer device would do the trick.
I thought it used SMB? If so how could it not have worked before then (Microsoft always manages to find a way…)
BTW: You should be able to edit your posts? I am sure it is setup so that members can
Thats when you want to start looking at pricing, with even the cheapest NAS boxes you are still forking out a hefty sum of money and might as well just go with the Microsoft solution which every Home PC user is already familiar with.
The shear welth of additions that can be made to a Media Center PC through free plugins compleatly out weighs anything that tivio or NeurosOSD can provide and again, its Microsoft, everyone already knows it.
Aditionaly if my nan can use Media Center then praticly anyone else can! Expecily since Media Center is very task orintated e.g. you plug in a new TV tuner, media center detects it and automaticly adds it as a new device tuning the stations and allowing you to record TV stright on to your hard drive.
Also check out the Microsoft Web Apps – http://www.microsoft.com/web/gallery/Categories.aspx WordPress is in there and it works fine
OSX and Linux didn’t aggree with the origional format of the extending file system in WHS (yes it is based on SMB 2003) so it took a few beatings of OSX and Linux to get them to agree nicely.
As far as editing posts go Im lazy..Im PC to…anything that I cant instant search or see in Flip 3D is farrr to much work for me!
I know that WordPress can run on a Windows server but it simply will not run as well an of course WordPress Mu would be immensely impractical (Langtree Shout would have been completely impossible to make to make work on Windows, it uses many web applications all integrated in a way which would just not have been an option). Besides, it just is not as fun to work with (management consoles sound like something that you would be paid to endure, not something you use at home). Linux (with BSD/Solaris/OSX as they use the same underlying technology) is simply the best option when it comes to serving content online, even if you take a Windows server and try to run applications on the Apache stack it just is not as good. The fact that it relies on additional client software makes it seem like an even more ‘difficult’ solution to me.
The Neuros OS is completely extensible and provides much better HD capabilities than a computer based media center which needs setting up first as opposed to something you just plugin. Also the process of actually buying a home media center device is much more technical (with having to worry about the normal junk you do when buying a PC). Media Center PCs are a growing market but they are still not mainstream (despite some cheap options, they still cost a lot more than other solutions).
Ok then, this time next week I shall have wordpress MU working on my Windows 7 PC with IIS7 as the base
Lets not forget that Media Center is designed for TVs, most specificly thouse with HDMI ports. HD video is fully supported and you can play Blu Ray disks in full 1080p from Media Center, not to mention connect freesat and Sky HD tuners to Media Center as well.
Add on to that getting THE most powerful possible gaming unit on the planet, as yet I am unable to find a Linux machine that can run Crysis/End War or GRAW2 while I can sit on my sofa Xbox360 controler in hand playing all of these stright from my PC on my TV.
What was that about crysis?
OK, I know it is not optimal but Linux is not designed to be a system for gaming, it is designed to be a great server and workstation.
There is no need for you to waste a week creating the anti Langtree Shout just to prove me wrong (it looks like WPMU can be run under IIS with a lot of pain and recoding all of the rewrite rules manually several addons editing core files but really why bother when you can just use apache). It would involve replacing most standard windows server components with linux ones anyway (having MySQL and PHP is a must for wordpress). You would also not be able to make none of those changes in a shared hosting environment (you would not even be able to use regular WordPress as you are only usually given a mssql db no php). Just as I could run Crysis under Linux I would not (unless I was very bored) as it is just plain pointless. It is a matter using the right tool for the job (e.g. if I wanted TV for myself I would use MythTv as it gives me more power but for most other people Media Center/the Neuros OSD/TiVo would work better).
Also don’t you need a server edition of Windows to be able to use IIS? I still fail to see any benefit of IIS over Apache in practicle terms although I can see why one would use something like lighthttpd as an (even) more lightweight alternative.
Last I remembered the 4 main uses of a Home PC were (in no particular order)-
1. Web+Email 2. Working with Documents 3. Working with Multimedia 4. Playing Games
The only reason my PC has a shiney AMD 4 core processor is for playing games, if I were running Linux and limited to just a handful of games and none of the effects that DirectX 10.1 can provide then I might as well just use my phone!
Again do a little reading, IIS7 includes new tools that allows native support of PHP and all that other stuff without having to rely on non intergrated solutions.
Since the first version of IIS you have been able to install/run it on any Windows PC (inc client versions).
So…
Windows 7
IIS v7
and 7 days…
oh and no previous knoledge of IIS or WordPress MU
@jamesfed
. Still it is a lot harder than on Linux where I can literally go from install disk to working site in 15-20 min. The support for PHP, URL rewriting and a variety of other tools used by WordPress (suPHP for example is to only easy way to get the plugin installer working properly (e.g. not needing FTP settings)) is simply so much better in Apache that even if you do (somehow) get it working, it will not be nearly as good and it will not be half as simple a process. I won’t be cruel and add a timer to the blog…
Hm, that could be an interesting series of blog posts (probably best to see if it works before posting). It is also WordPress Mu 2.7.1
If you want gaming then you can always multiboot, just run the same games on Linux (which does support many DirectX 10 effects via wine and OpenGl) or buy a PS3.
You can probably see why I use linux from the list of things I use my PC for:
lol
Day 1 – Install IIS7, Install test WP blog
Day 2 – Find shiney new PC from HP, compess photo in Photoshop CS2, write blog post in Windows Live Writer, post blog. Wonder how home server is doing on ebay, use IE8 web accelrator to see current price without having to bother to go alll the way onto the ebay page.
Day 3 – Play Dead Space @98fps in DirectX 10.1
Day 4 – May consider doing some work…..
Another new PC?