Server Advice

I have been approached to build a server, to be used for file storage and
backups. What is a server by definition and what specs and O/S should I be
looking to provide the above? Is XP Pro sufficient?

Current IT infrastructure comprises of 4 laptops + 2 desktops

FTP Required also

Please do not advise linux has I am not converse with it.

Thank you.

"Remedy" wrote in
:

I have been approached to build a server, to be used for file storage
and backups. What is a server by definition and what specs and O/S
should I be looking to provide the above? Is XP Pro sufficient?

Current IT infrastructure comprises of 4 laptops + 2 desktops

FTP Required also

Please do not advise linux has I am not converse with it.

Thank you.




Just say "no". Trust me.

Lordy

"Remedy" wrote in
:

I have been approached to build a server, to be used for file storage
and backups. What is a server by definition and what specs and O/S
should I be looking to provide the above? Is XP Pro sufficient?

Current IT infrastructure comprises of 4 laptops + 2 desktops

FTP Required also

Please do not advise linux has I am not converse with it.

Thank you.

A bit more detail ...

The company need to pay for a IT professional and hardware. They also
need to pay for support.

From your post you do not have the skills or long term resources to
undertake this task.
Thats not a criticism of you. I dont have the skills to do many things
. I probably could build a reliable PC, but not confident up to
business file standards (depending on how bullet proof they wanted it).

They also have to be prepared to pay the going rate for what they want.

If you build this server and it goes tits up, and they lose all thier
backups and orders , and lose money, its not going to bode well for you
or them.

Point them at Dell, or Compaq websites / sales advisors. Then leave well
alone

Lordy

Lordy wrote in news:Xns95B97478C3322lordybigfootcom@
130.133.1.4:

"Remedy" wrote in
:

I have been approached to build a server, to be used for file storage
and backups. What is a server by definition and what specs and O/S
should I be looking to provide the above? Is XP Pro sufficient?


Point them at Dell, or Compaq websites / sales advisors. Then leave well
alone


Last word. An OEM solution from Dell, Compaq, HP etc will likely be cheaper
than anything you or I could build of comparable quality.

Lordy

Remedy wrote:

I have been approached to build a server, to be used for file storage and
backups.
What is a server by definition and what specs and O/S should I be
looking to provide the above?

A server is simply a machine which concentrates resources and makes them
accessible to a number of clients.

Most 'server' systems are grossly overspecced for the job at hand,
although if you plan to run server-based software, such as MS SQL
Server, you'll need a grossly overspecced machine.

Also, define 'Backups'. How much data, and do you mean backup as in
'it's on the server and the client', or backup as in 'it's written
nightly to removable media that is stored elsewhere'.

Here I back up about 8Gb each night, which is _WAY_ too much (but you
try and persuade users to tidy up their directories). I used to do this
to OnStream ADR tapes (30Gb capacity), but the drive failed and they
don't make them any more, so I'm now writing to DVD-RAM.

An alternative to nightly removable media backups is to keep the files
on a RAID. You can build cheap SATA raids with many budget
motherboards. However you should still do periodic backups to removable
media, because while a RAID will survive a disc failure, it won't
survive a fire or other disaster.

Is XP Pro sufficient?

This will provide you with the ability to create shares that up to ten
users can access. No more than ten sessions are possible. With the
server products (Windows 2003 Server, etc.) you have to buy client
access licenses (CALs) for the number of users. Each session is a
single client connecting to the server (to any number of shares)

Current IT infrastructure comprises of 4 laptops + 2 desktops

If you don't expect that to grow, then XP Pro would suffice, although
personally I'd go with 2000 if I HAD to use windows...

FTP Required also

Does this mean it will be internet-facing as well. Welcome to the world
of trying desperately to keep up with the number of exploits out there.

Please do not advise linux has I am not converse with it.

Then you really ought to explore it. In the non-windows world, the
likes of Samba throw the idea of session limits and client access
licenses out of the window. You can get the same oomph out of older
hardware, and lower cost, or in my case NO cost (recycled hardware, and
free/homebrew software).

As a guide, I have one 'server' here, which is a 300MHz AMD K6/2, with
128Mb of memory, a pile of large discs, and a network card, serving
30-40 users with a couple of dozen file shares via SMB or NFS, has an
FTP server, runs the internal DNS and DHCP. It's been up for 364 days
(which probably means I'm overdue for a long power cut that will
flatline the UPS today), and the load average on it barely registers
(current is 0.00, but I've seen it get to 0.23)
The backup runs automatically each night. No special software is
involved (I wrote the backup script myself, all of 144 lines(bash
script) and 198 lines(in C) including comments). It gathers,
compresses, and sorts backup filesets to make the best use of the media
involved. It's cheap, effective, fast enough, and I reckon I could
squeeze a MySQL server in there too.

---

So, to really offer proper advice, you need to think about volumes of
data, whether any local processing is involved, security of data,
whether you want to offer any other network services, like DNS, DHCP,
IMAP/POP3 Mail, etc.
And do not allow anyone to install MS Office on the server, or anything
else for that matter. The MS Marketing machine likes things like Word
to start 'instantly', so even if you are not using an office
application, all of the DLL's get loaded at startup anyway. Besides, if
you put user applications on the server, it soon becomes someone's
desktop instead.

the only difference between a server and a PC is the OS all the rest of the
hardware can be in both a pc and a server XP pro is not a server OS as such
"Remedy" wrote in message
...
I have been approached to build a server, to be used for file storage and
backups. What is a server by definition and what specs and O/S should I be
looking to provide the above? Is XP Pro sufficient?

Current IT infrastructure comprises of 4 laptops + 2 desktops

FTP Required also

Please do not advise linux has I am not converse with it.

Thank you.

"Remedy" wrote in message
...
I have been approached to build a server, to be used for file storage and
backups. What is a server by definition and what specs and O/S should I be
looking to provide the above? Is XP Pro sufficient?

Current IT infrastructure comprises of 4 laptops + 2 desktops

FTP Required also

Please do not advise linux has I am not converse with it.

Thank you.



A server "serves" files and data to client computers (the 4 laptops + 2
desktops).

That doesn't seem like a big set up, but could it expand quickly? You could
build a very cheap low-spec server (1 GB processor / 60GB drive) and
wireless solution that would accomodate that client base. However, it would
not be ideal (apart from no wires), and would make future exansion
difficult. It would also be slow compared to big networks but then it might
perform the same due to the low amount of users.

Personally though I would point them in the direction of a professional
solution. Dell will provide the server / OS / support apps (backup) / and
support for a competative price (ie negotiable).

Last thing you want is an irate management threatening to take you to court
because the server you built died and took the whole lot with it.

Also don't forget the phone support you'd be obliged to give.

"Kevin R" wrote in
:

the only difference between a server and a PC is the OS all the rest
of the hardware can be in both a pc and a server XP pro is not a
server OS as such

A file server can be exactly the same as a home PC of course, but will
often have an emphasis on higher spec hard drives, better / redundant
cooling, hardware monitoring etc. Builtin backup for convenience. CPU power
is not so important.

Lordy

"Kav" wrote in
.uk:

Personally though I would point them in the direction of a
professional solution. Dell will provide the server / OS / support
apps (backup) / and support for a competative price (ie negotiable).

Last thing you want is an irate management threatening to take you to
court because the server you built died and took the whole lot with
it.


Thank you. I thought I was going mad

Lordy

To add to my previous post, and to echo Lordy's comments..

Building and configuring a server yourself without the necessary
knowledge to do so is not something you want to do.

Building and configuring a server yourself WITH the necessary knowledge
to do so is also not something you want to do unless it is your job to
do so. Servers are machines that organisations depend upon. If they
are expecting you to provide support for it, don't go there unless you
are willing to deal with the one inevitable component of any server.
That component is called a USER

USERS come in many varieties.
Some users are technically minded. These users are dangerous, because
they will mess with the server and you'll have a great time finding out
why something you set up isn't working quite the same way any more.

Most users are highly-skilled, fully-trained, professional idiots.
These users are dangerous, as they will mess with your sanity.

Either way, unless they are paying you to look after it, then you don't
want to do it.