server

[w2ibc]

Well today... I should say Thurs afternoon. I was given a Gateway 995 server.

xeon 2.4GHz CPU (only 1..... 2 slots but only 1 cpu in it..) 1.5GB ram. (PC-2100 DDR ECC)

36GB 15k SCSI hdd. 3 NIC. ect ect.

not bad.. i could do alot more with it if i put a little cash into it.. but what do I do with it... do I really need it?

it all works fine... I did toss ubuntu on it. testing it out. its not bad at all.

[nightflier]

I have grown quite dependent on my home server. Some of the uses were not obvious at first.

It provides long term data storage for big files that I don't want on my desktop.
Automated scripts use it as a destination for backups.
Bittorrent downloads/seeds are out of sight, out of mind.
SSH gives me a safe way to access it from the outside.
GNUMP3D uses HTTP to stream my music collection to any computer.
Clone and restore computers via the network using Clonezilla.
Compile programs from source without slowing down your desktop.
NFS works great with Linux boxes, but I also keep samba running so windows machines can access it.

That 15K SCSI drive is great for performance. Complement it with some big storage drives. I prefer the slower, but cool running and energy efficient 5400 RPM SATA drives for that purpose.

There are several more possibilities. Give the members of this forum a little time and I'm sure a lot more good ideas will be posted. 

[w2ibc]

parts are sorta cheep for this box. i could get 2 3.0Ghz xeons for around $35 hetasink+clip would be around $30

seen 2x2gb ddr ecc for $40

it would make for one hell of a "desktop" lol.

I myself would love to drop the 36g 15k and swap it for something with more space maybe a 140G with lower RPM.

I do have a spot for a IDE hard drive. which then could be used for "testing" say VL7 w/ KDE3 lol

I all ready had someone offer me $250 for it.. which IMO seems a bit low on the price. considering the mobo's i have seen listed have had the $300 to $500 price tags

[stanz0]

Hey,

Nightflier just gave some  great Ideas there.

Another one is to use the server itself to rip streamed music - using linux's "streamripper" is simple and great way - you can have the server set up to rip at whatever times you'd like (cron is an option for that I would think as well).

I use my little home-made box 550MHZ AMD KIII (runs BSD) as a router/firewall as well. NAT is a great addition to the security of your network.

You could also use it with MYTH TV
http://www.mythtv.org/

Thats a great project I really hope to try out some day.


@nightflier - what OS do you use on your server? ^_^

[nightflier]

Industrial type servers don't necessarily make good desktops. They usually have very thorough (slow) boot sequences, basic video systems, and they are tuned for network performance. Plus, they are big. But hey, it's your machine. I have no idea what those things are worth.

@stanz0: all my servers run Debian Stable.

[w2ibc]

yea. this server seems to be doing pretty decent as a desktop (mind you all my machines have allways had basic video systems)

ironicly boot time from power on to ubuntu desktop is about 35 seconds. majority of it is running the post and searching for scsi drives.

as far as size. its a rack mount. so its not to big.

price, from what i can tell prob around $500'ish

Ironicly I originally tryed to put debian stable on it, and it locked up at the install screen. but took ubuntu fine. wierd usually its the other way around for me, my boxes will take debian over ubuntu.

not sure exactly what ill do with it yet. might upgrade it and keep it. well bigger chance i keep and upgrade it over sell it. really tempted to grab the 2x 3.0 Xeons i seen on ebay for $30

all in all I cant find any complaints with it. i would like to be able to network it with my current tower... however i cant get this tower to share the WIFI internet connection with the server. (i can network tower to server) but this box just will not let the WiFI internet pass though. and my only access to the net is a WiFI link from grandmas to here (block away she is)

[MikeCindi]

I use a server at home (HP DL360 G3) and run ClearOS on it. Some day, if my linux skills get good enough, I'll setup VL as my server OS but for now ClearOS is pretty simple to use. If you prefer ubuntu then eBox comes to mind for the simple user interface. If you want to do all the configuration, well mostly, by yourself then Centos, Slackware, or ubuntu-server might be some options if you want a server vs. a desktop.

As nightflier said server hardware is not typically designed to make a great workstation although it can be with a little patience and work. Probably the biggest issues I would see are:
1. graphics since you have PCI or PCI-X slots and there won't be a good selection for graphic intensive apps
2. storage is limited as many servers may have IDE capability but the bios doesn't recognize large HDs, they use SCSI and I'm not aware of any >300GB and those are pretty expensive, smaller drives are common on eBay are 34GB and 72GB and not too expensive if you are patient; you might try to add an IDE card or if you have USB ports (although on your machine they're probably v.1.1 which may be unacceptably slow for any day-to-day use) or even consider a NAS setup
3. lastly, at least for me, is the noise; the DL360 isn't too bad the the ML350 that i used to use was really loud
The good part is that most old(er) server hardware is well supported by linux.

As for wifi, can you use the server to connect to the internet but just can't get other boxes to connect through the server? Or is it that the server just doesn't connect via wifi? It would seem backward but perhaps using a lan to connect the server to your desktop so the server sees the internet.

Mike

[w2ibc]

As for wifi, can you use the server to connect to the internet but just can't get other boxes to connect through the server? Or is it that the server just doesn't connect via wifi? It would seem backward but perhaps using a lan to connect the server to your desktop so the server sees the internet.

Mike

Well I have my main box here (VL6 KDE classic) which I use normally. which is connected to the net via WiFi. (im linked to gma's a block away) prob rests in. I can connect the server to this box via eth. fine can share files fine. now trying to share the net(WiFI) with eth so the server can have net connection is dead. I tryed the firestarter firewall (which has the net sharing) but just dont work.. not sure whats up with that.

[bigpaws]

You need to forward eth to wlan

Bigpaws