What config should I set up for my LAN?

[ofreeb]

Hi there,

I have 5 PCs that I would like to link with one of them being a server.

I want to have my files secured in this server that has 4 disks in RAID 0/1. In order to keep it as efficient as possible, I plan to have only Windows installed.
The CPU is an Athlon 2100+ with 512 MB SDRAM.


My main PC would be used for working with different applications. I consider to install the OS onto 4 drives organised in Raid 10 in order to have a quick secured system...
Athlon 1 GHz with 256 MB SDRAM (1 GHz planned)

My second PC, would be used for downloading from the Internet (p2p). I don't have an antivirus up to date so I prefer to keep a computer for this purpose. It's equipped with an Athlon 2200+ with 512 DDR SDRAM.
I want just an OS and some applications like Kazaa.
A spare drive will be used for storage of songs.

Then I have my Vaio laptop and my partner has a Dell laptop...

My questions are:

Would I gain an advantage in putting the OS of the Server onto 4 hard disks in RAID 0 ?
Does it matter if I don't have a lot of RAM on the server?
What should I use as OS on it? Win XP or Win 2003 Server? I don't know the advantage of this one compare to XP.
I want to be able to recover my OS quickly on the Second PC if there is a virus. Is Ghost the best option?
Is it possible to save any file created on the Main PC, the Snd PC or the laptops systematically on the server?
Should I save any file on the PC in use and then copy it or make a partition copy onto the server?
What are the options for backups of data from the PCs?

Sorry for all these questions but I need some enlightenment...

 

[FlashDude]

I Hope it helps I will tell you how my network is set up. I have four of my own pc's all with internet and I work on other peoples pc's as well. My main router is upstairs beside my modem and main computer with an extra work station and KVM. My wife and kids have their own computer in a room, and downstairs in my workshop I have my server and a system I can do basic computer tasks on and another workstation. I use simple Network Neiborhood file sharing and it works very well. You don't have to But I map the servers hdd to a network drive on all the other machines (just so it shows up in my computer as the Z:/ Hard disk. That is the only way I can make my wife and kid's use it. The problem with only using one router is only having four ethernet connections so I used a cheap POS wireless router as a dumb switch and hotspot. now I have 7 wired ports and still have the wireless. You can just hook the wan port on the wireless to a lan port on the main router but it causes conflicks with file sharing. If you want to know more then Here's some more info on that I use nero 6 backup and I love it. It has auto back up and such and is simple to do.

If you know linux it is also an option and if you have means of obtaining windows server 2000 or 2003 then that would be better as well. Although with VNC and KVM switch's I never have to leave my desk, lol I hope this help's

Oh and being behind a nat router is the best firewall in the world but if you want anti virus why not use AVG its free and works awesome.

Edit - You don't need alot of ram for a file server 256mb is plenty If you are just going to use XP as the server that is.

Also if you map the hdd on the machine you use it just like it was on that machine so you can just creat your files on the mapped drive and it will always be there.

And why would you want the os on all four hdd's??

 

[ofreeb]

Thank you...

I was thinking of installing Win XP on 4 disks (I have 4 HDDs 4.3 Gig that I would like to use) in order to make the system quicker (in RAID 0).

 

[RicoDirenzo]

I have 5 puters LAN with no primary. They are simply linked via workgroup and all share HD's and printers. No conlficts...printer just runs in Que. Unless you want some admin controls, which I don't care about, it is the least complicated way to go.

Edit: XP Pro