Help with my Home Server

[killer626]

Hi everyone ! I just need some help for setting up my Home Server, thought someone here could help out.

A few months ago I took scrap hardware parts from all the old unused computers in my garage and made a working desktop machine. I needed a server to host my >1Tb of data so that everyone in my house could access it (9 computers total). So I slapped Windows Home Server on it, and its been working for a while now: through my home's network, anyone can access the files on the server.

Now it's time to upgrade.

I've bought a Vostro 200 from Dell with all of the needed specs to replace my homemade box, now I just have a few questions for setting it up:

1) It comes with Vista. Is it necessary to put windows home server on it? I need the computer to be able to be used as a media player as well but Vista basic doesn't have the remote desktop or the advanced network settings needed to set this up. Knowing that I can use ANY OPERATING SYSTEM (really, any of them), which should I use?

2) I would like to make the contents of the new server's hard drive available to other people outside my house (familly and friends). How can I do that ? I'm guessing I'd need to run an FTP Server on the box, but does anyone know a good FAQ on this or a tutorial? I want the hard drive to be accessible from anywhere around the world, through the internet, with user accounts and passwords easily managable and with a correct bandwith (at least enough to stream a DivX DVDRip so i'm guessing around 1.5-2.5 mb/s). Is that even possible? If so, how ?

For question 2: I've already taken a look at WarFTPDaemon, and assuming I can set it up correctly, assuming 20 mbps (downstream) connections for any of my users, and assuming that the server is plugged into a fiberoptics network to connect to the web, what kind of download speeds can my users expect?

Thanx in advance ! Oh and by the way if we have some networking geniuses here who want to give me tips go ahead any criticism is welcome.

 

[Kharn]

1) Use any flavor of unix my courrent OS of choice is for FReeBSD7 for server work admined through Wibmin.

 

[KSoD]

1. Where did you get that information? Vista has Media Center in Home Premium and Ultimate editions. It also has Remote Desktop in every edition but Home Basic. So you are gorsly mis-informed as to what features Vista has and doesnt have.

2. Using Linux is tough for Media Center. They have this out now as i have seen with Ubuntu/Kubuntu in their Wiki's but if they will work as flawlessly as Windows Media Center is yet to be seen.

3. To connect it to the net you would have to allow for it to recieve connections. But here is the kicker. a. It will be limited to your upload speed. So if a friend wanted to watch a movie from your server over the internet it would be severly hampered not to mention ILLEGAL. b. It is illegal to stream content like this over the internet without express written concent from the people who own teh copyrights to it.

So being as that is. We can not help you connect it to the internet to stream the content. As stated by our rules. Keep Things Legal. That would not be. You may own the DVD, you have a right to back it up to your PC but that does NOT give you the right to distribute it in any way.

So the only answers we can give is about what OS to run. Anything else will be removed.

 

[killer626]

Thanx for the answers guys

Ok 1) The OS that Dell preconfigured is Vista Home Basic... I'm not grossly misinformed, it doesnt have the remote desktop.

2) I don't really need a media center per say but media playback compability. The server is plugged into my home cinema to read DVD's and movies using VLC, so anything that can run VLC should be fine.

3) I'm sorry I might not have expressed myself correctly. By DVDRip I meant a DivX movie with a DVD-Resolution. My family has over 1.7 Tb of home movies, photos, etc... And the point of this server is to be able to stream all of those movies (NONE of any available files on my server would be copyrighted) to these family members. They are all .avi and DVD Quality so that was my reference... I'm not trying to distribute warez^^, just home movies... Is WarFTPDaemon the best I can find (I'm ok with buying software if it's worth it)?

Saxon: For the server part from what I've read unix machines do tend to be more efficient, but I want the server to share its hard drive on the windows home network setup in the house... Will a Unix-based OS be able to share files over a windows network? Right now the drive is shared and mounted as a network drive in all of the user PCs (6 XP Pro, 3 Vista): could Linux provide that too ?

I was just guessing that it would be easyer to run a Windows-based machine for the home networking (Windows Home Network i guess...) while running a software Windows FTP Server int he back... But if linux can do it just as well, why not ?

Keep in mind that this server has three main functions, in order of importance:

-Home Server for 9 Windows-Based boxes
-Media playback
-FTP Server

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

You can use a VNC server instead of Windows Remote Desktop. VNC is a well supported remote-desktop protocol that, unlike Windows Remote Desktop, is cross-platform.

You can run an FTP server or HTTP server for external access. I have run many FTP servers before on Windows boxes, including an old Pentium 75MHz with a 2GB HDD and 4MB RAM. It ran FTP just fine despite the small sized drive. I later ran an HTTP site on the same box.

You are limited to your upload speed. That means that users will typically get a max 50KB/s download if your upload is 50KB/s (a common upload speed for home users). You can't stream movies, but others can download them and then watch them.

I like WarFTP. I'm opposite of you, I will NOT shell out ANY money for commercial junk if I know there's a suitable free alternative (even if it's missing features). I overall hate commercial software for small tasks (pretty much the only software I buy are games). Having said that, WarFTP is very nice, it has an advanced users configuration and database with a bunch of options. I think you'll like it.

As for sharing to Windows with a Linux PC (I recommend Ubuntu, not freeBSD. Unix came from commercial roots, and again, I like free stuff ), it is entirely possible. Ubuntu makes it a PIECE OF CAKE. In Ubuntu, you just right click a folder and select Share (similar to what you'd do on Windows). On other Unix/Linux distros, you'd probably have to get Samba (the program that Linux/Unix machines use to share files on Windows networks) through a package manager and configure it by editing text files. Ubuntu doesn't need any of this, just click and go. If you do decide to go with a Unix/Linux system, I recommend Ubuntu, though you really don't need to go Linux and if you're going to have media, I recommend sticking with Vista as Media Center is awesome, especially with a remote.

Keep in mind that this server has three main functions, in order of importance:

-Home Server for 9 Windows-Based boxes
-Media playback
-FTP Server

-Home Server - Windows does it best, but you can do it in Linux (Ubuntu) or Unix too\
-Media Playback - All have it, but Windows has Media Center, which is a nice GUI with a remote control interface
-FTP Server - WarFTPd for Windows, GProFTPd (ProFTPd) for Unix/Linux

-Overall - I recommend sticking with Windows.

 

[KSoD]

Alright sorry about my point number 1. But you jsut said Vista didnt have remote capabilties. You never mentioned that it was just Home Basic that was preconfigured.

Sorry also about the whole Warez reference. There was no mention of what type of things would be shared and after years of helping around here i just assumed the worst. I should not have. I am sorry for that.

 

[killer626]

Its fine Mak I understand I would've done the same thing^^.

Ok so I think I'm going to go with the Windows Home Server - WarFTP package and give it a shot, if it doesn't feel stable enough I'll change for Ubuntu.

My upload speed is about 850 kbps ( http://www.speedtest.net/result/330748148.png ) if it can run at full speed streaming might be an option^^ I'm not giving up. I'm getting a fiberoptics network installed tomorow though so lets see how much of a speed boost that gives.

Thanx a lot to Mak, Calcprogrammer, and Saxon.

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

KB/s or Kb/s? If it's 850 kb/s, that's only 100 KB/s. (8 bits = 1 byte)

 

[jakeyman_i_am]

2) I would like to make the contents of the new server's hard drive available to other people outside my house (familly and friends). How can I do that ? I'm guessing I'd need to run an FTP Server on the box, but does anyone know a good FAQ on this or a tutorial? I want the hard drive to be accessible from anywhere around the world, through the internet, with user accounts and passwords easily managable and with a correct bandwith (at least enough to stream a DivX DVDRip so i'm guessing around 1.5-2.5 mb/s). Is that even possible? If so, how ?

I'm not here to help you do anything that is illegal, but Life Hacker's Ftp Guide is good enough to get you going. Some of the more advanced things like good-looking web interfaces and things like that aren't included, but at least your LEGAL content will get through the pipe. Available here


I have set up exactly what your looking for several times. Personally, I use mine (JUST ME) to access my music database when I am on the road. Streaming video is a little more complicated, and you will have to pay obscene amounts of money to get a decent picture. Your cable/dsl connection is probably much faster than a t-1 in download, but the uploads are very limited, to prevent you from doing exactly what you want to do.

You can make the FTP server functional from many other things though, sharing documents in case you forget your jump drive at work or school, and keeping a database of old junk so you never lose anything..

 

[killer626]

Ok my server has arrived, but I'm having some trouble with it. I can't seem to boot off of my Windows Home Server DVD... Basically when I put in the DVD and make it boot from it, it says that there is nothing to boot from, press ENTER to try again...

Here are my specs:

Dell Vostro 200
Intel E2180 @ 2Ghz
ATI RADEON HD2400 PRO
250 Gb SATA300 HDD
DVD-Rom SATA150
2gb DDR2



Could this be a question of SATA drivers? Because I tried to make an ISO out of my DVD and intergrate the SATA drivers with nLite but since WHS is coded on top of Windows Server 2003 SP2, it does not have the same filestructure as a normal windows installation, so nLite does not recognise it. If this is a question of SATA drivers, how can I install them into the ISO ?

Now were I to consider another OS, possibly Windows Server 2003 or 2008, would they work? (I've got a friend at microsoft who can pretty much get me any OS). Would they have the schedueled network computer backups and other functions of WHS?