So I happen to have acquired a nice mATX PC that has the following specs: C2D E6550 Intel DQ35JO mobo 2GB 667 DDR2 Nvidia 7300GS 350W FSP PSU DVD writer 80GB SATA HDD I must say for free it's not bad! I'd quite like to turn it in to a permanent server/folding machine. The system is running a bit hot at the moment but it does need a good clean and I will have a spare Frio for the CPU so that should be fine. Anyway, I'm wondering what I need to do to make this a half decent server i.e. extra hardware and what OS to run. I'm thinking linux or WHS. I'll need to back up all my data regularly and while I'm at uni need to connect my PC and laptop to it for the internet as I only have a single ethernet port in my room. It should be easy enough to create an ad-hoc network so that shouldn't be an issue. Anyway, I'm looking to spend as little money as possible (can't imagine I'd need to spend much anyway) and get it running ASAP so any help is very much welcomed as I'm quite a novice when it comes to servers and networking. Thanks in advance
Don't bother WHS. I've been through it enough and its fault tolerance is utter shite. Look at UnRAID or FreeNAS, but tbh I just use Win7 and strip it down. This means I can remote desktop in without hassle and admin the machine and it also has better driver support than alternative OS. Obviously that costs what it costs though. In my opinion storage servers and folding machines don't mix: Folding generates a lot of stress, which is exactly what you're trying to avoid in a storage machine, depending on how much you value your data. Also, a Core 2 will Fold how much? IMO: you want a solid, efficient PSU. Then as few fans as possible - because fans fail - and underclock the CPU (if you can on that Intel mobo). What other drives are you putting in it? Or is 80GB for everything?
I wasn't going to have it folding 100% 24/7, I was probably going to set it to 50% CPU usage. I wasn't expecting much PPD but I thought every little bit helps. It's main use will be a server so I'll just think about that for now. I would probably make it fold for the chimps challenge so it could be an occasional folder. It doesn't look like I can underclock on this board but I've only had a very quick look. The PSU was my main concern so I'll definitely look for something newer and better. The 80GB will be just for the OS. I will use some more drives probably starting by putting the 1TB and 2TB drives from my current rig in there. They only have media and back ups on. When drive prices come back down towards the end of the year (hopefully) I'll get a couple more 2TB drives and make sure everything is protected against a drive failure.
ad hoc network why not just throw a cheap ethernet switch on that wall jack. As for storage server duties, freeNAS which is a good OS, its BSD not linux though. another good option is Open Filer or nextenaStor or you could use a JeOS linux img and build an ultra light weight OS that way.
I looked into underclocking my old P4 for use as a server but couldn't - that combined with the cost of a SATA card to increase the number of hdds I could put in it lead me to buy the Proliant in my sig. Another thing to consider, other than expanding the number of SATA ports if you want/need to, is does the board have RAID support if that's something that you want to do - personal preference really. I run WHS 2011 and like it for the fact that when VNC'd in it 'feels' like Windows 7 and so didn't require any extra learning for me I use its software RAID 1 as I'm a bit paranoid about disk failure but that's just me. I also have the server switch itself on and back itself up once a day to an external hdd - I don't use the WHS backup, instead I downloaded a free program called syncback (I think). Another thing I noticed when considering using my old P4 as a server was that by stripping out unnecessary components (graphics card, optical drive etc) it cut down on the power consumption a bit - might be worthwhile in the long run if you're planning on running it 24/7 Bindi - I'd be interested to know what problems you've had with WHS - I'm running WHS2011 and have had no problems so far *touches wood*.
Maybe not on a commercial server but when I do (very occasionally) use it I find it helpful - most (95%+) of the admin can be done through WHS' Dashboard anyway...
The motherboard should have 6 SATA ports and supports RAID so I'd probably have a couple of disks in at RAID 0 in case one fails. At the moment the power usage isn't an issue as I'm in uni accommodation so for now that isn't a problem. When I leave uni I will most likely go to something like a proliant and sell this stuff on but for now I'm happy with this.
