Home Server Setup

[julie]

Hi Guys,

question. I want to set up a home server. Get a static IP from my ISP for extra $4...

The thing is that the fans on servers are noisy and I dont want that. I want some fanless mobo possibli with cpu and everything on.

It will be only for hosting my domain and basic learning purposes. Running CentOS or Ubuntu or Debian... dont know yet.

Any suggestions?

Thx Julie

Edited December 29, 2010 by julie

[digip]

Few things. For starters, don't pay for a static address if you don't need to.

#1 - If you have a router, use the DynDNS feature, and register with any of a dozen free DynDNS services to keep your IP updated and use them to create your domain name that you can hand out to others.

#2 - Most ISP's won't let you host a website from your home unless you pay for a business class account which can be twice as expensive as a normal account. Also, most ISP's block port 80 on residential accounts, so no one would be able to reach it anyway. You should set the server to serve http on an alternative port, such as 8080, or whatever you decide to configure it to, but will have to include that in the url when sending it to people.

#3 - An OS like CentOS will more than likely need something decent hardware wise, even uBuntu/debian on a headless server with no GUI runs poorly on anything below 800mhz. You will need something half decent, above the 300mhz speed and say at least a gig of ram just for base settings to run one of the more recent builds of CentOS or debian. It will crawl on something as slow as an 450mhz machine, and will still need cooling. The only boards I know of that can go fanless, are older desktops under to 450mhz range, (like the old 333mhz celerons which just had a heat sink, no fan). That was back in the windows 95/98 days.

I don't think you are going to get server based performance with respect to a webserver on one of those older type machines without some major compromises on what OS and features you are going to run. DSL maybe with Apache could work, but not the most ideal of choices.

#4 - If you want to run a web server to learn how to do all this, if your current machine is up to snuff, download a pre-built VM that has apache, such as a LAMP VM, and learn on that first, then eventually move to buying a hosted service once you have some experience with this sort of thing. Running one from home is fine when learning, but personally I would stick with a hosted service and domain name, just to keep my home network a bit more secure.

[Jamo]

Try this http://www.turnkeylinux.org/ you cant get it simpler. Iv been useing that LAMB server, its great, easy to install etc. Iv copied apache config files from turnkey lamb server.

Use OS that you feel comptable with.

[Infiltrator]

You will need to a decent hardware, if you want to run a webserver. I am not talking a high-end server which will cost several hundred dollars. I used to run a web server before, on an OK hardware, 1.66Ghz cpu (non-threaded), 7.5K 250 GB Hard drive and 4 gigs of ram, use to get good performance out of the box, but the only limiting factor will be your ADSL upload speeds, which won't be very fast as your normal download speeds.

So something to think about, if you plan on hosting heavy contents like (pictures or videos).

Initially I bought a domain and purchased a Static IP address. Was paying too much of money for the domain registration, for the static ip address so I cancelled them. If I were you, I would do what Digip suggested, keep your current IP address and go with a Dyndns account, that's what I have at the moment.

For the OS I would probably use Ubuntu, its a very stable OS but you definitely need a decent hardware to run it on.

Edited December 29, 2010 by Infiltrator

[rv1ce]

I use a atom based system for my homeserver with ubuntu server on it.It runs fine with apache on it , other things i use it for are file sharing and i run a torrent client with a webinterface on my home server. The system will cost around 200 dollars (motherboard, memory, hardisk, case, psu). It makes almost no noise i got one 40 mm fan in my case. You could run it fanless but with a litle fan is better for cooling and it makes almost no noise my hardisk makes more noise than the fan.

Specs of the machine are:

Motherboard: Intel Desktop Board D525MW Innovation Series (fanless)

CPU: Intel Atom D525 1.8 Ghz dual core

Memory: 2 GB DDR3

PSU: PicoPsu 65 watt

Hardisk: 320 GB laptop hardisk (2.5 inch)

As os i think debian or ubuntu server are the best choice (they are almost the same ubuntu is based on debian), CentOS also is realy nice i realy like the way how to manage it and the documentation and support on there site is great only downside is that there is less software and older versions of the available software in the repository's(this makes it more secure). I heard it uses a bit more resources from your system don't know if thats true i never instaled it on my homeserver only used it for a school project.

[Infiltrator]

As os i think debian or ubuntu server are the best choice (they are almost the same ubuntu is based on debian), CentOS also is realy nice i realy like the way how to manage it and the documentation and support on there site is great only downside is that there is less software and older versions of the available software in the repository's(this makes it more secure). I heard it uses a bit more resources from your system don't know if thats true i never instaled it on my homeserver only used it for a school project.

I've never used CentOS before, so I can't comment on that. However I have used Ubuntu and liked it very much. Great performance and above all very stable.