Servers at Home

[garethEds]

How many Edugeek members have servers at home? By server I mean the full kit and so forth - Windows 2003/2008/Linux servers running DNS, DHCP and so on.

 

I've wanted to do it for a while so I can teach myself some server setups but have never gotten around to it. Mrs Ed is worried about the electricity costs and also the worry that the server would blow up/catch fire and so on.

 

Mother Ed harps on about leaving my Sky plugged in all day and all night so since an early age I'm used to hearing about plugs and electric and the moans they have.

 

I can grab a UPS from work. I have a spare machine.

 

Just wondered what other people do.

 

GJE

[kmount]

24/7 wise I only run one these days, it handles internal DNS/forwarders, webserving, inbound connections gateway and is responsible for pulling back ups from several servers overnight.

 

I used to run lots more but I'm quite happy with this one just chuntering away to itself.

[pete]

*stands up*

"Hi, my names's Pete and this is my first Geeks Anonymous meeting. I... used to have a server problem, but I'm mostly over it now".

 

These days I have one server running a hypervisor (Xen atm) that holds about 3 production / likely to last out the month vms (2003, 2008, linux) and umpteen "I wonder what that does / what happens if I break X" vms with varied shelf lives.

 

That, a QNAP nas, couple of aps and a decent procurve is enough to satisfy the habit and makes the electricity bill bearable.

 

Pick a virtualisation technology and a decent spec box and you and Mrs Ed will be happier (and you'll have oodles more space in your geekcave/home office). You may need to do some fan swaps to meet SWMBO approval levels.

[sted]

i use my old pc as a dual booting 2003/3008 dc but its just for testing stuff at home. Do leave my main pc on 24/7 though as its a media centre

[SteveBentley]

You might want to consider a Synology NAS box - rather than just being a network storage box it's a proper linux machine, and you can run all of the services you've mentioned on one, with a bit of pratting about.

 

I have mine set up with a proxy so if I'm using my laptop on a dubious wireless connection I can SSH into my box and tunnel all web traffic via squid so it's effectively as secure if I was sat at home

[t_h]

My wireless router and NAS box pretty much cover everything I need on the home network. For testing I prefer to use virtual machines.

[tech_guy]

I'm running a slampp box - it does my email, http, ftp, etc. It's on all the time and the electricity bill is ok. Not like the old Dell Poweredge I used to have with 2003 on it.

[powdarrmonkey]

I run a silent Atom router, DNS/DHCP, mail and cache server, deliberately because it's less hungry on power but still stands up to my demands. It doesn't have a hard drive in either which helps. Edited September 29, 2009 by powdarrmonkey

[IanT]

I like this thread

 

I run a networkable system @ home:

 

1x Dell PowerEdge 840 (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4Ghz, 8Gb of RAM, 2x 250Gb HDD, 1x 1Tb HDD, Dual Gig LAN - Teamed)

It runs: Windows Server 2008 Standard SP2 64-bit, Exchange Server 2007 SP2 > Domain Controller, DNS, File Server Services

 

1x Dell PowerEdge 800 (Intel Pentium 4 2.8Ghz, 2Gb of RAM, 3x 36Gb SCSI HDD, Gig LAN)

It runs: Windows Server 2008 Standard SP2 32-bit > Domain Controller > FSMO Roles > WDS > DHCP > DNS > IIS > FTP > Print Server.

 

1x HP ProLiant ML330 G3 (Intel Xeon 2.8Ghz, 3Gb of RAM, 2x 36Gb SCSI HDD, Gig LAN, LTO1 Tape Drive)

It runs: Windows Server 2008 Standard SP2 32-bit > Test Box atm

 

1x 24 Port 3Com Gig Switch (Main Switch)

 

1x 48 Port Catalyst Cisco 3500 XL (Spare but running)

 

1x APC UPS 1400 (Powers\Protects Switches and Servers)

 

1x Netgear FVS114 (Firewall)

 

1x Netgear DGN834N (ADSL2+, Modem\Bridge Mode, 24Mb Be* Internet > syncs @ 21Mb)

 

2x D-Link Wireless Access Points (1 Up stairs, 1 down stairs)

 

1x 48 Port Patch Panel (Termination for all CAT5e cabling I did)

 

My youtube videos:

 

(I havent updated the videos for a bit now)

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7RIKdWRwNg]YouTube - Home Server Room - Update 1[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-Nywh6RETM&feature=related]YouTube - Home Server Room - Update 2[/ame]

 

Thats my setup I think, yes its over the top, yes no need really for it, but it keeps me quiet

 

 

 

 

Edited September 29, 2009 by IanT

[nsherin]

My wireless router and NAS box pretty much cover everything I need on the home network. For testing I prefer to use virtual machines.

 

Ditto - I did have an old Dell OptiPlex running Windows Server 2003, Exchange 2003 and IIS for a while in order to host my own website and e-mail server, but after issues with my mail server being treated as a source of spam by Hotmail, Gmail etc, I decided it was too much hassle.

 

I use a Buffalo LinkStation Live 1TB for storage duties, the BT Business hub as my internet gateway/router/wireless access point. The NAS, desktop PC and laptop (when it is at my desk) share a gigabit switch. VMWare Workstation is on the desktop (a Core 2 Dup E8400 with 8GB RAM) and it does the job pretty well for testing OS's.

 

Connectivity is provided by BT Business Broadband and I have a static IP. I get around 7.5mb, which I am pretty pleased with for ADSL. Beats the 1.6mb I got at my last place.

 

I don't miss the extra noise (as the server was in my living room) and hassle of running my own dedicated server. The LinkStation also offers iTunes and DLNA server support as well, should I wish to add a media streamer at a later stage. Currently, I use the second output on my PC's graphics card with my TV and a digital audio connection to my hifi to stream iTunes, iPlayer, Spotify and any other video stuff from the PC.

Edited September 29, 2009 by nsherin

[powdarrmonkey]

Thats my setup I think, yes its over the top, yes no need really for it, but it keeps me quiet

 

You mean the fan noise drowns you out?

[Jamman960]

When I lived with my parents I had 3-4 pc's running all the time, 2 as servers(win2k3/linux) along with the good old smoothwall box and even had one running as a Ragnarok Online server - that was a great excuse to play with SQL server

 

I generally do any testing on my laptop or work pc now, My wife would have a fit if I tried to setup more than 1 pc at home lol. I get enough grief if I bring home a pc to fix!

[IanT]

You mean the fan noise drowns you out?

 

maybeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[localzuk]

Used to have a couple of servers when I was at uni, one running Win NT (then 2000, then 2003), and one running Redhat/Fedora.

 

Now, I have a laptop (work), and a desktop (my media centre/gaming machine) and that's it... I recovered from the addiction

[achedgy]

One little Quad core Server running Server 08, exchange 07 and a few other bits and bobs.

Mainly acts as storage and to push email/contacts/calendar to iPhone and outlook anywhere while on customers sites

[GrumbleDook]

I have a confession to make ... I no longer run a server at home.

4 OS X 10.6 machines

1 OS X 10.4 machine

1 Windows 7 box

1 Windows XP box ...

 

a glut of external drives and a NAS device ...

 

no servers ... none whatsoever,

 

Server 2008 R2 box rebuilt to Windows 7

OS X Server 10.5 rebuilt to snow leopard workstation

 

Please forgive me ... I'm usually a good boy!

[Boon72]

i've calmed down a bit with what i use these days

 

Sky wireless router

Netgear 5 port gigabit switch

Iomega 360gb network drive

Freenas server (currently powered down)

PC- Intel Q9550 2.83ghz-ASUS P5Q-E-4gb Corsair Dominator DDR2-Samsung F1 320gb hdd-ATI 4870

Seagate 500gb eSata drive

Apple Mac Mini 2.0ghz-4gb DDR2-120gb hdd

500gb Firewire external backup drive

320gb Lacie pocket hdd

Apple MacbookPro 15" - 2.4ghz-2gb DDR2-250gb hdd-Nvidia 9400m GT (work)

Toshiba U400 - 13.3" 2.0ghz-2gb DDR2-160gb hdd (work)

Dell Studio 15 - 2.0ghz-4gb DDR2-320gb hdd-ATI 3450-Bluray drive

Toshiba Satellite Pro A200 - 2.0ghz-1gb DDR2-160gb hdd

Canon Pixima 3600 printer

Epson 2580 Photo scanner

 

as i finish typing this and look back at the above i realise i may not of calmed down that much lol

[powdarrmonkey]

I should probably declare that I do have two datacentre beasts and a couple of virtual machines, I'm looking surprisingly lean otherwise

[googlemad]

I have a HP ML115 stuck in the garage, running Server 2003. Keep trying to make it a virtual PC server but never get chance to do it properly. Not got round to getting the house hard wired yet and home plugs are crap speed, so just used for file storage etc at the moment really.

 

Nice to RDP in to it from work to check up on PVR recordings etc

[jedmondson]

we currentley have.

• A p3 running smoothwall3. would get rid of this if i could get my hands on something that could run tomato or the like.
  
• A p3 unknown machine that i use to take backups of important stuff then turn off.
  
• A HP Compac D5355FF that i use for windows stuff.
  
• A self built pc thats my main desktop
  
• PROSAFE 8-PORT 10/100 DESKTOP SWITCH
  FS108 in the bunker.
  
• Linksys SR224
  
• Netgear wgr614 v8
  

 

Erm i might need to cut down on that list. Though it dosent account for my perants machines - 4 more.

[FN-GM]

I have one box that has 4 x 1.5tb drives on raid 5. This holds all my movies and tv programs.

 

I got rid of my other servers

Edited September 29, 2009 by FN-GM
put in my point

[googlemad]

I have one box that has 4 x 15tb drives on raid 5. This holds all my movies and tv programs.

 

I got rid of my other servers

 

Would love to know where you get a couple of those 15tb drives from cheap ;)

[FN-GM]

dam i mean 1.5

[sidewinder]

All testing/playing done at work, dont have the time, space or desire to be messing around with that stuff at home anymore.

[webman]

I have a 1TB FreeNAS server on ITX hardware, and an old PIII box that does PXE booting for GeeXboX media centre, Squid proxy, DHCP/DNS, misc linux services etc.

 

Eventually I'd like to downsize to just a Thecus NAS and an ITX linux box for the other services.