Pentium 4 Server

[reeper_sniper]

Hi, I have an old compaq presario sr1250nx laying around with a intel p4 515 @ ~2.9ghz and about 1gb of ram. I plan to stick a 600gb sata HDD in it and hopefully use it as a file server. Currently the only way I transfer files to other computers on my network or to friends is either by a slow 8gb thumb drive and its getting pretty annoying - so I'm hoping this will be a huge upgrade.

I've looked around and it seems like a p4 is plenty for such a small/simple server, but I also found a few other things. A lot of home servers have DHCP and DNS built into them - I don't exactly understand why. Doesn't my linksys e1200 do that already just fine? What is the point of dedicating another computer for DHCP and DNS? Please somebody provide me some insight.

And finally, the reason why I made this thread - what would be a good server operating system to install on this server? The CPU is not 64 bit and all of my other computers run windows 7. I want a OS that is very easy to connect to with my other computers and/or any other computers that come into my network(friends that come over). I'm torn between windows 2008 and ubuntu(god I hate linux.)

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

If your other computers are running 7, the easiest OS for connecting it , will be 7 - 32 bit... then Homegroups will connect easily...

All the best Brett

 

[esrever]

anything but windows xp will work. Its really annoying doing anything with network when using xp I find.

Ubuntu should work fine, and its free.

 

[unksol]

Currently the only way I transfer files to other computers on my network or to friends is either by a slow 8gb thumb drive

You do realize how ironic that is right? If they are on your network why aren't you just getting the file directly?

You don't need a file server to transfer files. I'm really kinda hung up on why anyone would use a flash drive to copy between networked computers. The fact you're not already using the network for its intended purpose just concerns me.

A file server is fine if you need central access to a set of files on a regular basis and are ALWAYS going to store the updated file on the server, but if your talking one off transfers coping to the server than to another machine is a waste of time.

 

[reeper_sniper]

I get what you are saying, but call me an idiot/noob I can never figure out how to share folders over the network. It seems to never work when I right click, share, a folder. This make it too much of a hassle for foreign computers to come into the network(a friends laptop etc) and me be like "oh hey let me see this so I can add you to my work group blah blah" instead I could just add a network folder to the server ONCE and forget about it.

Plus, yes I do tend to share the same files over and over with separate computers. Basically right now my gaming rig is a file hoarding machine for my entire household - which gets annoying when you want to reformat(its been at least 2 years, I REALLY need to) because I have to go through tons and tons of backups and whatnot to make sure I got everything off. A server, would be as simple as once I'm done with this file I can get it off my main PC(stop hoarding) and just send it to the server and forget about it. A server will never have to be reformatted(I hope) and I can just keep throwing hard drives in there.

Right now I'm leaning towards ubuntu, is there a specific OS of ubuntu I should install? Or just the most recent 32bit of ubuntu server via their website.

Also, anybody got some good tutorial videos on how to set everything up? Not a fan of dealing with linux OS's, until they work properly that is.(sort of love how easy they are to access, but hate setting them up)

 

[hairystuff]

Have you considered FreeNAS at all, its pretty easy to setup and has a web based GUI so the machine does not even need a monitor, keyboard or mouse attached (once installed). As for WinXP I've used it loads for file serving 24/7 on a AMD Sempron for the last 7 years without a software hitch (cheap PSU needed replacing a couple of times).

 

[reeper_sniper]

I went with ubuntu server 12.04 and installed samba server.

Setup was easy, a breeze actually.

Only one problem, these speeds are too slow!!!

I'm writing to the share folder at 6mb/s on my wireless laptop, I was expecting at least 20mb/s!

What is going on!? How can I fix this? The server has a WD Cavier blue 640gb HDD

 

[esrever]

probably your wireless connection.

 

[reeper_sniper]

11 mb/s on my wired desktop.

Still not what I want, I hear of people reaching 30-60 mb/s with freenas