View Full Version : File Server- Help a Noob
Basically I want to use my second rig as a file server since I haven't even powered it on in weeks so is useless atm, firstly here's the specs of the rig:
CPU: Celeron D 336 @ 2.8ghz
RAM: 1Gb (2 X 512mb) DDR2 PC4200
HDD: 160gb WD caviar blue + 20gb IDE (will upgrade as needed)
GPU: Passive Ati x550
I was thinking of running it totally passively apart from the PSU fan which is almost silent anyway.
Now for the Questions:
1) will this rig be powerful enough?
2) what sort of things can you do with a file server? (ie can i store all my music and videos on it and wirelessly stream to any other pc in my house?)
3) I was thinking of using open source server software (suggestions?) but will it be compatable with other PCs using windows 7 and xp?
4) does it need a display/keyboard/mouse? or just for setting up?
5) can it be switched off and on easily without needing to be set up again? (my dad isn't too happy about leaving things on overnight etc)
thanks for your help http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/3926/smile1x.png
InvaderGIR
07-02-10, 12:28
1) - It will be indeed, you can run extremely slow machines as file servers, so long as you have a decent amount of hard drive space in there and a decent network card all is good.
2) - Yes, if you put your music, videos, etc. onto the server you can then access it from your other PCs/Laptops/PS3/Xbox etc.
3) - Using Linux if you haven't won't be fun to set up if you use a 'normal' distro but there are home server flavours of most of the distros these days, which should set up easily enough.
4) - You'll only need the displays for setting up, yes. PCs will happily run 'headless' ie no display, keyboard or mouse.
5) - You can power it down by remotely connecting into it (if using Windows you can use LogMeIng, I'm not sure it runs on Linux), or there are other ways to log into Linux remotely such as SSH. Powering up is a simple case of pressing the power button in the morning.
I hope that helps. I have to say, I'd advise using Windows if you know nothing on Linux.
Never used Linux, but willing to learn, which Distro would you suggest? if i mess it up I can always try windows after, also which version of windows would be best?
with regards to shutting it down would i just go on my laptop and remotely shut it down every evening?
would this be a good choice?http://www.amahi.org/
fist hit on google :)
InvaderGIR
07-02-10, 12:41
Thinking about it, you should actually be able to set it to auto shut down at a certain time...which could get irritating. :p
As for distros, I don't know which would be best really. Try looking on google for 'Linux Server Distribution'. For learning Linux a good one is Ubuntu, but setting up network shares on that with Windows isn't the simplest of tasks (as with most distros).
As for Windows...any really. If you want to be fancy, Windows Sever 2003 or 2008 but Windows XP, Vista and 7 will all do the job you require nice and easily. :)
I'll try ubuntu home server, got nothing to lose really :)
AaronWHUFC
07-02-10, 12:48
PM'd. Not sure if we link to competitors forums but there's a cracking guide about I've PM'd you with:thumb:
Let us know how you get on!;)
just realised.. already have xp installed on that PC... how would i go about converting the xp installation into a file server instead? not really familiar with the networking options on xp other than to connect to the net
AaronWHUFC
07-02-10, 12:57
just realised.. already have xp installed on that PC... how would i go about converting the xp installation into a file server instead? not really familiar with the networking options on xp other than to connect to the net
Not sure if you can dual boot, I'm a linux n00b;)
Can't see why not though. If you can do a clean install do that.
If you want there's another Advanced sharing in XP/Vista tutorial at that place. In the networking forum, should be stickied.
i've managed to set up files with my dads desktop and my laptop (both on windows 7) but can't get the xp fileserver to connect so I can't see any of the files on teh server, what exactly do I need to do/set up?
InvaderGIR
07-02-10, 14:28
You're doing it the wrong way round. ;)
Files should be on the server. :p
If you haven't put them on there yet, set up a Shared Folder on the XP box. The other PCs will be able to see it and you can put media into there.
You can then set up on the other PCs a 'Network drive' which points to the shared folder on the network.
I've tried but the windows 7 systems cant seem to find the xp box, they can only see each other
All three PCs (W7 desktop, W7 laptop, xp server) are connected to the same network and the two W7 machines can see each other, but they can't see the Xp box and the xp box can't see them, anyway of getting them to connect?
InvaderGIR
07-02-10, 16:05
Grrr Windows. lol
It should work just fine. I know Windows 7 has 'home-groups' which are Windows7 to Windows7 shares, but they should still be able to see the XP box even if the XP isn't allowed to see the Windows 7 box.
One thing to try is on the W7 laptop press Start + r and type
\\IP of the XP box\Shared folder name
For example...
\\192.168.1.100\Music
Try it with a shared folder on the XP box that is a single word (no spaces) as it will give you less of a chance of things getting confused.
okay.. that worked, so how do i set a permanent link? create a main folder and create a shortcut to that on my laptop?
Hey, don't mean to hijack this thread but i have a similar sort of question.
I use my main PC as a file server to server files to 3 other PC's and my xbox. Mainly because it's on 24/7 anyway.
But since installing Vista ive had one problem, ive setup my shared folders on my PC the same as they were before, however. When i try to access my shared files on any other PC it asks for a username and password, which is not ideal.
And i know what your thinking "Just turn on password protected sharing" and i have, it changes nothing.....
Ive searched and searched for a way of disabling the password but found nothing
Any ideas?
InvaderGIR
07-02-10, 16:27
okay.. that worked, so how do i set a permanent link? create a main folder and create a shortcut to that on my laptop?
Right, I'm on my W7 partition now so can help a lot easier than when I was on my Linux one. :p
On Windows 7 Goto
Start > Computer > Map Network Drive (this is in the top bar just below the address bar)
Enter a drive letter you want to call it. I'd go for letters between R and Y. Then enter the IP and the folder name of the folder you want to connect to (same as you did in the run box). Have 'reconnect at logon' ticked and the other one unticked. Press 'Finish'.
You now have a network drive mapped. :) This means whenever you have the 'sever' PC on and turn on the laptop it will automatically connect to the shared folder and you can access it as if it's on your laptop. :)
For sharing to PS3 and 360 so long as shares are turned on on the XP machine, they should work fine. :)
Any ideas?
That's an annoying one, I used to get that too. I think the way I fixed it was to right clicked on the shared folder on the PC and find the 'Permissions' tab and make sure that 'Everyone' has read access.
It's been a while since I've had that error though so can't recall fully unfortunately.
Right, I'm on my W7 partition now so can help a lot easier than when I was on my Linux one. :p
On Windows 7 Goto
Start > Computer > Map Network Drive (this is in the top bar just below the address bar)
Enter a drive letter you want to call it. I'd go for letters between R and Y. Then enter the IP and the folder name of the folder you want to connect to (same as you did in the run box). Have 'reconnect at logon' ticked and the other one unticked. Press 'Finish'.
You now have a network drive mapped. :) This means whenever you have the 'sever' PC on and turn on the laptop it will automatically connect to the shared folder and you can access it as if it's on your laptop. :)
For sharing to PS3 and 360 so long as shares are turned on on the XP machine, they should work fine. :)
cheers. that worked :D just added an external drive to the server aswell and that seems to be working in teh same way :)
now.. how do you remotely turn it off? trying to get it headless or whatever they call it :)
InvaderGIR
07-02-10, 16:37
As you're running XP you can do it various ways.
You can use Remote Desktop Connection if your Windows 7 has it (I know some versions don't or something...I have Pro which does allow it). If you have it, it'll be here...
Start > All Programs > Accessories > Remote Desktop Connection
You just enter the PC name or IP.
If you don't have it, use the XP machine and go to LogMeIn (http://www.logmein.com) and set up a Free connection. This means that whenever it is on and connected to the web you can just go there and take control of the PC, which includes telling it to shutdown.
One thing to note about the Network Drives and RDC is that if you don't have static addresses on your home network the router could assign the XP machine a different IP at some point which will break all connections to it. You should be able to use the PC name of the XP box to do the Network Drives etc. but if the Windows 7 ones are being stupid then it might just be easier to assign the XP box a static address via the router.
was just going to ask about static IPs, but just typing the name of the computer instead worked :D
remote desktop isn't working, i'll try the other one, otherwise i'll just set it so that pressing teh power button initiates a shutdown sequence and that'll do :P
actually, cba to make an account, i'll just put up with it how it is, should be good enough, just had a go at streaming movies and it's pretty fast, server CPU usage didn't even go above 10%! and RAM usage stayed at about 300mb! It seems pretty good, thanks for all your help, repped :)
InvaderGIR
07-02-10, 17:01
Hehe, yeah, setting it to power button starts shutdown is an easy way and one I totally forgot about. :p
Glad I could help. :)
The PC won't use much memory etc. as all that is being used is the network and the hard drives. Which means it'll consume almost no power too, which is handy. :)
now to find a way to downclock my CPU... (it's a horrible, hot, power hungry prescott based CPU) it's ona generic board so has no over/underclocking options and it doesn't even downclock itself so stays at 2.8 all the time, any programs that'll let me reduce the multi?
InvaderGIR
07-02-10, 17:13
I haven't a clue on clocking apps, not my area I'm afraid. All my stuff runs stock speeds. :)
lol, as are all mine atm actually :D (main rig out of commission :() i'll post it in the 'overclocking' section then, cheers for all your help :)
I built a 4TB fileserver for about £250 with parts from an old pc
unknown IDE only motherboard
2.4GHz Celeron cpu
384MB ram
orig 20GB HDD for OS
4 * 1TB SATA drives
4 port SATA pci card £10 ****
for OS I used FreeNas (freeware)
http://freenas.org/
http://www.howtoforge.com/network_attached_storage_with_freenas
its easy to setup and connects to my other pcs via a switch. after setup monitor + keyboard can be removed. all admin, shutdown etc is via web browser on any of the other pcs and shows disk usage, cpu temp etc. drives can be RAID or normal and can be passworded.
a shortcut on my desktop points to \\192.168.0.250 (file://\\192.168.0.250) and shows the 4 drives. I get 70Mbps on the network which is ok for streaming video etc.
hope this is of some use to the orig poster.
wonderlust
15-02-10, 13:57
you are possibly being bottlenecked by the PCI bus, unless your Gigabit lan is PCI-E based
InvaderGIR
15-02-10, 14:18
jazzman, that seems like the perfect solution fort he OP to be honest. Lets hope he reads it. :)
just read it :) i'm a bit busy today but i'll look into it tomorrow :D
info about SATA card censored cos I mentioned another supplier
still learning the rules . .
you are possibly being bottlenecked by the PCI bus, unless your Gigabit lan is PCI-E based
Max bandwidth for PCI 32bits is 133 MB/s (1.06 Gbps ) running at 33 MHz.
wonderlust
15-02-10, 18:30
yes that is true but that is shared across all PCI slots.
Your Hard Sata hard drives are capable of 140MB/s constant transfer each.
So a transfer between hard drives will be bottlenecked, and if you have a PCI gigabit nic that will also be sharing the 133MB/s bandwidth.
I get transfers on my Gigabit network of between 90 and 120MB/s (timed) using PCI-E Gigabit and Sata connections. I am using a 4K jumbo frame.
The problem with the faster SATA II cards is they require PCI express and not all MBs have this. BTW I hear of SATA III now. Don't suppose there are many of those drives yet.
This is a useful link for file sharing - it covers sharing between xp and vista but I think its the same for xp to win7
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistanetworking/thread/02454766-a894-4fbb-a61a-7d92e6b1d60c
Sorry if this has already been said, and appreciate you have an old PC to use as a data server. But why not take the disk out the machine put it in an enclosure, attach that to a usb to NAS port. Likely to use much less pwer, require less maintenance and be more stable. Enclosures are cheap, and NAS port not to expensive either. I used to do the same with an old workstation as a data server but it was noisy and used more electricity running all the outher redundant systems.
that may be cheap, but this is free, i'm a fulltime student atm living off pocket money from parents so every penny counts (and they pay the leccy bills :))
Students eh ... typical.
Depends how much your data is worth to you if your old machine goes wrong ... all those lost dodgy photos after too many pints in the SU bar .. sorry I mean important dissertations could be lost.
if my old machine goes wrong I can just shove the drives into my main pc to get all the files, or replace the offending piece of hardware (have a few spare mobos etc lying around)
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