Server or Desktop??

bonger

Hi,

I need to set up a server in a small one room office for two users to share documents, images and a printer. Both users will also need to access the docs remotely on certain days from out of the office. I have never set up a server before but am sure I'll be able to manage with a bit of help from Google.

My query is: Should I purchase a dedicated server for this or can I just purchase a desktop PC for the job? I can get both on dell.ie for about €300. What is the difference between this server (http://ireland.dell.com/ie/en/business/Servers/poweredge-t110/pd.aspx?refid=poweredge-t110&s=bsd&cs=iebsdt1) and a regular desktop PC???

Thanks in advance!

thenightrider

Ive got a server setup at home its just a normal pc works fine but servers usally come with diffent cpu's designed to run 24/7 saying that my old P4 was left tuned on for 5 years only turned of when i moved house or a power cut and it is still working fine but now useing my gameing pc as a server but think i might go back to useing my p4 uses a lot less power and does the job fine.

woolymammoth

You might get them for the same price, but they will work in very different ways. i reckon any server for 2 people would be overkill. How many GB of files are you talking about?

bonger

woolymammoth wrote: »

You might get them for the same price, but they will work in very different ways. i reckon any server for 2 people would be overkill. How many GB of files are you talking about?

Thanks for the replies Woolymamoth and Nightrider!

How do they work in different ways? And would a PC running Vista be sufficient or would I need to have a Server OS?? Currently there are about a gig of images and docs but this will grow over the next while. But nothing substantial. I just want to be able to share the drive so that we can both view and update spreadsheets and both upload have access to the images.

Cheers!

bhickey

bonger wrote: »

How do they work in different ways? And would a PC running Vista be sufficient or would I need to have a Server OS?? Currently there are about a gig of images and docs but this will grow over the next while. But nothing substantial. I just want to be able to share the drive so that we can both view and update spreadsheets and both upload have access to the images

For what you want to do, any PC is absolutely fine. In fact if either of the 2 users are using a desktop PC then just share the files from that existing desktop.

bonger

bhickey wrote: »

For what you want to do, any PC is absolutely fine. In fact if either of the 2 users are using a desktop PC then just share the files from that existing desktop.

Thanks bhickey! Might still go ahead and get the 3rd PC as one of us might be taking the PC from one location to another on certain days.

woolymammoth

reason i asked about the amount of data, is that maybe you could consider online backup. Dropbox have a free option of 2GB, sugarsync have 5GB, http://workspace.office.live.com works with windows live skydrive, which has 25GB of online storage. See, you could use the likes of dropbox to share the files between the two pc's, and any other PC you install the client on. Plus the files are available online. all you need then is a network printer, no need that 3rd PC/server at all.

bonger

woolymammoth wrote: »

reason i asked about the amount of data, is that maybe you could consider online backup. Dropbox have a free option of 2GB, sugarsync have 5GB, http://workspace.office.live.com works with windows live skydrive, which has 25GB of online storage. See, you could use the likes of dropbox to share the files between the two pc's, and any other PC you install the client on. Plus the files are available online. all you need then is a network printer, no need that 3rd PC/server at all.

Thanks for the suggestion but would prefer to keep the data here in the office!

Any suggestions on the best approach to take in order to set up the network? Would I be better using the Windows Network Setup Wizard or would it be better to install Apache??

bhickey

bonger wrote: »

Any suggestions on the best approach to take in order to set up the network?

There's not a lot to setup really. Just plug all the computer into the same network. Then decide which folder on which PC you're going to store everything in and share that folder.

Would I be better using the Windows Network Setup Wizard or would it be better to install Apache??

Apache is for websites :rolleyes:

bonger

bhickey wrote: »

There's not a lot to setup really. Just plug all the computer into the same network. Then decide which folder on which PC you're going to store everything in and share that folder.




Apache is for websites :rolleyes:

D'oh... i hate saying stupid things for the world to see!! The reason I suggested Apache was cos I found this article http://lifehacker.com/124212/geek-to-live--how-to-set-up-a-personal-home-web-server and this one http://www.ehow.com/how_2036402_setup-home-server.html

So is all this unnecessary??

bonger

bhickey wrote: »

There's not a lot to setup really. Just plug all the computer into the same network. Then decide which folder on which PC you're going to store everything in and share that folder.




Apache is for websites :rolleyes:

Just a reminder that I want to be able to access the office PC from home sometimes too. Will I be able to access this if I simply share the folder on the PC??
Thanks!

woolymammoth

bonger wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestion but would prefer to keep the data here in the office!

I understand that. The point with the likes of Dropbox, is that your data is in the office.

Twice infact, if it's on both PC's. Stored in the cloud too, for worldwide access plus disaster recovery / backup. As long as a PC is connected to the web, it will sync updates, but they're always accessible as a locally stored copy too. Dropbox has versioning too, so you can recover previous versions, if they were overwritten or deleted.. And if you need more storage, you can pay for it. There's other alternatives to dropbox too, i'm not trying to sell it to you, just selling an idea that, for such a small office, could save you time & effort!

If you just use one PC in the office as a file store, that pc has to be always on, always connected, always backed up, get backups off site. If the PC dies, you have to retrieve backups.. there's downtime.. can it be retrieved at all.. etc.

bonger

woolymammoth wrote: »

I understand that. The point with the likes of Dropbox, is that your data is in the office.

Twice infact, if it's on both PC's. Stored in the cloud too, for worldwide access plus disaster recovery / backup. As long as a PC is connected to the web, it will sync updates, but they're always accessible as a locally stored copy too. Dropbox has versioning too, so you can recover previous versions, if they were overwritten or deleted.. And if you need more storage, you can pay for it. There's other alternatives to dropbox too, i'm not trying to sell it to you, just selling an idea that, for such a small office, could save you time & effort!

If you just use one PC in the office as a file store, that pc has to be always on, always connected, always backed up, get backups off site. If the PC dies, you have to retrieve backups.. there's downtime.. can it be retrieved at all.. etc.

Kudos to you my friend! Dropbox is the business!! Thanks for the advice!

bhickey

bonger wrote: »

Just a reminder that I want to be able to access the office PC from home sometimes too. Will I be able to access this if I simply share the folder on the PC??

You'd have had to arrange a VPN setup to connect and access the files. Something like Dropbox might actually suit you better. Try it and see how you get on.

Snowbat

bhickey wrote: »

Apache is for websites :rolleyes:

Apache can also serve WebDAV ("web folders" in Windows) with mod_dav. I use this to give users read/write access to their files from remote locations. It can be configured to use Apache's encryption (mod_ssl) and compression (mod_deflate) modules.

bhickey

Snowbat wrote: »

Apache can also serve WebDAV ("web folders" in Windows) with mod_dav. I use this to give users read/write access to their files from remote locations. It can be configured to use Apache's encryption (mod_ssl) and compression (mod_deflate) modules.

That's a nice setup but one that's definitely not for the faint-hearted

BostonB

Sounds like dropbox might suit you better tbh.