Servers?

[elohelomg]

I always wondered, whats the difference between the way a server for a business is setup, compared to that of a typical household network.

How does one go about setting up a specific computer as a server?

Any help would be appreciated.

[HX1]

Do you have an idea of what you would like to do with this server?

What type of resources you would like to have? Media, Repositories, Websites, Blogs, Network Administration, Shaping, RDP...so on..

Would you want to be able to access the network from outside your private network?

There will be more questions.. and this is only to help me better understand what you would like to do.. what type of protection is at minimum a necessity and so on..

Also it would be nice if you could list the OSes and possible CPU in GHz and Core with RAM ..

Network devices including router/modem..( including Smart Phones.. printers.. any connectible device.. )

[HX1]

Keep in mind though too.. if this is going to be just for your use, even when your away from home.. You may not need a great deal of Upload Max..The big thing comes in if your transcoding/broadcasting audio/visual.. then you get into some very consumptive numbers.. not to mention how your need will rise the more you give out your addresses and links.. even posting it in a 'background' method say as serving your own MP3's to your local social site..something to keep in mind.. People can reverse engineer something just as fast you put it together.. So if its going to be for public usage there are different manners to configure your protection/servers even without having to buy high-end hardware.

I business based network is going to be more secure, use encryption, make regular backups on other systems that are off-line, going to be ready to be easily upscaled and be able to take on thousands of visitors at a time, with quite a high rate of connections overall..Especially a media based server which is going to be performing several operations at once and have a complex method of caching these results in RAM for immediate delivery, without processing.. ( when it can )..

But yeah waiting for those answers.. :)

[elohelomg]

I would like to have a server setup to "back up" some files on a computer.

I was just wondering HOW it was done, and what was needed.

[LoKz]

buy one external hard drive... :blink:

[HX1]

Yep..definitely have a point.. If in fact your talking about a system that you have sitting in front of you..then you'll need an external. If you want to back up files on other computers on your network; then you are talking about a different situation and yes you will still need a minimum of one external drive..something you can disconnect and put into the safe when your done.. take with you or something.. You don't really want to do this directly to your hard drive or any other drive on a working system. ( which could defeat your purpose.

The rest is going to pivot around you backing up a system to a centralized location. You can do this through WebDAV, FTP.. or even an online client.. Like say backing it up to MOZY, or even Window's Live Spaces.. any online storage..This would be if you were sitting at the system and would like to package a backup and send it somewhere for safe keeping. Even over your home network to one system, even could provide with making one full backup and only updating new files through synchronization. So this method would consist of having ( some of these may not apply depending on how and what your doing ).. You also need to consider Storage apace for versions if necessary.. depending on the reasons for the backup.

1. A backup software installed on the client.

2. WebDAV enabled server on the host, WebDAV accessible client ( or webfolder as it sometimes is referred to ) or FTP

3. External Drive ( depending on the amount of information ) used as storage.

4. Synchronization Software

---then we have the split---

1. Backup software installed on the client.

2. Online Host--trust variable ( Encryption comes to mind )

3. Any accompanying software which enables easier access to do so.. ( not always included and can be slow with Upload speeds on some connections.. ) Similar to Synchronization Software

Now the other way is to setup a backup server. This is more commonly used on larger networks but can be used easily at home. It is also the first thing that came to mind. This would be where sit at one console and look to backup other systems..Do file system monitoring .. things of that sort.. this may take several programs to cover in depth. However it isn't limited to what you can do..In fact you can even bring Linux and MacOSX OSes ( sometimes using image files ) into the picture. Easier from the other side of things as it basically is a centralized place to send things to or download from. Having said that.. This can be done by setting up servers on each system, and RDPing a backup. You can also use a piece of software like FarStone Drive Clone WorkStation/Server ( good software ) which is very comprehensive and even uses AES 256 Bit Encryption to protect your backup from unauthorized access. You can also create a VMWare image of your system with the software. Keep in mind that there are a lot of other softwares out there that will allow you to backup the information to a network resource ( FTP, WebDAV...Network Share or Drive ) There are also softwares that will allow you to many of the other things.. So really looking at cost and searching for these softwares would be a good idea to determine what would best suit your needs.. but the main thing here is that there is not just one solution.. there are several, and it can be as simple as an external drive and some backup software or you may have to setup another system ( which can be quite easy ) that will allow you to use an external drive as the repository on a centralized system positioned as a server ( really two way communication in this effect ) for easy recovery/backup from/to those images.. and keep in mind that all of this can be setup to run on a schedule as well.. it can also run automated..

The Server in many cases will be included but in n instance where it is not you can find a server and set it up quite easily. If your system is a mobile computer, you may have to get a Free Domain Name so that you backup to/from an address on the Internet, which is actually at home.. FTP servers can get quite detailed in configuration but once its done..its done.. and can allow you to access much more as well even your media while away. ( Which is better to actually use real-time transcoding.. and DNLA3 support for many devices ) A WebDAV enabled server gets a little more detailed as WebDAV enables you to actually use the file system as if you were sitting behind it. You can delete, rename, edit, many of the same functions.. So really with some of these other functions you may get too much.. and hope that your system is secure which gets into the security of that network/web resource.

[elohelomg]

Many thanks. Going to try a couple of those softwares you suggested...but first i gotta get a couple more computers on my network to make sure all is working well.

I'm on a 20mb cable modem, uploading shouldn't be THAT bad.

[HX1]

Well on your private network you should get good speeds.. On the Internet it depends what upload speed you have as you don't get ( usually ) the same upload speed as you do download speed.. like mine is capped at around 600 kbps.. with down around 1500 kbps. So essentially if your using an online service, or setting it up to be able to access your home network over the Internet you may run into the problem I mention.. which could take more time to back up to the device, synchronize files and things of that nature..