byUsers Forums

Server is basically a role (feel free to correct me) rather than a machine or piece of software although certain hardware types and software are geared for the demands of a PC being used as one.

I would presume you mean a file server basically which is what most people would mean as a central storage area allowing for ease of backup and taking the load off of other machines and removing the need for duplication.  You can do this with any hardware and modern operating system although quieter and more reliable systems commonly referred to as Enterprise class are most likely in a business environment.  For me a good reliable network card or quality mainboard LAN and the better hard drives are the big difference as in a file server these are what I feel are the key areas.  RAM is fairly cheap and CPU's fast and multi core so these aren't the concern they used to be in the single core days of old.

I can't comment on software but hardware wise you need to consider a PC running 24/7 and the attendant noise or heat as well as cost compared to online storage options.

I'm not the best person to talk to for that unfortunately.  I look at it as an operating system that is geared to the role rather than one that will just do it so that you gain the advantages of it being designed for the tasks needed.

Sort of like how you can use any tool for certain tasks but the most efficient is the one meant specifically for the job in hand.  Server operating systems usually have superior memory handling abilities and tools for monitoring operations and fault finding to aid setup of accounts.  You can do it with something like XP but it would require a fair bit of tweaking for certain things as for starters it has limits on simultaneous connections as part of their patching against malware.

Still as I said I'm not the best person for the advice you need so hopefully one of the others who are more experienced on this side of things can help.  I'm stronger on hardware than software and even there I could stand a few refresher courses at college.

The chief thing you'll notice that's different with Microsoft's Server OS is that it's licensed for multiple CPUs and multiple users, while XP Pro (for example) supports only two CPUs and 10 users (e.g. no more than ten people can connect at the same time to a share to access files on it).

If all you want to do is to allow people to access files, pictures, web pages, that kind of thing, on your local PC, then the server you need to run is one that supports that function. They'll be accessed using the HTTP protocol, so you need to run a web server. Microsoft does one called IIS (Internet Information Services), which also supports FTP for file transfer.

You might be better off looking at Apache, which is free and nothing to do with Microsoft, but it also depends on what else you want to do. If you want to create active or dynamic web pages using a scripting language, you could use ASP (runs on IIS) or PHP (runs on Apache), for example.

In addition to what other people have said here's my take on it.

It does depend on what you want to do.

You can either run a dedicated machine with server O/S and usually have all the 'bells and whistles' of a corporate network  or run specific server software software on your desktop.

For server o/s The main choices are Micro$oft server - expensive - needs a powerfull machine
Or Linux (there are other options)
I'd recommend Ubuntu server - can run on a low end machine   (I run one on an old PIII700 laptop) do not be put  off by  linux, this is  easier to install than Microsoft, smaller footprint, faster, more stable, more secure  and virtually self maintaining.
Also you do not require anti virus (although you can install it primarily to check throughput for viruses).

It sounds like you just want to serve web pages etc.
If you do not want a dedicated machine Xampp is free and definitely one of the best web servers for home use.  I use it.  It's based on Apache which runs 90% of internet websites.

If all you want to do is server web pages, ftp files on-line etc then my recommendation would be pay for proper hosting.
Obviously this costs. However I worked out that there was not much difference in cost between hosting and electricity costs for running a machine 24/7.


I use www.webhosting.uk.com at £25.00 per year they offer everything I need, so far their support has been exceptionally good and you get a free domain name of your choice which makes things simpler.

(PS. this in not an advert, I use recently switched to them because I was fed up with the crippled capability of virgin websites and was so impressed with them)