type of hardware needed for small server...

[Byan]

I want to put together a small server..., I will be getting satellite Internet soon, and I will finally be "always on"..., so I want to take advantage of that to gets some experience running a server, probably linux...

I want to have a proxy server, e-mail server, HTTP server, be able to have kazaa (on wine) or Bit Torrent downloading something, having ICS running, homemade telnet server, and a IM client running on AIM and Yahoo..., plus the software needed to run the satellite (thats if I get starband)

all of this running all the time..., I am not worried about activity..., the email server will be only running my mail..., both the HTTP server and the telnet server will just be running, don't expect any hits from then that aren't from me..(might admin something while I am gone or something)

I also may want a program running that will adjust how much bandwidth each of the computers in my network get...


how fast of a PC will I need to run this..., I know you wont need anything near the speed of my PC but I can get a PII 400mhz and I may be will to buy something with a little more speed from ebay...

thanx in advanced,
Byan

[ecrosson]

I run several servers in my Network and they stay on all the time too. The sample of specs that I have is as follows:

PIII 600 mhz,
640 mb SDRAM,
Quantum SCSI 10,000 RPM 18gb, w/8mb buffer drives (x2),
P2B-S ASUS MB,
2 10/100 NIC cards,
Windows 2000 Server Operating System, with ISA Firewall configured.

This is not a Linux box, but as I said, I do run several Windows boxes, and some are dual processors, and some run Advanced Server OS, but none are any higher than a PIII 600, although some do have up to 1.5gb of RAM in them, and they are configured to give greater attention to the Background tasks, and user actions.

On the other hand, my user machines run from PIII 733, up to over 1.0 ghz in speed, so you can get by with a smaller box for the servers depending on how you choose to set them up.

I would say the PII 400 should have plenty of speed for what you describe, but load up on the RAM for sure to handle the through put you mention.

Hope this is of some help to you.

[Byan]

ok, I will have to look around to see if I can find some more ram..., I doubt the one I am going to get is going to have any more then 128 megs..., I dont think that this machine is going to be able handle more then 256 megs though.., I assume this will be enough...

how much speed is required to run game servers.., like dedicated halo and Jedi knight servers..., I dont plan to host it over satelite but maybe if we do something within the LAN...

thanx again,
Byan

[ecrosson]

If you are going to host Gaming Servers then you will need a stronger machine for this task. The way I would do it is to set up my Internet server as planned and then set up DHCP so that you are able to pass the signal through your server, but actually run the host from your gaming machine using the server as a "Pass Thru" for the gaming activities.
That way the server is doing its thing, and you also get to run a fast game for yourself, and your LAN friends.

Hope this makes sense to you, I am really tired as I type this post. I'll check back on it tomorrow some time. Thanks.

[Byan]

ok..., I was just curious on how much proccessor it took to run a dedicated server for one of the newer games..., I dont really plan on doing so...

I understand what you mean..., I have to foward the ports..

now what windows based OS would be suitable for this...., if I were to go with windows, should I get Win NT or Win 2000 server? or would 98se or 2000 be ok? what is the difference between the server os's and normal...

thanx again,
Byan

[ecrosson]

For what you are wanting to do, I would definitely go with a Windows 2000 Server as 1st choice, but if that is not cost effective for you go with Windows 2000 workstation, or even Windows XP Pro. Stay away from NT 4.0 Server, it is too limited, and also is no longer supported by Microsoft, so there will not be any new updates coming for it in the future. Windows 98 can't do what you are asking to do.

[SuperSparks]

Windows Server 2003 isn't really any more expensive than 2000. I've been playing with it a bit and it really is a nice OS. And MS have paid a lot of attention to security with that one.