Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: skygunner58203 on March 05, 2011, 11:38:48 am
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My younger brother just purchased three servers. He wants to know what you can do with them, what software is needed, etc. They each have two 2.4 ghz xenon processors, and 4 gig of ram. thanks for the help.
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:wtf:
Tell your brother that one usually buys hardware to satisfy needs. If you don't know what you need or want to use them for, why buy them in the first place? If you're both as clueless as you sound, I'd suggest selling them for good buck. Who knows, maybe you turn in profit even.
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can I have one?
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can I have one?
Agreed. I mean i already have one on my warddrobe atm, but I actually have use for high amounts of processor power. More servers kkthx.
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Host some game servers for HLP game nights?
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LOL. he knows what he wants to do with them. Just needs to know what he needs to get them going. He owns and small business. He planned on using one for personal use as a home server, and the other two for his business. He came to me cuz i like to tinker with computers. He figured i'd know what he needed.
Tho the idea of using one as a game server sounds appealing...........
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Ug. What software he needs depends on exactly what he is going to be doing with them.
Mail server?
Web server?
Online shopping server (going to need a web server, mail, sql server, and potentially more)?
Operating system (Linux/Solaris/FreeBSD/OpenBSD/*shudder* MS Windows)?
DNS?
Game server?
Honestly, if he bought these cheap enough, he might have got some older P4 based servers, which are going to be somewhat expensive to upgrade due to the age and lack of parts. Parts for your typical desktop generally don't work and are a lot less expensive than server-grade parts (DDR isn't exactly cheap now, and ECC DDR even more so), not to mention often proprietary to the manufacturer. Also, home server use? Most servers with Xeons in them tend to be huge power hogs and loud.
And if he doesn't know what to do with them now, he's asking for a world of hurt if he doesn't learn how to be a systems/network/security admin (yes, your typical admin, especially unix admins, tend to wear all three hats and then some) or hire someone to set them up and maintain them.
There is a lot involved in setting up a server, especially one that will be accessible to the 'net, even more so for a business. I'm not trying to be an ass, but I'd strongly suggest he hire someone to take care of this. I'd hate for him to become another member of the world bot net statistics and have to deal with the fallout (tech cleanup, loss of goodwill and trust of his customers when their data is stolen by the bot/system cracker, and so on).
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well, I can tell you right now, unless he has a very Microsoft centric usage in mind, he needs Linux. Ubuntu makes a server version, though it is not the best OS in the universe, it is very easy to set up so if this is his first time then that might be the way to go. he might also want to set up his own cloud, with three servers he has the option.
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@rev_posix: no worries. I told him pretty much the same thing. and he got all three for about 250 dollars total. I know he wants to use one as an FTP server for the house so he can put all his stuff in one place and access it anywhere....within limits. Not sure what he was gonna use a business server for....he installs car stereos and starters.
@Bobboau: I'll tell him to check out the ubuntu software. we've used it before for a desktop so we have a general idea how that one works. And at the risk of sounding like a complete idiot considering I work with comm computers all day in the army.......whats a cloud?
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@rev_posix: no worries. I told him pretty much the same thing. and he got all three for about 250 dollars total. I know he wants to use one as an FTP server for the house so he can put all his stuff in one place and access it anywhere....within limits. Not sure what he was gonna use a business server for....he installs car stereos and starters.
@Bobboau: I'll tell him to check out the ubuntu software. we've used it before for a desktop so we have a general idea how that one works. And at the risk of sounding like a complete idiot considering I work with comm computers all day in the army.......whats a cloud?
If that's his business, I'd image that he's looking at just having some kind of 'hey, I'm here, look at what I do and can build for you' kind of page. If that's all he's after, it would probably be a lot easier and less expensive over all for him to rent a server at one of those 'VPS' companies and be done with it.
Three Xeons for 250? Oh crap, those do sound like the P4-based Xeons. Have fun with those, I wouldn't buy them. If they were given to me, I might take them, but I sure wouldn't pay any money for them (points to the DDR ECC RAM and power draw comments earlier).
As for The Cloud (cue trumpets), you can get more details at https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Cloud_computing, but inna nutshell...
At it's simplest, a 'cloud' is just a collection of computers that is hidden behind a single interface (web site, IP address, etc). An example of 'cloud computing' would be google docs or gmail. If you use either one of those, you are 'in the cloud'. Pretty simple, in a way, yes? If this sounds like something that has been going on for a long time before the term was used, you would be right. There really isn't anything new about 'The Cloud(tm)', it just has a new fancy word, kind of like Comcast changing the name of their service to XFinity. It's the same thing as they have always offered, it just has a 'sexier' name.
(Ghods, I have marketdroids and salesweasles, they keep making my life more complicated and stressful...)
The term 'cloud computing', in my opinion, has been abused and misused by marketing people to the point that it's pretty much a meaningless word now, and tends to annoy me when I hear it used incorrectly.
It also can cause others smarter than I to devolve into severe rants of how badly it's been applied and threaten the pets of the person who used the term. :)
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Thanks Rev. I'll let him know what u told me. honestly i don't see why he doesn't just use a networked HDD and a free hosted website. Thanks again. you've been a big help
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Good luck to your friend, whatever he chooses.
If he decides to get rid of the server, list some specs. He might have been lucky and got some good ones, in wish case if I'm not able to get them, I know a few people who might be. :D