My wife and I have accumulated 39,000+ digital pictures, and 7,000 (legal) songs. We also have MANY documents. Our kids are getting to the point of wanting their own computers. I'm done with all my schooling and am looking for something new to learn for fun.

Considering we all want to access the same pictures, documents, songs, printers etc. from at least 4 computers, would you say I'm kind of crazy to take a year and a half of reading/learning about running a server and then building one sometime after Windows Longhorn is released?

Do you have any good suggestions of books/websites (I've been pouring over this forum for the last 3 hours)?

I'll probably stick with a Windows server so I can use the exchange server since we have MS Outlook data building since around 1997.

Thanks for your input.

FH3

If all you want to do is to share files between four different computers a server with all the attendant expense and maintenance required might be a bit of overkill for a home environment.

The advantage of a file server is that the server controls access and who sees what and when. This is unlikely to be a consideration in a home environment.

All you need really is to set up a Peer to Peer network and designate one of the computers to hold all the files you want to share. The only thing you need worry about then is a disk drive large enough to hold them all. With Windows XP Proff you are going to get all the security you need.

Stuart

read this post for succinct summary of why to get a server:

http://www.computing.net/networking/wwwboard/forum/29586.html

StuartS is right. I'll just add to clarify things a bit that a "server" is a computer running services. That need not be a dedicated machine for just that. All Windows workstations have this capability. The Windows Server products just do it a lot more powerfully.

Along with this power comes added complexity.

As for reference books, I recommend the publishers Sybex. The authors are great. They combine real world experience with technical knowledge, and often spice things up with humor and witticisms. The "Mastering..." series is really famous. For example, "Mastering Windows XP Professional" by Mark Minasi.

A good book, but far more suited to serious, small business needs, is "SOHO Networking" by Peter Moulton.

Never read it, but very popular is:

"Windows XP Home Networking" -Paul Thurrott

However your FIRST step should be to go to a large bookstore and find Mike Meyers "A+ certificate" guides and read the chapter on networking. Fantastically easy to understand and great summaries of complex material.

"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure." - BILL CLINTON

>> StuartS is right. I'll just add to clarify things a bit that a "server" is a computer running services. That need not be a dedicated machine for just that. All Windows workstations have this capability. The Windows Server products just do it a lot more powerfully. <<

Not quite true. Every Windows computer is "running" services, wether it is connectd to a network or not.

A a file server network is one that there is one computer is the server running server software and all the others are clients. The server controls log ons, what can and cannot be done on the network. A network controlled by a server is called a domain. To connect to the domain you need Windows XP Proff. Windows XP Home wont, only a peer to peer network and that means workgroups. A client on a file server network cannot send or request a file from another client without going through the server.

On a Peer to Peer network, ever computer on the netwrok is a server to all the other computers and every computer is a a client for all the other computers.

So to call a particular computer on a peer to peer network a server is a bit misleading, they are all servers, they all have the ability to serve up files when requested.

Thanks for the responses! I had read the post at http://www.computing.net/networking/wwwboard/forum/29586.html earlier in the day before my first message.

1. centralized administration/security (*Yes, it's wanted so that I can have one place to set the security of the other machines in the house. As well as centralized data storage.*)

2. server based applications (*Not necessarily needed UNLESS you consider MS Exchange a server based application because this is a BIG reason to make this change. I'm tired of finding ways to "synch" my outlook pst files back and forth between multiple computers so everything matches up as needed between our main desktop and main laptop. Currently I'm using a product from http://www.vaita.com which I'm fairly happy with. I would like to be able to upgrade personal computers more easily in the future. Read that as not have to copy across data from the old computer to the new computer. I'd rather just access the file server and exchange server. Also my wife has been asking of a way that she can log into her Outlook account from any computer so Outlook Web Access looks up her alley (currently I'm using GoToMyPC.com)*)

3. centralized backup (*YES, YES, YES!! This is a BIG issue for me and I think more and more people as we start collecting more digital data in our lives. This is probably a big reason why small personal NAS's are selling so well these days.*)

4. require more client access than 10 (*Not that big of an issue since I don't plan on having anymore than my immediate family have access to the network.*)

5. want to use Active Directory (*I'm just starting to read about AD. I know I'll end up using it especially because of Exchange and the file server BUT I don't know enough about it to say "yes, that's why I need a server"*)

I'll pick up a couple of the books you suggested and sit down for some "light" reading. As mentioned in my first message, another reason for doing this is to learn something new for fun. I'm not trying to pick up a new job (I'm more than working full time in my present job!!). I'm in no rush.

It seems to me that a centralized data/backup system for homes will become some sort of norm in the future. With emails, digital pics, digital documents, digital video cameras, DVR's etc. etc. increasingly taking up so much space AND desired access by everyone in the home, some sort of storage expandablility and centralized storage seems reasonable.

Thanks again for your responses. You all a wealth of information!!

"I'm tired of finding ways to "synch" my outlook pst files back and forth between multiple computers "

You leave the mail on the server not download locally is how you address this issue.

Otherwise server sounds right for you.

Give a person a fish you feed them for a day.
Ask a person to internet search and they learn a skill for a lifetime.

>Not quite true. Every Windows computer is "running" services, wether it is connectd to a network or not.

Sure, if you want to understand everything via Windows. In a Windows world a service is a background program, an imitation of a Unix daemon.

However a broader definition relates it particularly to the client/server model, namely the program which serves up some resource or task to a client program on another computer.

>On a Peer to Peer network, ever computer on the netwrok is a server to all the other computers and every computer is a a client for all the other computers.

Windows or Unix machines can create these peer-to-peer networks, because they are hybrid operating systems: they have client and server functionality built in. This is a pretty minor academic point, but since you (hodson) are getting into your networking and reading up on it, I thought I would mention it. Peer to peer networks really popularized networking. Even if you want to get into a client/server model, I reckon it would be fun to set up a peer to peer network in the meantime.

>It seems to me that a centralized data/backup system for homes will become some sort of norm in the future.

Definitely, but it will be interesting what form this will take. Servers? Network Attached Storage appliances? Storage Area Networks offsite?

"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure." - BILL CLINTON

Definitely, but it will be interesting what form this will take. Servers? Network Attached Storage appliances? Storage Area Networks offsite?

You're talking about very one expensive solution when you say NAS. You'd have to have a lot of money to purchase a NAS for home use. We're looking into two where I work and we're talking a 1/4 of a million dollars....apiece.

Don't get me wrong it would be fun to have a NAS at home to play with. But I have to say that a DVD burner and either DVD-R's or DVD-RW's is most likely the way most home users will go. For good reason. Most home users will never have that much data to backup that they would require a solution like that. A SAN might not be a bad idea, if it's cost effective.

I use a DVD burner and DVD-RW's. I also have a couple spare PC's so I toss a copy of my backups onto them. This way I have redundancy. The chances of 3 PC's hard drives and all of my DVD backups going kaput on the same day are somewhere between slim and nonexistent. Of course if my house burns down, I'm sill in trouble....so again, a cost effective SAN wouldn't be a bad idea....if it's cost effective (ie: cheap and reliable).

It seems to me that a centralized data/backup system for homes will become some sort of norm in the future

They have been for years with those of us who work with PC's and understand the value of a good backup. I started backing important data up toi floppies....then CD's. Sadly, the average users take longer to educate and most learn the hard way by having a hard drive crash.

I have a simple solution. A batchfile on all my PC's that runs ntbackup, copies the backed up file to my main PC with the DVD burner (all backups go into one folder) and then to the other two PC's I backup to. Then it performs it's own backup. All automated and all run in the middle of the night when I'm sleeping. Then once a week, I burn the backup folder to DVD. I have 5 RW's and alternate use of them weekly. Since my important data doesn't change that much, I only do the backup to DVD once a week.

Curt R, if you look at the history of computing, there's a constant trend of high level technology getting lower and lower in price (with software companies simplifying the configuration) until the home market - or at least small office market - adopt it. The most overlooked example is the PC itself.

"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure." - BILL CLINTON

So how much cheaper will a piece of equipment that is worth 250k today be in a year, two years....five?

Do you really think high priced enterprise solutions will ever be affordable to the home user? I don't. And that was the point I was making.

An offsite SAN or NAS solution owned and maintained by a provider could become an affordable offsite backup for the home and small business user (as well as big businesses). But a home owner buying a SAN or NAS to backup a couple GB's of data.....well, if you have that kind of money to burn, all the power to you. I highly doubt the average home user will ever need that much storage (Terrabytes), much less afford it.

Technically speaking, my two PC's qualify as NAS devices. They're network attached devices and used solely for storing data. Sure you could scale a real NAS down and make it affordable for a small business or home user. But if your IT dept (or person) has a brain, they'll just coopt an older server that's being taken out of production for use as a network attached storage device. Anyhow, I'm not here to debate pricing, I'm just saying that the average home user doesn't need to spend a pile of money to have centralized backup and storage. All you need to know is how to do it with the tools you have at hand. Using an older PC, or two, as a backup device makes sense since most people these days have more than one PC and no idea what to do with the older outdated equipment. Here's an elegant solution that extends the life and use of an older, slower PC. It sure beats using it as a door stop or tossing it in the garbage dump.