well, i am thinking of making a server, as i have got enough stuff for 3 computers, here are the specs. Main computer: IN my computer, and siggy 2nd computer: pentium 4 3.0ghz, 20gb hdd, radeon 9600pro 3rd computer (what would be server) what would be a server: 1.2ghz celeron: (250gb hdd out of my main computer), 384mb sd ram. i was thinking about making the celeron 1.2ghz computer a server, so it would have the 250gb hdd (all main storage will be on here) so then 2 computers can share the 250gb hdd in the server, i was also thinking that it could be used as a small games server aswell, would this be a good idea using ther 1.2ghz celeron pc as a small server?
As a storage file server, that will be fine. Running a dedicated server would also be ok, since there's no graphics processing needed. But don't expect it to be a powerhouse server if you're running XP on 350mb~ RAM. If I were to use the server, I'd use linux with a light window manager (iceWM), have it as a file server with Samba and use the linux dedicated server binaries for the games.
yes i was planning on linux, i have bootable linux cd, one were you dont need to install, would that be ok to use?
Yeah, that machine should do well for most things. However, it may not have enough memory depending on the services you have it running, and you likely be able to host more than one game at a time.
No, not really. You should install Linux to your HDD. Just give it a small partition of your 250gb, say 12gb if you're going to have games on it, and mount the rest as /home. I recommend the Reiser filesystem, but if you're using RHEL or CentOS this may not be possible. In that case you'd be using Ext3. Drop a line in the Linux forum if you need help with that part of the operation.
Depends on the distro, but it's better to just get a proper install version of whatever distro you will be installing.
Well, I would probably advise either CentOS 4.2 (what my servers are running) or Mandriva 2006 (what my desktops are running). Either are relatively easy to setup, modern packages, easy to manage and maintain, and best of all free. In either case I wouldn't install a GUI at all, but run soley from the CLI. The reason for this is many-fold. On a system that needs every ounce of its resources and yet won't typically have somebody actually sitting in front of it (my servers don't even have monitors), it'd be a waste of those precious resources to run a GUI. Besides, remote administration on UNIX-like systems is typically done using the CLI anyway, so what's the difference between connecting to the server securely with SSH (use putty if you're connecting from Windows machines) or physically sitting in front of it? Finally, less services running means less potential security holes, especially on servers that will be exposed directly to the Internet. Taking a minimalistic approach to a server will increase its available resources, stability, and security.
Yea, i dont want a monitor on the server, as i want to save electricity. so how would i go about doing it withough a gui?, also how do i set it up with no monitor? also, which one of these do i need t donwload? CentOS 4.2 x86_64. <<<< That one??? CentOS 4.2 i386. CentOS 4.2 IA64. CentOS 4.2 s390 CentOS 4.2 s390x CentOS 4.2 for Alpha *EDIT: i cant find a centos full download, on there website, all the mirrors have all the files split, and i dont know what to download, i think i will just go for Mandriva 2006 .
Well, you obviously need a monitor for the initial setup. With either distro I recommended the installers are simple and powerful GUIs, which shouldn't present much difficulty to a smart guy like yourself. As for the distro, since you're going to be running it on a Celeron, get the CentOS 4.2 i386 version.
CentOS 4.2 i386 x86-64 would only be useful if you'll be running an Opteron/Athlon 64/Sempron 64 or Intel's EMT64'd Pentiums or Xeons.
You can download the CentOS 4.2 ISOs from here: ftp://ftp.sunsite.org.uk/sites/msync.centos.org/CentOS/4.2/isos/i386/ If you have a DVD burner there is a DVD ISO, otherwise it's a 4-CD set. There are also torrents on there.
Actually, it looks like they have a stripped down "server CD" now that will provide everything you will need to run a server. Much smaller than the DVD.
I installed mine from the DVD as well, I just had to do a custom install and remove almost everything during the initial install.
