[Herefordshire] Newbie Question: File Server

[Ben Stephens]

Thanks Guys, that should help a fair bit.

<mark>But fileserving on the scale of 2 PCs doesn't require anything
special best to go simple and well supported.</mark>

How do I tell what's well supported?

Thanks, Ben

On 5/4/05, Mark Broadbent <markb at wetlettuce.com> wrote:
> Ben Stephens wrote:
> > I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice about setting up a
> > fairly basic fileserver for a network with about 2 windows pcs on it.
> > What hardware/software.
> 
> You could run it on a 486 but a Pentium (or equivalent) would be
> suitable.  Software wise, Linux obviously ;) with a copy of samba
> running so that the windows pc can interact with it through file shares.
> 
> > Would backing up to a USB hard disk be a good idea?
> 
> Backing up is always a good idea, where you do it is your preference.
> Hard drives are good short term backups but I'd personally backup to CD-Rs.
> 
> > I was thinking about maybe a dell value server (they've got a discount
> > on at the mo) or building something myself but i'm not really sure
> > what I need / what works best with linux.
> 
> Dells do work with Linux quite well so you should be fine there.  But
> fileserving on the scale of 2 PCs doesn't require anything special best
> to go simple and well supported.
> 
> > Or possibly something a little more exotic like a mac mini or a
> > mini-itx system but it would probably be best to steer clear of
> > something like that if it's likely to get complicated.
> 
> Mini-ITX is a good choice as these are just standard PCs, Mac mini - not
> sure, I've no experience with installing Linux on a Mac.
> 
> > I'm not really sure what a file server is supposed to do either,
> > except keep a backup, which we could maybe do with a usb hard disk
> > anyway.
> 
> Technically a file-server just provides storage space for networked
> users, backing up the file server is the same as your other PCs.
> 
> Thanks
> Mark
> 
>