[vox-tech] home server choice

[Tony Cratz]

Scott Miller wrote:
> Well any computer will work for a home server. From a random old
> pentium laptop, some old donated pentium III machine, or a big
> expensive $$$$ honkin' box.
> 
> That particular Dell is ok, but consider it is not quiet nor low
> powered. Also it will require (noisy) SCSI drives ($$$$).
> 
> Redhat is great, but unless you need to pay Redhat for a support
> contract there are other good free options. (Ubuntu!)
> 
> FWIW my home "server" is a $149 MSI Wind Atom-based box,


	Before we can really answer your question of what you need
	for a home server we really need the following answered:

	What do YOU mean by 'home server'? Do you mean you will be
	providing services to the outside world such as web pages,
	E-mail, SSH, DNS, FTP and or VoIP?

	Or do you mean you want it to be a web proxy, WiFi, file server
	or media server in the house?

	The reason why I ask is they are two different type services.
	They can be on the same box but they are really two type of
	servers. Also with one which provide services to the outside
	world you may need a different router then a standard home
	router and maybe static IP(s).

	Scott brings up a very good point about SCSI drives ($$$$).
	But let me also add something else to think about. Now days
	if you are going to be providing a lot of disc space it is
	getting harder to find cheap IDE drives. Most drives now are
	SATA. Which brings up the question of how much disc space
	do you plan to have on your server? Which then may mean
	you need to look at a box which will support a number of
	hard drives or look at a NAS (Network address storage) box.

	We can throw out a number of ideas but until we really know
	what you mean by a 'home server' we never really will be able
	to answer your question.



							Tony