question on servers

[maniwis]

hi, i wanna know how hard is it to configure a server, making it from scratch, buying all the parts instead of buying a computer. i wanna use it to redirect bandwidth and assign users, also if possible i'd like to find someone to answer my questions because i've got a bunch of them. if this is not the place to ask, please point in the right direction. chat rooms, forums, anything that might help. thanks.

[Roxoff]

That's actually a huge question, the task isn't enormous but it depends really on how far you want to go with your server.

If you have experienced building desktop PCs, you should have no problem with the hardware as it's exactly the same. You can go for Intel Xeons or AMD Opterons if you want, but you can just as easily install your server on old hardware, mine runs on a dual PIII 1Ghz with 1GB memory, or on the current batch of Athlons and Intel Core 2's.

If you can install a Linux desktop edition you can install a server OS - they're very similar.

Configuring the services can be easy, but some are much more complex - it really depends what you're trying to do with your system. Having some experience can help you here, but don't worry it's never impossibly hard, and we're here if you need help.

If you have specific specific questions, then ask away - but please remember it's much better to have a go at something and ask us to help you overcome tricky hurdles than it is to get us explaining a task before you start.

Use Google, try things out, and throw your questions up here (or, even better, ask in our Servers forum), and don't be afraid.