Which server comes first?

[tobywan]

Hello Team! I have two questions, both relative to a home server & networking project I am beginning.

1. First, I have a full tower case, within which I plan to house the following servers.

• Gateway
• Domain
• Web
• File
• Print

Which one(s) do I want to install first, versus which one(s) is/are best to run as virtual server(s)?

2. Second issue is hardware-related. If I am going to have one box doing all the work of all the servers listed above, just how much horsepower do I need:

• What's the minimum HW specs I can get away with?
• What would be a recommendedation for "comfort level" specs?
• What would "ideal" specs look like?

The HW currently in this tower:

• AMD 4800+ AM2 x64 Proc
• 2 GB RAM
• Assorted SATA & IDE HDDs

Please keep in mind that this is for a home network, with an absolute maximum of 10 consecutive users. However, at least 90% of the time will see only 1 to 3 concurrent users.

In any case, the greatest majority of work will be Internet accessibility. Only two users will be creating 75% or more of the File Server load, and the Web Server may eventually host a family website, but for now is mostly for me to practice on.

One final caveat... I am maybe 5 degrees right of total newbie. I decided to post this in Servers, rather than Newbies, because I doubt most newbies would be crazy enough to attempt Servers and Virtualization as their first Linux project.

I am experienced enough though, that I could probably resolve most of my own issues with basic desktop projects.

(We'll test that theory after the server is up and running. I plan to build 3 workstations, and have roaming profiles to allow 5 daily Users to move freely between a variety of workstations: 3 Linux, 1 Mac OS X, 1 Win Vista, 1 Win XP, and 2 laptops, both with Win XP.)

Any and all comments, suggestions, answers, really good answers, nose-thumbing, and/or Bronx cheers will be welcome and greatly appreciated.



Win or lose, but at least play!
(Wow! Great quote! Wonder if I can claim it?)

[Freston]

Hello tobywan,

You have two NIC's in that tower? You'll need it.

The first thing you should do, is create the gateway. The gateway can only run on iron, not virtualized. Well, that is only half the truth, but it's better that way
It doesn't need much CPU power though, not even under heavy traffic.

I run my own webserver virtualized, and I can recommend it. In case of a compromise, it's very easy to restore. I've yet to see it happen, so this is theoretical only. In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.

File and print servers, I'd run them on iron. They are the easiest to set up. Google Samba, and you'll be fine. I don't see anything in your setup that will put loads of strain on your server. It should do very well. I do more or less the same (no need for print server, got a network printer ) on 1.4Ghz, 1GB RAM. And it's not sweating.

I have no idea how you'd do a domain server. I know how to do it in Windows, with AD. And AD is basically LDAP + Microsoft extensions. Google openLDAP, that should get you started on that.

Win or lose, but at least play!
(Wow! Great quote! Wonder if I can claim it?)

No, you can't. It doesn't work like that. I've found quotes are attributed to you, you can't claim them. Sorry. Your best bet is to become famous in some sort of endeavor and then repeat this quote at a press conference. It might make the headlines, that should get you started on that. Or note it down in your memoirs and hope people pick up on it.

By the way, in Dutch we say something to the extend of 'if you don't take the shot then you'll always miss' so there's prior art as well. Sorry


Well, best of luck!

[scathefire]

i think he means DNS not active directory. But I could be wrong...

Freston has you on the right track though.