Looking for small home server specs
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Chris Trelawny-Ross wrote:
* I'm not interested in learning about setting up & maintaining a domain server, so "all things network" are not AFIK important.
Might be a bit hard to run TFS without that... Not sure if you CAN, never looked.
Chris Trelawny-Ross wrote:
Ideally it'll be very quiet
Stay away from a rack mount system then.
Chris Trelawny-Ross wrote:
I'd like it to be cheap (sub $1k; preferably closer to $500, but that's not critical)
If you want it to run DECENT then plan on spending closer to the 1000 mark. Trust me on that. TFS is a bit of a hog.
Chris Trelawny-Ross wrote:
Performance is not critical - I'll not be doing anything heavy duty with it
Yes you are, you are running TFS :) As far as what I was running this type of setup on, I spent the money and had a dual P4 with 4 GB RAM, 1TB HD, did backups to a DVD writer, and was running it with MS SBS as base so I also had Exchange, DC, etc.. on it all. I was OK with the setup. The SBS stuff made it a bit unstable after a while (I was never a big fan of SBS but the cost was right at the time).
Chris Trelawny-Ross wrote:
what non-Microsoft software have you added?
Minor utilities... IE: DVD Backup SW that was SBS compatible, Antivirus (Avast) ETC... Could have used more RAM, TFS ran very slow on it, but it got the job done at the time. Really though, check first to see if you can run TFS in a non-domain environment. I am not sure if you can just run it as a shared server. I think it needs domain 'stuff'.
Good catch about the domain server TFS requirement. Many thanks. Also, re the horsepower requirements of TFS.
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Chris Trelawny-Ross wrote:
* I'm not interested in learning about setting up & maintaining a domain server, so "all things network" are not AFIK important.
Might be a bit hard to run TFS without that... Not sure if you CAN, never looked.
Chris Trelawny-Ross wrote:
Ideally it'll be very quiet
Stay away from a rack mount system then.
Chris Trelawny-Ross wrote:
I'd like it to be cheap (sub $1k; preferably closer to $500, but that's not critical)
If you want it to run DECENT then plan on spending closer to the 1000 mark. Trust me on that. TFS is a bit of a hog.
Chris Trelawny-Ross wrote:
Performance is not critical - I'll not be doing anything heavy duty with it
Yes you are, you are running TFS :) As far as what I was running this type of setup on, I spent the money and had a dual P4 with 4 GB RAM, 1TB HD, did backups to a DVD writer, and was running it with MS SBS as base so I also had Exchange, DC, etc.. on it all. I was OK with the setup. The SBS stuff made it a bit unstable after a while (I was never a big fan of SBS but the cost was right at the time).
Chris Trelawny-Ross wrote:
what non-Microsoft software have you added?
Minor utilities... IE: DVD Backup SW that was SBS compatible, Antivirus (Avast) ETC... Could have used more RAM, TFS ran very slow on it, but it got the job done at the time. Really though, check first to see if you can run TFS in a non-domain environment. I am not sure if you can just run it as a shared server. I think it needs domain 'stuff'.
Did some research - apparently TFS does not require use of Active Directory for user authentication (see MSDN: Managing Team Foundation Server in a Workgroup[^] ... but I suspect it may be simpler. And, now that I think about it, it wouldn't hurt to learn a bit about setting up Active Directory and a domain controller.
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Did some research - apparently TFS does not require use of Active Directory for user authentication (see MSDN: Managing Team Foundation Server in a Workgroup[^] ... but I suspect it may be simpler. And, now that I think about it, it wouldn't hurt to learn a bit about setting up Active Directory and a domain controller.
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I'm considering setting up a small server at home - to run TFS and SqlServer. * I'm not interested in learning about setting up & maintaining a domain server, so "all things network" are not AFIK important. * I'll probably use it as a print & server. * Ideally it'll be very quiet * Ideally, it'll have an some easy way to make periodic backups (tape? CD? external HD? Suggestions?) * I'd like it to be cheap (sub $1k; preferably closer to $500, but that's not critical) * Performance is not critical - I'll not be doing anthing heavy duty with it For those of you who have something remotely resembling this: * what hardware are you running? * what non-Microsoft software have you added? * how satisfied are you with your setup? For those of you who have no hardware, but plentiful opinions, suggestions and ideas: * what would you recommend? Last but not least: * what haven't I asked / what do you think I should be thinking about .. that I'll regret if I don't consider it before spending $$? Thanks, Chris
Chris Trelawny-Ross wrote:
* Ideally, it'll have an some easy way to make periodic backups (tape? CD? external HD? Suggestions?)
An HD is the only reasonable option for consumer backup at this point. Optical disks are far too small and slow. Tape doesn't become reasonable costwise until you're doing at least a dozenish terabytes and even then you'll be puttering around with 400/800GB tapes so it's still got a large annoying factor.
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Ray Cassick wrote:
Can't remember the last lime I was NOT in domain mode around here at the house.
Meanwhile I shudder at the thought of having to pay several hundred dollars more per windows upgrade cycle just for pro level OS licenses. If Win8 allows joining a small domain at the Home Premium level I'll probably set one up, until then it's not worth the expense. Even then, unless I can get a free server 2012(?) license or they add domain controller to WHS I'll probably end up running LDAP on a *nix box. Server class OSes and tools are just too $*#@)$ expensive otherwise.
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Ray Cassick wrote:
Can't remember the last lime I was NOT in domain mode around here at the house.
Meanwhile I shudder at the thought of having to pay several hundred dollars more per windows upgrade cycle just for pro level OS licenses. If Win8 allows joining a small domain at the Home Premium level I'll probably set one up, until then it's not worth the expense. Even then, unless I can get a free server 2012(?) license or they add domain controller to WHS I'll probably end up running LDAP on a *nix box. Server class OSes and tools are just too $*#@)$ expensive otherwise.
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I'm considering setting up a small server at home - to run TFS and SqlServer. * I'm not interested in learning about setting up & maintaining a domain server, so "all things network" are not AFIK important. * I'll probably use it as a print & server. * Ideally it'll be very quiet * Ideally, it'll have an some easy way to make periodic backups (tape? CD? external HD? Suggestions?) * I'd like it to be cheap (sub $1k; preferably closer to $500, but that's not critical) * Performance is not critical - I'll not be doing anthing heavy duty with it For those of you who have something remotely resembling this: * what hardware are you running? * what non-Microsoft software have you added? * how satisfied are you with your setup? For those of you who have no hardware, but plentiful opinions, suggestions and ideas: * what would you recommend? Last but not least: * what haven't I asked / what do you think I should be thinking about .. that I'll regret if I don't consider it before spending $$? Thanks, Chris
Any Windows PC can act as a file and print server; there's no need to use a Server OS if you don't need the domain controller functions. SQL Server is a resource hog, though, so you'll want to spend your money on lots of RAM and disk storage. Both have become very cheap in recent years, and since performance isn't a major issue for you, you can save a little on the computing hardware and spend more on the storage. I do think $1000 is a better target for you than $500 - that only gets you a low level desktop. One item I find useful is the plentiful selection of large, cheap external disks available now. A few hundred bucks buy a lot of terabytes of storage these days, and those make nice backup devices.
Will Rogers never met me.
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MSDN isn't licensed for production use so running your home network on it isn't permitted. I'd assume that bizspark has similar restrictions that your cheap licenses are only for work use.
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Microsoft® BizSpark™ benefits to startups include: Software. Get immediate access to current full-featured Microsoft development tools, platform technologies, and production licenses of server products (including Windows Azure Platform) for use in developing and bringing to market innovative and interoperable solutions. Nope... Look into it... http://www.bizspark.com/Programs/Pages/BizSpark.aspx[^]
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Microsoft® BizSpark™ benefits to startups include: Software. Get immediate access to current full-featured Microsoft development tools, platform technologies, and production licenses of server products (including Windows Azure Platform) for use in developing and bringing to market innovative and interoperable solutions. Nope... Look into it... http://www.bizspark.com/Programs/Pages/BizSpark.aspx[^]
If your excerpt covers the uses fully, then it's only licensing the software for work related purposes. Unless otherwise specified, home network generally refers to all the computers you, your spouse, and kids use to surf the web and do homework on; not the computers you're using to run a startup/side project. If all the computers you've built using bizspark are for the latter use, my apologies.
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