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Advice on Home server 2011
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Author:  sancmat [ Sat Apr 23, 2011 12:09 am ]
Post subject:  Advice on Home server 2011
Hi everyone. I'm looking for a little advice on my network. I am considering upgrading from home server 1 to home server 2k11. The problem is my home server box right now is a 2.4ghz P4 which does not even come close to meeting the minimum requirements. I don't have much money so please do not recomend new hardware. I want to save money for any OS licences I might need. I will consider VM software but I would prefer something inexpensive or free. Anyways here is my current set up.


1. Primary Media Center
Windows 7
2.4 ghz quad core
4 tv tuners
3.5 tb disk (I can take 2tb off this machine)
8gb ram
8800gt video card
Assume this box is a beast. my living room is driven off of this machine. Might be over kill but it's my baby.

2. Kids Tv
Windows 7
3 ghz p4
2.5 gb ram
decent video card.
used for playing h264 and divx plus flash sites (think disney and nick)
minimal disk

3. Second Tv
Windows 7
2.9 ghz athlon x64 dual core
2.5 gb ram
1 tb disk
good video card
used for playing h264 and divx plus flash sites (think disney and nick)
also used for playing videos recorded on machine #1.

4. Home Server (this machine is old and incompatable with most other hardware)
Windows Home Server
2.4 ghz pentium 4 32bit single core
2.5 gb ram
ide boot drive (worthless)
3.5 tb storage space (sata and can be moved to other machines.)
Not even sure if it has a video card. probably something on board.
File Server/Account Server/Web Server...It's a home server


So that's the basic setup today. Obvously machine 4 can't be my new home server.
Requirements.
I need 3 machines that can be logged into so that people can watch videos and play flash games on them.

Questions.
1. Which machine would you use for what purpose?
2. Can WHS2k11 be used to play videos? WHS1 didn't support much.
3. is WHS2k11 worth the hassle or should I stick with WHS1?
4. do you think with the help of a video card machine #4 could be used for videos/flash? It's a heep but it's still twice the power of my netbook (which plays videos just fine) and I might be able to find a decent video card that fits in it.
5. What am I not thinking of?
Author:  sancmat [ Sat Apr 23, 2011 8:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Advice on Home server 2011
I have also posted on wegotserved because the more I look at this site the more it looks like it's primarily not DIY users.
Author:  JohnM [ Sat Apr 23, 2011 12:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Advice on Home server 2011
sancmat wrote:
Requirements.
I need 3 machines that can be logged into so that people can watch videos and play flash games on them.

Questions.
1. Which machine would you use for what purpose?
2. Can WHS2k11 be used to play videos? WHS1 didn't support much.
3. is WHS2k11 worth the hassle or should I stick with WHS1?
4. do you think with the help of a video card machine #4 could be used for videos/flash? It's a heep but it's still twice the power of my netbook (which plays videos just fine) and I might be able to find a decent video card that fits in it.
5. What am I not thinking of?


Honestly,
leave it it as is with WHS v1.
1.
I don't think you would get enough performance out of machine #4 if you start swapping boxes around.

2.
by default 2008r2 has all the video acceleration turned off. I am sure you can turn it all back on, but i would not bother. A server should be a server....

3.
do you have a specific reason to upgrade or you just want to play with it?

4.
I'd save the money and use it for a server upgrade.

5.
beer?

I'd just keep your current setup as-is for now if it is working as you need it right now.

I know you said no hardware upgrades, but you look like your at that point. Bandaging old hardware to keep it running is not very cost effective in the long run in MOST cases. Plus the older P4's are power hogs. upgrading to a greener platform will pay for itself over time on a 24x7 machine.

I have no idea what machine #4 is, but you might look into reusing the case if it is not some OEM thing.
When you shop PC sales, you can get some good prices on say an I3, mobo and RAM. i have seen Intel I3 combo packages on E-tailers and microcenter for Sub-$200 price ranges and AMD Sempron 140 combos for less if you dont need lots of horse power.

If you could recycle the case (you might need a power supply also) you could get a server that can last for years to come. If the case is not reusable, you should still be able to build a complete low end, "Low Power" green server for around $250 (less hard drives).

If you want to bandage what you have, take a look at your mobo specs. you might be able to upgrade to a 64 bit used P4 or Pentium D if you have a 775 socket for under $25. there might have been some 64bit socket 478 P4's? i can't remember at this point. again check you mobo specs.

I recently upgraded some dell workstations with single core P4 and 512k of ram to dual core Pentium D's with 4 gig RAM each for about $25 per workstation off eBay. This extended the usefulness of an otherwise obsolete PC for minimum price. I did install whs2011 on one of them for testing with no issues at all. I'm not sure how that test build would hold up to 3 people streaming HD off it at once with the Sata150 it has on the mobo. It has since been converted back to a workstation.
Author:  EricE [ Mon Jul 04, 2011 9:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Advice on Home server 2011
If you just want file sharing and media sharing, and you don't need Windows for anything else, take a look at Amahi: http://www.amahi.org/faq#what-architect ... hi-support

It sounds like it will work well with your existing hardware.

I need Windows since I run some Windows home automation stuff and I prefer to use iTunes for my media streaming so I upgraded my EX490 to WHS 2011. So far I love it - it's much faster and more stable than WHS v1. Yeah, I'll have to do some sort of work around to get drive pooling back, but now I have three solutions (maybe four if I consider flexRAID) to pick from instead of the default Microsoft solution (DE) that threw nothing but errors for me on a continual basis. I sure as heck don't miss DE!
Author:  Sedaloga [ Thu Oct 01, 2015 4:10 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Advice on Home server 2011
Awesome is that I have really fine.
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