[Cew27]

hey im thinking about building a micro atx server for cod4 hosting, web hosting and network attached storage
i was thinking something along the lines of a micro atx, 4 gig of cheap 800mhz ram, dont know on processor and a 500 gig hdd
how much do you reckon it will cost ?
could i keep it at home?
could i send it to a server farm?
will i be resticted by my isp's bandwidth

[serverguy]

Blimey, that is a lot of variables you have put down. I will try to go through them..

Micro ATX is OK but is a bit expensive and is not very upgradeable. It is nice to have lots of spare ports and headers on a server for future expansion. Unless you want to build a really small form factor server then I suggest you just use a normal motherboard.

You can run a COD4 server, I don't think that it needs too high a specification for a few users online at a time.
The problem is with bandwidth. It depends on your upload speed which will be the limiting factor. For just a few users online it would be OK but after that you will get slowdowns etc.
You would also preferably need a static IP address for reliability in getting people to your server and many ISPs don't like you hosting a server off a residential line.

If you want to do the game server thing seriously then you would want to either rent a game server or co locate it in a data centre where they have T1 connections with big bandwidth. But these can run into serious money and if your server is co located you are responsible for all repairs etc and if you can't get there easily the engineers fees are very expensive.

Running a web server from home is possible, but again you are limited by your upload speed and whether you are permitted to run a server with the contract you have with your ISP. However, running a webserver from home for anything other than hobby or experimental use is unrecommended. You quickly loose visitors if they get a Server not Found message when your home DSL line craps out.

This is a page that runs off a server on my very slow connection http://swanmoor.homeserver.com/history (Which is currently not working for some reason now lol. I don't think the DNS is resolving.)

I suggest you build a reasonably basic PC with something like a P35, Core 2 Duo E2160, 2 GB branded memory, 2 hard disks (for RAID) and a decent power supply. There is no need for any graphics card etc. A CD Drive is handy to have but not strictly necessary.

Then I suggest you install Windows Home Server on it. I use a copy of this and have a lot of praise for it. It is basically a simplified copy of Server 2003 that is a lot simpler to configure and more suited to a home environment. It acts as a local file server, backup server that runs every night and makes a copy of each attached PC so you can restore it to any time you wish in seconds and a remote access server so you can get to all your files and computers any where you have internet access, as well as a load of other things.

There are some issues with data corruption at the moment which are affecting some users. But I have been using it since the first Beta and have been doing all the things they say not to do that can cause the data corruption and have never had any problems at all.

Anyway, there is PowerPack 1 due out soon that will fix these issues and add more functionality to it.

I think you could also get a game server running on it. I am sure there is an add in that lets you do this easily with minimal configuration but you will be limited by your upload speed.

I think that just about sums up everything you said in your post....

A couple of other things while I think about them...

For a server that you want to use as a NAS like device you definitely want it local or else you would be forever transferring stuff over the net which would take forever. You also don't know how secure your data is somewhere else.

Running a server brings in more hackers who will be trying to gain access to your server to either delete all your stuff or start streaming porn from it. (I have seen it happen)

For that reason you need to make sure all your PCs are up to date, especially the server itself. Windows Home Server manages itself quite well though.

You might also want to think about running something like a Smoothwall router firewall. It will run on any old redundant PC and is as powerful as the top dollar Cisco stuff. And it will be much faster than the generic router you probably have at the moment

I don't know how I would manage without my WHS now, I just find it so useful to be able to restore any PC to any date when I find I deleted a file accidentally months ago or be able to access all the documents and pictures on any PC in the house or over the internet. It is also great for letting extended family see holiday photos and streaming pictures to the PS3.

[Cew27]

ok well i would like a small one that could go in my room so i think micro atx is a go
would a htpc case be ok for a server|?
i would put linux on it because i like it and it is more secure than windows, not sure what distro yet but meh
also i have tallied it up to about 350 with a htpc case 2.2 ghz 65nm core 2 duo 2 gig of 800 mhz ram and onboard graphics along with a 500 gig hdd

[Cew27]

also im getting about 300 kbs upload and between 3 - 11 meg download

[serverguy]

For a server redundancy is key. You would be better trying to get some sort of RAID configuration going if at all possible. That way if one drive goes belly up you still have a copy.

Any sort of case is fine. The Cube like cases are nice for servers as they have some space in them. If it is going to be on in your room all the time then quietness is going to be important. Maybe think about a passive system with as few quiet fans as possible.

I will try and find a couple of good project logs on people who have built nice custom server enclosures.

A UPS is worth thinking about getting in the future as it saves a shutdown for a short power cut. It also means data loss is less invariable.

Linux is fine if you know what you are doing. Getting a LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL PHP) webserver set up is involved though, very steep learning curve. I am sure you will be OK though.

Don't think you can run a game server on Linux but could be wrong.

Those speeds are OK. The upload is the important one, the download means nothing server wise.

It would be fine for just personal stuff.

Some light reading

http://www.diywebserver.com/

http://www.dslwebserver.com/

[Cew27]

yeh you can host cod4 on linux ;)
also i want to build one just for the sake of building one
but i also need some nas and wouldnt mind a server on the network that i could control remotly using ubuntu

[serverguy]

You might want to snoop around eBay for a bit to save some money on components.

You won't need particularly powerful stuff.

Never new game servers ran on linux I thought Windoze had the monopoly.

[Cew27]

well i was looking around 350 for all my components

[Desertfish]

To be hones Cew27, if you got a static IP address as Serverguy recommended, you could remotely contro your server using [SIZE=-1]www.LogMeIn.com. Actually, you don't need a static Ip address to remotely cotrol your server, but the address will help for people on the internet to find server.

I also agree with Serverguy on the redundancy aspect. If you're not willing to get a second HD and set the system up to use RAID, them you might as well not bother. A server does need redundancy.

There is just the question of the UPS though. Yes a UPS might help you in preventing dataloss due to a powercut, but don't think that you'll still have internet access even though you're running a UPS. If the power in the area is down, that usually means that the green ugly BT street cainet on the corner is also without power, meaning no telehone lines to the exchange are working...