Macbook as Server?

Starky

Starky

Starky

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Joined
18 May 2009
Posts
125
Location
Glasgow, UK
Hey folks,

Been wanting to build a server now for a while - not because I particularly need one, more because I want the experience of knowing how to do it and I think it would be a fun and interesting way to spend some time (working away from home for the next few months away from friends/family)

Anyway I'm saving up just now for a gaming PC and don't want to think about buying parts for a server just now. I know that you could probably get one quite cheap but still..

So anyway the way I was going to go around doing this was wiping my Macbook and running Open Solaris on it and setting up APACHE and whatever else is needed. The place I'm staying just now has electricity bills included so I'm not too worried about leaving the Macbook on 24/7 and if I could find a way to underclock the C2D processor then that would be another good learning experience. If it kills the Macbook... well it's over 3 years old now so it's had a good life!

So anyway what do you all think of this idea? Am I missing something obvious here?!
 
Why Solaris? :o

I'd go with CentOS or something if you're want the standard LAMP setup (maybe Samba too)?
 
tbh it's the only server OS that's been properly introduced to me, went to some Sun Microsystems talks about it in University and got handed a DVD with it (yer I know that it's free anyway :P), could be good to get some experience working in a UNIX environment?

I'm using Windows Server 2003 in my current job but not to much extent - will take a look at the ones you suggested too. Think it would be fine to do this on the old Macbook though?
 
I've always found Solaris very picky about hardware - watch out that drivers are available for your various bits and pieces (network being the main one!).
 
What do you actually want to do with it though?

A lot of people as on here ask about setting up a "server" at home when they dont even know what to do with it, building a server without any functionality is just as straight forward as installing an OS.

Sell the macbook, buy a NAS and if you want to play with other OSs use VMware/Virtualbox on your PC..
 
I was going to suggest running Solaris is a virtual machine, either on your Macbook or on your gaming rig. This seems like a better solution than leaving your macbook running 24/7, besides, it would ruin the battery. If your not getting that much use out of it, why not sell it? Macs tend to hold their resale value a lot longer than PCs do. You may still be able to get 50-60% of what you paid back for it!
 
Thanks for the advice guys - especilly about the driver issues - that could really be a problem so I'll check it out.

I'll consider selling the Macbook and getting something that's more fit for the purpose, but on the flip side I don't have another laptop and they are handy to have!

iaind - as I said it's not for anything that I need in particular, it's just to experiment with and learn about how these types of things work. Doing it for a learning experience rather than just on a whim. I'd probably start by just using it as a centralised data store that I can access over the web and see where my imagination and some reading material takes me from there.
 
Virtualisation is perfect for that sort of thing - using a macbook for it is going to be a waste of what is quite a valuable piece of kit
 
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