Server Build

sideshow4069 · 19 Apr 2007 at 12:48

What is the minimum spec i can get away with to build a very simple server.

The main job will be to host files / Music / video's

I want to run Server 2003 on it mainly to get some experience of using it.

I have a few old bit of computers laying around at home that i can hopefully use.

Cheers

DJ XS · 19 Apr 2007 at 13:43

Hi there,

I would recommend the following for a File Server only spec 2003 machine.

An old P3 1ghz or above / Athlon XP
512 MB of RAM
Any old graphics card will be fine
Install IIRC is about 4gig so a nice 10gig C:\ Partition will do you fine.

Any other questions give us a shout

Slinwagh · 19 Apr 2007 at 13:46

I personally would look to run at least 1 gig of RAM as the bare minimum.As for the other suggestions you should be ok.

dun · 19 Apr 2007 at 16:44

A gig of ram for a file server matey? Don't think so personally.

You may aswell just try it if you have pc's just lying around.

K.C. Leblanc · 19 Apr 2007 at 17:21

If you're just going to be experimenting with it you might want to see how it performs using VM ware player (google VNX editor aswell to make the image files).

Trigger · 19 Apr 2007 at 17:35

DJ XS said:
Hi there,

I would recommend the following for a File Server only spec 2003 machine.

An old P3 1ghz or above / Athlon XP
512 MB of RAM
Any old graphics card will be fine
Install IIRC is about 4gig so a nice 10gig C:\ Partition will do you fine.

Any other questions give us a shout

From experience, I'm telling you now that you won't run Server 2003 very well on a P3- you need to be looking for maybe a second hand A64 or P4

Also, I would maybe reconsider your choice of server 2003 for the OS- it wil cost about £400 for the operating system and 5 CALs alone. Maybe linux?

Deanje · 19 Apr 2007 at 17:54

dun said:
A gig of ram for a file server matey? Don't think so personally.

You may aswell just try it if you have pc's just lying around.

I'd second that.

I've got a server running 2003 at home which I put together as a learning excercise; just like the OP wants.
This is a P4 2ghz with 256mb of RAM and 4 HDD's; it works fine for learning and, indeed, file + print sharing/active directory/DHCP/DNS on a small scale network such as mine (3 PC's).

Trigger · 19 Apr 2007 at 18:05

Deanje said:
I'd second that.

I've got a server running 2003 at home which I put together as a learning excercise; just like the OP wants.
This is a P4 2ghz with 256mb of RAM and 4 HDD's; it works fine for learning and, indeed, file + print sharing/active directory/DHCP/DNS on a small scale network such as mine (3 PC's).

I'd imagine that's rather slow doing normal windows tasks with 256MB RAM

I find it slow on one of our test boxes at work which has dual P3's and 768MB RAM. Linux is much better suited to these spec machines

Also, I don't understand why you are running AD on a 3 PC network :confused:

DoomWolf · 20 Apr 2007 at 09:29

I'm running a Server 2003 machine at home with the following spec:

Athlon 1700+
Asus A7V266-E mobo
1Gb Ram
2xHDDs
GeForce FX5200

It runs fine for file/print sharing with IIS, SQL Server 2000, MySql, Slimserver, True Image, AVG and WSUS all running (uses 650-700Mb normally).

Beware that most free anti-virus programs don't support server editions of Windows (I can't upgrade to the latest version of AVG for that reason).

I can recommend running WSUS if you have a few PCs on your network. it gives you control over your Windows/Microsoft updates and means you only ever have to download one copy of an update, saving time and bandwidth.

Avalon · 20 Apr 2007 at 09:54

256mb running on 2k is slow, on XP it's even slower, our 2k3 server has a gig and that's not exactly quick (it's only a 5 cal). If you are forking out a few hundred for a legit copy of 2k3 then £40 on a gig isn't going to hurt at all. Personally CPU wise 2k3 is like XP - quite forgiving performance wise as long as it has enough memory. I haven't run it on a P3 but I see no reason on a test setup that it wouldn't be OK as it's hardly going to be under heavy load.

Wyvern971 · 20 Apr 2007 at 10:28

Trigger said:
Linux is much better suited to these spec machines Also, I don't understand why you are running AD on a 3 PC network

I'd agree with the linux comment, I've got 5 linux boxes (running from a P3 500-1ghz)

I think he said that it's for learning purposes, even then I would advise getting a better box for this purpose as I really don't see this running too well on such old kit.

sideshow4069 · 20 Apr 2007 at 12:55

Cheers guys for all the input.

Currently skint at the moment, thats why i was hoping to buiild one from the bits i have left from olds systems. Looks like i will have to rethink.

As for Server 2003, i'm just starting to do the MCSE and have an evaluation copy, can't remember for how long.

Cheers

Wyvern971 · 20 Apr 2007 at 12:56

I had an eval copy a while ago I think it was 90 days

Deanje · 20 Apr 2007 at 14:27

Trigger said:
I'd imagine that's rather slow doing normal windows tasks with 256MB RAM I find it slow on one of our test boxes at work which has dual P3's and 768MB RAM. Linux is much better suited to these spec machines Also, I don't understand why you are running AD on a 3 PC network

It is quite slow, aye.

The server was made with learning in mind, which is why i've got AD on a 3 PC network; not for any real usage, but for some nice experience.

celliott · 28 Apr 2007 at 00:33

I have Windows 2003 Server Std running on a 450Mhz P3 with 512MB Ram. Its not slow at all, runs beautifully infact with DNS, Active Directory, IIS & MySQL on there. It's only used for a small family site & 4 workstations though.