Server or Desktop

[Tony Williams]

For various reasons I want to use a desktop machine as a server and leave it
permanently switched on. Is there a problem with this? Is there any
difference between a server and a desktop machine? As you can see I'm not a
hardware expert so hence the rather naive question.
Many thanks
Tony

 

[philo]

For various reasons I want to use a desktop machine as a server and leave it
permanently switched on. Is there a problem with this? Is there any
difference between a server and a desktop machine? As you can see I'm not a
hardware expert so hence the rather naive question.
Many thanks
Tony

\

a GOOD quality desktop will work fine as a server for non-enterprise use

 

[Tony Williams]

Thanks philo. Presumably by "GOOD quality" you mean high spec?
Tony

 

[Yves Leclerc]

NO! Reliable is what you should be looking for. High specs might be over
kill since most high specs PCs are geared towards gamers. If you would not be
using the "server" for games, then:

load up on drive sizes (maybe two drives better than 1)

Regular video card should be good. A $600.00 video card is for gaming.

1 GB to 2 GB of RAM should be great for the server PC.

 

[LVTravel]

I agree with Yves.

What truly makes a server is the operating system, not the hardware (except
in larger networks.) My home "server" is simply an older tower (1.8 mHz P4
with 1 GB RAM, 100 mbs NIC) that has 4 hard drives installed (3 250 GB and 1
300 GB) with a beefed up power supply (450 watt) and fans running XP Pro
SP2. The only reason I am using Pro on this box is that it allows 5 more
concurrent "connections" (10) to it than XP Home (5). Since I use two other
desktops and 3 laptops, along with NAS device, printers, scanner, etc. it is
necessary. If you have much more than I am running, you will probably need
dedicated server OS software like Windows 2000 Server or Windows 2003
server. These will allow greater security to the network, easier
management, etc. I am using my broadband router to assign IP addresses so I
don't have to worry about conflicting IP addresses that way if I add another
device. The only static IP addresses I have are for the two laser printers
attached as network devices and they are at the top of my IP address range.
This system has only been shut down twice in 2 years. Once to blow out the
dust and once to replace a hard drive that failed (unfortunately it was the
system drive, fortunately I had good backups.)

 

[philo]

I agree with Yves.

That's right

reliable!

A good (and possibly oversized) power supply

and plenty of cooling etc

 

[Kerry Brown]

It all depends on what you are using the server for. If several people will
be sitting around twiddling their thumbs because the server is down then you
need server quality parts. Parts designed for servers are designed for 24/7
use. There is usually redundancy built in to server parts. Parts designed
for servers are also optimised for servers. The I/O and memory are all
important on a server. There's a lot of overlap and you can often use
desktop parts successfully. My home office server and my test server are
recycled desktop parts. In a business situation I wouldn't think of using
desktop parts. I have been called in too many times to fix a situation where
a desktop was used for a server and ended up costing the business far more
in lost productivity than the price of a server.

 

[Malke]

It all depends on what you are using the server for. If several people
will be sitting around twiddling their thumbs because the server is
down then you need server quality parts. Parts designed for servers
are designed for 24/7 use. There is usually redundancy built in to
server parts. Parts designed for servers are also optimised for
servers. The I/O and memory are all important on a server. There's a
lot of overlap and you can often use desktop parts successfully. My
home office server and my test server are recycled desktop parts. In a
business situation I wouldn't think of using desktop parts. I have
been called in too many times to fix a situation where a desktop was
used for a server and ended up costing the business far more in lost
productivity than the price of a server.

I'm completely with Kerry on this. I would never use a desktop machine
for a server in a business. If this is your home network and you're
just noodling around, fine.

You can get a good entry-level server from Dell for around $600, so why
mess around?

Different quality hardware is used for servers because real servers are
used differently than desktop machines.

Malke