Low power server

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groupstudy2001

Can anyone provide some pointers for me? I want to set up a server that
is on all the time and provides at least the following

1) DNS server
2) DHCP server
3) file server (especially for backups)
4) NTP server
5) FTP server
6) TFTP server

and uses little power as I will be using it very rarely!

I basically want it to always be available ready to respond when needed
- and to shut itself down as much as possible after a period of
inactivity. Things like the NTP server could be unavailable for long
periods and sync-up when the main system were running. On the other
hand DNS queries would require the server to wake up and get busy :-)

I don't want to have to explicitly start and stop it. Call me lazy if
you like. I guess a Linux or FreeBSD system that ran mostly in RAM,
spun down the disks, halted the CPU and peripherals when possible and
cached pending disk writes would be ideal!

Any ideas?
 
in response to your question... a low power server would probably be a
mini-itx form factor. and yes if you get a board with "wake-on LAN"
it woulds start up with and DNS or DHCP request... to keep a low power
server strain down you may want to invest in a router which will handle
dhcp and dns request for you... and user your server for file hosting
only. just a thought... most small linux distros... ( like Damn Small
linux) run on 128 megs of ram if you load into memory or boot off of
just 50 mb off the hard drive..
 
In message said:
Can anyone provide some pointers for me? I want to set up a server that
is on all the time and provides at least the following

1) DNS server
2) DHCP server
3) file server (especially for backups)
4) NTP server
5) FTP server
6) TFTP server

and uses little power as I will be using it very rarely!
Click to expand...

None of that necessarily requires a lot of horsepower. Have you
considered a second-hand laptop?
 
in response to your question... a low power server would probably be a
mini-itx form factor.
Click to expand...

VIA C3 and VIA Eden based systems are probably best.
and yes if you get a board with "wake-on LAN" it woulds start up with and
DNS or DHCP request...
Click to expand...

No, WOL is activated by a special "magic" packet format. I think the best
the OP can do with respect to power saving is spinning down hard drive(s).

Alex
 
Price out Mini-ITX...
o PSU - £ 20-50
o Case - £ 40-80
o Board - £ 70-140
o 2.5" HD - £ 50

Then price out a used laptop which adds keyboard, TFT & integral UPS.
Thinkpad 600 & similar would do very well as a more usable backup PC.

Only downside is the higher the laptop wattage, the more they will tend
to need the screen left open - heat is dissipated through the keyboard.
Laptops have been used as commercial web servers in the past, stuck
on the back of racks. Laptops have a higher repair cost tho.

Alternative strategy is to use a Sk370 board...
o Celeron 600Mhz to Tualatain 1.2Ghz -- still dissipates little
o i815 chipset for stability over VIA -- Asus or Intel board
o Simple M-ATX case -- cheap & available
o 2.5" HD -- small ones are cheap, but match to data importance
o Standard M-ATX PSU -- cheap & available

Mini-ITX comes at quite a high premium.
You can get Skt 370 boards in the mini-itx or EBC form factors,
www.bvm-store.com has a variety of examples on offer. You can
also go the way of Socket-A M-ATX with Mobile Athlon, they
can be clocked down to extremely low power dissipation levels.

Linux off a CF-to-IDE adapter is easy - but adds cost.
Although frankly since you cite a file server re backups, you could
use Linux & SAMBA, www.secondcopy.com on the client & so on.
 
Dorothy said:
Price out Mini-ITX...
o PSU - £ 20-50
o Case - £ 40-80
o Board - £ 70-140
o 2.5" HD - £ 50

Then price out a used laptop which adds keyboard, TFT & integral UPS.
Thinkpad 600 & similar would do very well as a more usable backup PC.

Only downside is the higher the laptop wattage, the more they will tend
to need the screen left open - heat is dissipated through the keyboard.
Laptops have been used as commercial web servers in the past, stuck
on the back of racks. Laptops have a higher repair cost tho.

Alternative strategy is to use a Sk370 board...
o Celeron 600Mhz to Tualatain 1.2Ghz -- still dissipates little
o i815 chipset for stability over VIA -- Asus or Intel board
o Simple M-ATX case -- cheap & available
o 2.5" HD -- small ones are cheap, but match to data importance
o Standard M-ATX PSU -- cheap & available

Mini-ITX comes at quite a high premium.
You can get Skt 370 boards in the mini-itx or EBC form factors,
www.bvm-store.com has a variety of examples on offer. You can
also go the way of Socket-A M-ATX with Mobile Athlon, they
can be clocked down to extremely low power dissipation levels.

Linux off a CF-to-IDE adapter is easy - but adds cost.
Although frankly since you cite a file server re backups, you could
use Linux & SAMBA, www.secondcopy.com on the client & so on.
Click to expand...

I like this as a backup method (i.e. mirroring part of the file system)
especially to a server. I currently use SyncBack free edition. It's
good but it is slowish to scan for differences.

I like the laptop idea - esp, as you point out, as it includes a UPS! I
gather laptop hard disks don't have a very long life expectancy,
though. Not sure if that is due to them being moved a lot while
spinning. I wonder if I could run the laptop with an external hard disk
- and whether the OS would spin the disk down on a period of
inactivity.

Thanks. I'll look in to this some more.
 
Laptop HDs do come in extended running versions...
o Most laptop HDs will happily handle 16/24 for several years
---- consider spinning them down is relatively simple
---- laptops do it all the time
o Hitachi do extended running hard drives
---- IIRC the code EK in the part number
---- they also do extended temp range - eg, +85oC operating

Considering a laptop can be set to spin down its HD,
I would not be concerned. However realise most laptops
dump heat through the keyboard - so would need to have
the lid cracked open. Nice integral TFT, keyboard & UPS :-)
 
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