Linux or Windows Server

[blando233]

Basically i would like to make a back up server either UBUNTU or Server 2003 or somthing..Any Ideas? and can someone help me set this up

[pym]

What do you want from your backup server? If you just need a target for backup scripts/programs that will run on other computers, then I suppose you could run any OS on your backup server.

If the only thing it will be doing is receiving backups, you might try something like FreeNAS. I haven't used it, but I understand that it's essentially a very stripped down OS that is specialized to operate as a file server. I think it comes with a web interface for configuration/maintenance.

What will you be using to do the backups?

[blando233]

what i would like is basically back up my stuff for my comp to another comp guess you could say..so if anything happened to this comp i would have like my documents ect on a server or somthing,

[pym]

Well, then I take it that you'll be using something like BackupNT to perform the backups? It doesn't matter much. There are a lot of ways you can perform backup.

But as for the server itself, it's really only going to be a target for a copy/sync operation. So it can run any OS. I suggested FreeNAS, since it's more lightweight and may perform a little better, besides taking up less space with system and program files that could be used for data.

Why don't you try it and see how it works?

Of course, you could always just use an external hard drive. Again, if you need is a destination for files, it could be almost anything.

[foothead]

Originally Posted by blando233

what i would like is basically back up my stuff for my comp to another comp guess you could say..so if anything happened to this comp i would have like my documents ect on a server or somthing,

Why not get a second hard drive and RAID1? You'd already need the hard drive for the server, so this just simplifies things.

[blando233]

See what i thought about doing was like you said pym that i was just going to get a big external hard drive and have everything be downloaded to that or just to back it up..what i really want to do with my extra comp is like get outlook up but dont know how to and all..i kno i need to put exchange up and all but yea

thats my project is how to get outlook up for my email so i can use outlook for email and learn exchange and outlook better

[Jesusfrk611]

What I have had in the past is Windows XP on a desktop put 2 secondary drives in RAID1, and then I had a file sharing/file backup server. I have since installed Server 2008 to do the same thing since I got it for free (MSDNAA), and then decided I didn't like typing in a password every time I wanted to access my shared drive, so now I have Vista Business on it (also free). For whatever reason my shared folders don't work right now, but when it works, it works well for me.

[sahabcse]

Install ubuntu and configure amanda backup server tools. It can used to take the backup in tape,cd and harddisk etc.

[Indigo]

You should install Exchange on a late model OS. Windows XP is so full of security holes it'll be a nightmare to start with.

If this was just a data backup question, I'd recommend Windows Home Server, but since you want to get into the other stuff, Server 2008 R2 if you can get it. If you're a student, check out DreamSpark. Otherwise, Server 2x anything will likely be out of your reach financially.