Spare Server?

BigBoi

Beta member
Messages
3
Location
UK
Hi all,

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself, i am 15 and 3/4 way through GCSE's. I have a very keen interest in computers; i have built my own and run a few servers.

Ill cut to the chase i have a spare server kicking about, not a powerhouse of anything i think it has 2.8GHz and 1gb ram. i really don't want to look at it anymore doing nothing so i am open to suggestions?

One last thing because of rising energy prices i do not want to just run it for the sake of it (keep parents happy ;))
just to mention i already have a pfsense firewall running aswell as a DC/Exchange/File sharer.

I look forward to your suggestions!

BigBoi (Cameron)
 
I don't understand the question, you want us to tell you what to do with your server?
 
No, I would like something creative to do with it to improve my skills and knowledge on the subject.

So I was wondering what you clever people can think of?
 
depends on your area of interest.

maybe you could setup a web server and host your own site from home?
maybe you could run some VM software on it and build a little farm of servers all working together so that you can learn about a technology, (perhaps to go do vendor certifications).
 
I like the idea of setting up a farm how would I go about doing it and what advantages are there doing it that way against setting it up as a single server?
 
well.. using VM Ware gives you the advantage that you can create a snapshot before changing anything, this means if you mess up you can just revert to the snapshot.

you say you;re running a domain and email server and file server.
visualising an OS means that you can split these services out onto separate servers.

clearly in a business scenario you want to keep your external facing servers (ilke email and web) seperate from your internal services (file servers and domain controllers) virtualising allows you to logically segregate these as if they were running on different hardware, without actually needing to go buy loads of different boxes...

but really. for home use, virtualisation is good as it will allow you to quickly build/manage and familiarise yourself with software, allowing you (for example) to get to grips with windows server 2012, on virtual machines, or the latest exchange server or sharepoint server etc, without having to invest a ton in hardware, and the experience will give you a professional advantage.
 
VPS's are used a lot in web hosting. You're on one physical server but the system is divided off in to multiple logical servers for hosting web sites. It would be good to know how to set them up and how to trouble shoot when something goes wrong.
 
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