Help setting up a server?

[winslow33]

In about 2 hours I'm going to be the owner of a real server. It's one that used to be used for an entire high school (bought it used) . I've never even touched an actual server before, closest thing I did was use an old Win98 set up with file sharing to store crap on.

But I have no f-ing clue how to use it

How the heck do I set it up to connect and manage it from my laptop? Its got no kind of ports to speak of other than an Ethernet port and a strange looking serial-type port. I think it *might* still have all the files and everything on it, I have to wipe it out. I know i could try to connect to it through a crossover cable. but don't i need to know its IP adress for it?

 

[Legodude522]

What type of server is it? What is the operating system? Do you know how it is currently configured?

If you don't have any OS on it now, CentOS might be a good option.

 

[winslow33]

Nope, no clue about any of that. I'll let you know when I pick it up, in about another hour now.

Not sure what kind it is. All it says is NOR-STAR and on the other side Northern Telecom. no model numbers or anything. but the ethernet socket is a little smaller than a normal ethernet cable... :S

 

[Legodude522]

Post some pictures of that. Maybe some nudies too. And wouldn't a small ethernet socket be a telephone jack? lol

 

[winslow33]

no its bigger then a telephone jack, it IS an ethernet port, just strangely smaller. tommorow i may go back and try to get the cables. I'll get pics in a few minutes and post 'em

edit: got those pictures. sorry for the poor quality lol

 

[Legodude522]

How old is that thing? Is the hard drive IDE or SCSI? And what type of memory is in there?

 

[winslow33]

not too sure but in guessing from the mid '90's...
its SCSI
as for memory I cant quite see, and the darn piece is in a weird place that wont come out...

 

[Legodude522]

I gotta be honest with you, it's probably not worth to even bother with it. You might as well get a cheap Sempron CPU and motherboard with gigabit ethernet and some reliable SATA hard drives. I built a server out of a simple Mini-ITX board and micro-atx PSU and sata hard drive mounted to the wall in my basement and that would probably beat the thing you got there. It might be fun to play with but I don't think you are going to get anything out it. Sorry.

 

[winslow33]

Yeah, the hard drive is only 170MB, according to the sticker on it. I got it for free from a friend, so I figured I'd play with it just for laughs.
Thanks.

 

[berry120]

It might be fun to play with but I don't think you are going to get anything out it. Sorry.

Agreed. By all means play with it, look at it - but using it as an active server these days is probably a bit pointless. If it was used in the mid-90's it's been retired for a good reason, and the components may well have had a hard life!

I think you're getting overexcited by the whole idea of owning a "real" server. A server can be anything from a multi million pound cluster to my sub-£200 machine I'm running things on at the moment. Yes, you can by specific machines designed for the job - but all this generally means is they come with a server OS, have lots of fans, perhaps a couple of power supplies for reliability purposes, lots of memory, perhaps multiple CPUs, and probably the absolute bare minimum in terms of a graphics card. They're just machines designed for server duties - you could theoretically buy one and just use it for word processing and browsing the net, but you'd be wasting a lot of cash!

At the rate things move on though, building a "normal" system these days and using it as a server will more than likely outperform the 90's beast you have there. It'll also cost you far less to run since it'll almost certainly draw a lot less power! It might have been great in its day, but things move fast...