Server OS

I guess you are a student? Even if you aren't you can easily find a student. So just register for Microsoft Dreamspark and get genuine version of any of the five available Microsoft servers for free (yes including server 2008 R2).
 
@drsingh, I've stayed away from Linux for a bit now as I do want to give Windoze a shot just so I don't have to junk all my data.

@arjun: I was a student. Twenty years ago :) I'm on the wrong side of forty and I would have had a child old enough to be a student, was I married. The reason for trying to scrounge was the idea of scrounging. I don't want to put money behind a fun project.

Anyway the update is as follows, for those who are still reading.

I swagged a spare copy of 7. Using Ult as it was on hand, but I see now most any version (HP onwards) will do just fine. Enable ICS on the 'server', and install TeamViewer (internet-based, probably unsafe) or UltraVNC (LAN-based, rock-solid, but a little old-school). So now I'll be looking for a cheap copy of 7, a desktop OS is easier to use in this sort of a situation I guess. Have to still figure out if the wireless can be used to broadcast the 'net connection, that is tomorrow. Rather, today.
 
cranky said:
The basic issue as far as I can tell is that the OS needs to be aware that it is serving a dual purpose, so it needs to know what to share and with whom. This is proving to be a little more difficult than it sounds and I'm not certain of the correct starting point. I know this is possible with a standard OS like Win7 and using network bridges and folder sharing.
Click to expand...

Could this be the answer to the above?

How to Share and Set Permissions for Folders and Files Using Windows XP

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Oh, saw that you would be using Windows 7....

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for Windows 7......Set Permissions for Shared Folders

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

Also some info on the routing, without using any extra software, Introduction to Windows 7 Virtual WiFi or How to Turn Your Computer into a WiFi HotSpot :: Third Tier
 
cranky said:
@drsingh, I've stayed away from Linux for a bit now as I do want to give Windoze a shot just so I don't have to junk all my data.

@arjun: I was a student. Twenty years ago :) I'm on the wrong side of forty and I would have had a child old enough to be a student, was I married. The reason for trying to scrounge was the idea of scrounging. I don't want to put money behind a fun project.

Anyway the update is as follows, for those who are still reading.

I swagged a spare copy of 7. Using Ult as it was on hand, but I see now most any version (HP onwards) will do just fine. Enable ICS on the 'server', and install TeamViewer (internet-based, probably unsafe) or UltraVNC (LAN-based, rock-solid, but a little old-school). So now I'll be looking for a cheap copy of 7, a desktop OS is easier to use in this sort of a situation I guess. Have to still figure out if the wireless can be used to broadcast the 'net connection, that is tomorrow. Rather, today.
Click to expand...

Why don't you just try plain old RDP (mstsc.exe). Rock-solid, LAN based and safe :hap2:.
 
7 does not need much tinkering to get file sharing working, managed to do that.

Am now trying to get a virtual router going but it doesn't seem to be working. Have tried the 7 utility (which does not allow connections) and the Virtual Router software (which doesn't even start correctly). this is in spite of my adapter being 100% compatible with the hotspot feature in 7.

Going to give it another whirl in the afternoon, with the 'server' in its final physical location. Have used Ultra VNC to get control over the PC remotely, and that seems to be doing fine even after reboots of both client and server. Had to work a way around RDP and Teamviewer also works, though I don't like the fact that the data goes through the internet.

Edit: boogeyman, RDP is not working so well in my case actually. am unable to log in either side even after (I think) I have set permissions correctly. The trouble is that I need control over the server so have had to use a blank password on it ATM, so it doesn't hang around at the login screen forever. And RDP does not correctly work with blank passwords.
 
cranky said:
Anyway the update is as follows, for those who are still reading.

I swagged a spare copy of 7. Using Ult as it was on hand, but I see now most any version (HP onwards) will do just fine. Enable ICS on the 'server', and install TeamViewer (internet-based, probably unsafe) or UltraVNC (LAN-based, rock-solid, but a little old-school). So now I'll be looking for a cheap copy of 7, a desktop OS is easier to use in this sort of a situation I guess. Have to still figure out if the wireless can be used to broadcast the 'net connection, that is tomorrow. Rather, today.
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Thanks for the summary.
A Ques: Does remote app & desktop connection not work in windows 7?
as far as possible i would stay away from 3rd party tools if there are already built in tools available.

Edit: sorry read your post above too late. :ashamed:
 
cranky said:
Am now trying to get a virtual router going but it doesn't seem to be working. Have tried the 7 utility (which does not allow connections) and the Virtual Router software (which doesn't even start correctly). this is in spite of my adapter being 100% compatible with the hotspot feature in 7.
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In your network adapters list, is there a Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter adapter? If yes and still virtual router does not start, use these commands to start the hotspot. here hostednetwork is the name of the connection associated with that adapter.

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=YOURFRIENDLYSSID key=SOMEPASSWORD

netsh wlan start hostednetwork
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Also, as far as possible, stay away from connectify! It ensured that i could not use my pppoe dialup, it installed some extra unwanted drivers....

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

Oh, and you need to enable ICS, and share the net connection with the adapter with the "hostednetwork" name! That's all to it!
 
Thanks, I got the virtual router working - it took a little poking around to discover that fixed IP will not work and I have to let the software assign by DHCP. In the older setup with the router I could manually assign IPs to each device.

Actually the server is fully functional now. Using ICS and the virtual router software I can get the server to start blind. Remember this is a headless server. I need a functioning connection and hosted network before I can access it at all. So commandline doesn't work, not unless I make a batch file and use it on startup. This way it works for me without having to physically touch the server.

All I need to do is plug in my data drives and set up the sharing folders. The few that I initially set up are working fine, so it's now just a question of adding a few disks.

Actually what I'm struggling with now is network speeds. I'm struggling to break 65mbps when I'm literally across the room from the server, and the machines that are very far away are just about reaching 40mbps (with the Asus N-13U in repeater mode and properly configured). Neither is sufficient for normal streaming, let alone HD streaming. This is the second phase of the challenge.
 
Channel width in the router?

Anyway I'm backing off from the server for a bit now, seeing as it is up and running (kind of).

I'm now changing my main rig over to a 2xAgility 3 RAID setup, and moving a lot of disks around. Once done, I will start the file sharing and focus on the server again.
 
Yes Channel Width in router, previously my laptop was connecting to router at 150mbps but after that it connects at 300mbps
 
Hmm I'm not using a router.

The way my chain is currently and always was planned to be is as follows:

Internet over LAN cable -> Server.

Server's wireless card broadcasts to rest of clients as a (virtual) router. The 'router' I own has been repurposed into a repeater (a simple switch at the bottom and five minutes of reconfiguration) for black holes in the house. This seems to work fine though some clients do get the signal from the repeater well before the signal from the (virtual) router, causing a few connection issues on startup. Oh well.

I'm sure there will be setting to change from 20 to 40MHz in the PCI card's drivers. Not sure if the driver will expose that setting. Will check in the morning when I attack the system again.

Finally decided to plump for a copy of 7 Pro for my desktop and recirculate my Ult install to the server.

I got my main control client running with a RAID0 setup of two SATA3 SSDs. Seems a little underwhelming, really. It's quick, but I was expecting more out of a 15k expense on a 120GB drive :P The drive seek sound has gone, and that's a great thing. Also Windows boots up real quick so I get server control early in the game. Will try and install the AMD RAID XPert software tomorrow for some hunting.

And btw the blank passwords don't work at all for desktop sharing. The only way I'm able to get things going is by sharing folders in the homegroup. It's not super-secure, but I'm hoping the next recruits to Anonymous are not very close to where I live.
 
cranky said:
I'm sure there will be setting to change from 20 to 40MHz in the PCI card's drivers. Not sure if the driver will expose that setting. Will check in the morning when I attack the system again.
Click to expand...

Check in your device manager. At least, there is no such setting in my lappie!

cranky said:
Finally decided to plump for a copy of 7 Pro for my desktop and recirculate my Ult install to the server.
Click to expand...

Would rather say that you use a trial version, and afterwards spring for a full version. Usually problems are found after a few days, when you tinker with the settings and dont get expected results! Then you might switch OS!

cranky said:
I got my main control client running with a RAID0 setup of two SATA3 SSDs. Seems a little underwhelming, really. It's quick, but I was expecting more out of a 15k expense on a 120GB drive :P The drive seek sound has gone, and that's a great thing. Also Windows boots up real quick so I get server control early in the game.
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LOL. But then, its your choice! Also please post your WEI scores!

cranky said:
It's not super-secure, but I'm hoping the next recruits to Anonymous are not very close to where I live.
Click to expand...

LOL
 
Final post in this thread for a bit as I go to a very busy work week.

Server up and running for a fair while and everything I need it to do seems to be working reasonably well. And yeah, there is no 40MHz channel setting for the card.

Few issues and possible solutions:

i. Need to add more drives.

Have ordered SATA - IDE converter from DX. This will help turn my single IDE port into two SATA slots, which means I can add more of my spare drives and not depend on a 7-year old drive.

ii. Network strength very low outside the server room

Again, DX to the rescue with 2x15dBi stand-mounted antennas. Hopefully these will eliminate the network bottleneck. The machine in the same room is able to stream HD Video fine (1080p) but everything going through the repeater is stalling and having their connections dropped under load. Also ordered a PCIe card with SMA connectors to help strengthen the connection at a weak client.

iii. Virtual Router long-term performance and stability unknown ATM

This is my biggest concern. The hardware performance is good and can be boosted well beyond routers with inbuilt antennae. But not so sure of vrouter, it may somewhere be a bottleneck and performance with a repeater is flaky at best and unpredictable at worst, because neither has a visual diagnostic. Watch this space.

Finally, the list of hardware, software and functionality, in case it helps anybody.

Server:

Gigabyte D510UD+2 x 1GB DDR2 memory

Final NAS drive list:

500GB SATA Master drive (pending, currently 300GB IDE)

WD Green 2TB x 2

WD Green 1.5TB x 2

WD Green 1TB x 1 (pending)

Networking:

Onboard LAN

TP-Link 300mbps PCI wireless adapter (Atheros drivers)

Asus RT-N13U used as repeater, stock Asus firmware.

Other bits:

CM Elite 360

Corsair VX450

4x120mm fans

Headless but needs connected keyboard for BIOS. Reset button works really well to force a non-responding server to reboot.

Software:

Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

Ultra VNC for headless administration

ICS + Virtual Router for wireless sharing

uTorrent (obviously)

Thanks for all the help! The biggest advantage as I see it is when Bulldozer comes along I can choose between it and SB and a 6970 or two, and finally pare my two desktops (browsing and gmaing) down to just one. That helps temendously from an energy savings point of view as well as simplicty, don;t like having to switch the monitor constantly between inputs.
 
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