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Inexpensive Web Server?


Man In Tan

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NetGear Stora $180 USDOkay, my current web server is just a ten year old iMac. For obvious reasons, it can't take the stress, but I don't have a lot of money. Web servers seem to be expensive, I think I may have found a cheaper one that will work, a NetGear Stora (about $180 USD), but all of the software details they are they are trying to use as selling points (except the optional mirroring back-up hard drive) greatly displease me.They say it integrates with FaceBook, and is great for media and such. I'm after an Apache web server, to use for my PHP-based sites. I'm new at this, so this will be my first "real" web server. Can this sort of device be overwritten with something like Linux, and used as a web sever?Seagate GoFlex $130 USDA cheaper option I found is this Seagate GoFlex (about $130 USD). However, it seems to be used for system back-ups, and requires that you use one of several browsers that I don't have installed on my machine. So, same question: Can it be overwritten with Linux and be used as a web server? Does anyone have any suggestions?
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Half the universe runs apache on top of linux because its FREE and there's a huge community out there to lend support. The other things you're looking at are really just net-enabled hard drives. Not the same as a webserver, not by far.

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Like Dad said, those aren't web servers, those are network file servers. Really all they do is store files with optional software to support things like media playback or backup. For example, those do not have a decent CPU or RAM. They have a little bit of Flash memory to store the OS, and maybe a small embedded processor to run everything, but nowhere near the power you would need to use it as a web server. With a web server, your bottlenecks are typically going to be hard drive read/write speed, then memory, then CPU power. Hard drive speed is very important, so you'll typically see high-end web servers which have 6 or 8 hard drives running in parallel to maximize read/write throughput. A server that is capable of supporting database applications for tens or hundreds of thousands of users will cost around the $4,000 - $5,000 range, like the Dell R710. Those servers will have multiple Xeon CPUs, 8 to 32GB of RAM, and 4 to 8 hard drives. A single Xeon CPU for those servers can cost upwards of $2000.Anyway, this is why a lot of people choose to rent servers for a lower monthly cost instead of buying them outright.

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Alright thanks Deirdre's Dad and JustSomeGuy. That's kinda what I feared.$4 000 - $5 000? The Mac Mini Server is only $1 000 ($1 200, if I get the double RAM), but I don't know for sure if it's as good as it looks. It's only got two hard drives, but if I could get them to mirror each other, it might be enough. The exact specifications listed were: "2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB, Dual 500GB Serial ATA Drives". It looks like it may have only one processor, but it says it can handle a small business. It looks like my dream computer, but I kinda need to keep my costs bellow $500.Renting is probably a smarter idea, but it's not really an option for me.

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Just so you can compare, here are the prices if you bought the components yourself and assembled a machine with roughly the same hardware:CPU/Motherboard:MSI G41M-P33 + E6700 CB MBoard Combo w MSI G41M-P33 & Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 (2 x 3.2GHz) Dual. $139.95RAM:Kingston KVR1066D3N7 2G DDR3-1066 2GB CL7 Memory.2 x $22.08Hard Drives:Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB Serial-ATA / SATA II Hard Drive 7200RPM. 2 x $36.99 Case/Power:Chiefmax FC-SH09A Tribal Shinobi Black and Silver 11bay Gaming MidTow. $76.98 Optical:Serial ATA Lite-On 24X DVDRW CDRW Combo Burner IHAS124-04 w 24X DVD+ -. $24.29So the total for hardware alone is $359.36, plus shipping. That doesn't include a monitor or things like a keyboard and mouse. Note the RAM is only $44, so you can double that yourself for a lot less than $200. The software would also be extra, and you would have to build the computer yourself. It may be an option for you though.

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Thanks! I think that's what I'll try to do. Building one should be a good learning experience.The software shouldn't be a big problem, I've been looking for an excuse to try free Linux anyway. Apache and PHP are free too, and they are the only things my sites use right now. If we need databases in the future, MySQL is also free.

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Are you running this thing at home? How fast is your internet connection? If it's not at least a T1, there is not much point in optimizing your server for speed. Might as well pick up a used intel box and start from scratch.One of the reasons people lease space from a host is to get serious throughput. At less than $10/month, you can get a pretty fast and flexible system, and if it ever crashes, you don't have to fix it. Even $5.95/mo gets you a lot these days.

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Yes, I'm running this from home.I don't rightly know how fast my connection is. I'll have to call and ask my ISP on Monday.I realize using a host would eliminate maintenance on my end, and might get me more bang for my buck, but it'd also defeat the purpose for me. I'd rather own a piece of the internet that rent one. Also, you have to worry about what PHP mods are installed and such, and my forum's BB codes won't parse correctly without the PHP extension Boen_Robot helped I install.

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Cool site, but my processor doesn't handle flash very well. That's just one more reason I need to upgrade.EDIT: To be more specific, flash no longer supports my powerpc processor.

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  • 1 month later...

Inexpensive web servers are now in demand (of course, if it is inexpensive, it must be reliable and worthy as well, can't sacrifice quality) but in my case, I am always reading web hosting reviews so that I know which host will give me my money's worth. :)

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