A tribute to my under-appreciated home file servers @ The Tech Report

Geoff Gasior over at the Tech Report has posted a little something about is "under-appreciated home file servers".  I think this post started as a question on their weekly podcast about home servers and if anyone used them.  As a person who knows a little something about fileservers I can honestly say they are a must for anyone who deals with mission critical information and needs to have access to it from wherever they happen to be.

I spend an almost embarrassing amount of time in front of my desktop PC. It's my workhorse, and the system that I endeavor to keep the most up to date. My home-theater PC gets used daily, as well. This system has coveted spot in the living room and even a glamorous role in the entertainment business. My sleek ultraportable notebook? She can often be found sitting on my lap, back arched, letting me push all her buttons.

My particular situation is a little different then Geoff's.  I have 2 servers running 24/7.  The first is a A64 running Linux, the linux box (as I call it) acts as my network firewall, Subversion repository, and backup fileserver.  The second server is used for development and consists of a P4 dual core running Windows Server 2003. 

I need a system like this so I can test and tune my asp.net applications, however its use doesn't stop there.  This server also hosts a 1TB RAID 5 that I use to store everything I need to have access to.   Movies, music, software..etc.. 

The server also stores the files I need for running Ninjalane.com including benchmark software, review images, and website content.  Of course If I didn't have a business need for an application server I could easily get by with a NAS unit and hardware router, but in my case that is not an option.

Related Web URL: http://techreport.com/discussions.x/19491