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What household use would a server be?

Lman
Lman Posts: 52
in Getting Started with Linux

I'm not sure as to what a server is good for other than cloud management and thin client usage, etc. But I'm just wondering would I be able to possibly fun a website off of it or anything? I am very basic on knowledge at best when it comes to servers.

Comments

  • Goineasy9
    Goineasy9 Posts: 1,114
    This wiki entry best explains the different types of servers. Unless your interested in hosting a web site or an IRC channel, there's really no need to run a server, unless you want to learn or experiment with one.
    http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/server.html
    The only reason I would have a server on a home network would be for data storage. You know like for movies, pictures and probably as a backup for my desktops. For that I would set up an NAS on my home network. This way you could play music or watch movies from any desktop attached to the home network without having to copy the files from one computer to the other. For me though, a removable USB HD would work almost as good.
    Most who would want to run a server for building a website would probably use a hosted service, which is probably cheaper and easier to administer. I know my ISP would probably love to add on the charges if I wanted a static IP address so I could run a server from my house, and, from what I've seen, it's much cheaper to use a hosted service.

    If you have any specific interests or reasons why you would want to set up a server, I'm sure we can supply you with more specific info, so, let us know. And, I'm sure others will see this thread and add there 2 cents to it. Just be patient.
  • kiran.kankipati
    kiran.kankipati Posts: 32
    Here are some USE-CASES what you can build with home Linux server:

    * build your small web-HTTP based home security or monitoring camera
    - you can monitor your pets, kids, and so on when you are not present at home or at office.
    - so it is a sort of CCTV application.
    - check distrowatch, and find there are already custom Linux distros dedicated for this !!

    * build a networking device, and make a sort of application router,
    - you can block porn(and other unwanted content to your kids), establish complex firewall policies, and so on, depends on what you need.

    * build a media server.
    - connect a or couple of huge capacity HDD, and make a movie/music (media) server.
    - also archive ALL your digital pictures in that server. (since you got several GBs of space).

    * suppose if you have old outdated laptop you can make a custom built digital picture frame.

    * you can also build a custom home control, monitoring station.
    - power, digital switches, lighting control, water-pumps, lawn sprinklers, and so on.

    GO GREEN TIP: The main culprit which consumes power in any system is Hard-disk, hence build your server with a cheap USB stick, or may be even some SDD. Since SDD is expensive and you can use it for primary use, use some cheap USB stick and install Linux into it. This will save power-consumption. If so, only your CPU consumes power.

    * besides some funny and yet interesting applications can be
    - people made baby rockers with Linux + CD Tray. (if you google you can find the script, and videos).

    Possibilities are limitless !
  • marc
    marc Posts: 647
    kiran.kankipati wrote:
    GO GREEN TIP: The main culprit which consumes power in any system is Hard-disk, hence build your server with a cheap USB stick, or may be even some SDD. Since SDD is expensive and you can use it for primary use, use some cheap USB stick and install Linux into it. This will save power-consumption. If so, only your CPU consumes power.

    NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

    USB sticks are not to be used as main drive for a server!!!! NEVER! (nor in a desktop for that matter)

    You'll probably end up with a broken usb stick in a few months (if it lasts that long). And you know what happens when your "hard disk" breaks....

    As for the OP:

    I run my own website and blog on my home server. I use it to store pictures for example, as I do not wanna use an internet service (picassa, google+ or facebook) because I'd lose my IP/rights/copyright over the pictures if I uploaded them to those servies.

    I use it to share document with other computers on my network or I have it permanently connected to IRC in some channels (like the linuxdotcom one :) )

    There's many usages to a webserver but don't forget the most important thing: it is *YOURS* :)
  • ben
    ben Posts: 134
    Here are few suggestions for an home server usage (or at least this is what I do with mine)

    - NAS and file sharing across the local LAN (like many folks here): music, photos, videos, films, software, configs and backups

    - file sharing with: Samba, FTP, RSync, NFS. I use these services for sharing my files across the lan. Samba and FTP for general file sharing (media centers, computers, ...), NFS for my Solaris and IRIX workstations, RSync when I need to sync documents and my personal wiki documentation between laptops and the server itself.

    - Streaming: uPnP with mediatomb, many electronic appliances supports it like TVs (DLNA ready), consoles (PS3, XBox, ...) and cell phones (Android with upnp sw for example)

    - audio/video streaming with Icecast. I use it as my internal radio station for streaming MP3 files, with the same method I stream internally few cool webradios on the Net

    - lan web server: I've some homemade apps on it, I'm not using Apache but lighttpd, it's faster and my internal workload is pretty low

    - home automation software and security. My own apps controlling real hw, sensors, ...

    - mail server: if you use procmail+exim you know why I've an internal mail server at home

    - download station with torrent, mule, ... for legal file sharing only :-)

    - remote control sw (VNC)

    - VoIP !!! nobody mentioned it before ! I'm trunking channels with asterisk and I'm using it to reach remote friends

    These are my reasons to keep an internal home server, I don't develop web apps or I don't provide site hostings for work, it's just a personal usage but in the same platform I may host personal portals and web apps (with the appropriate bandwidth)

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