Home/Work Server

[MarcoJEls]

Hi there fellow techies.

 

I would like to hear your opinion on a few things that I've been thinking about doing, any feedback would ne greatly appreciated. So this is my current dilemma. I've recently started a job at a small software company. We do programming, and all sorts, in various different  coding languages. Everything from Microsoft Access VBA to HTML/CSS to .net and Python. I currently use a laptop at work and my, much more powerful and quicker, PC at home. Definitely much more comfortable

 

So my dilemma is I do a bunch of coding at work and finish up for the day. Then I go home, do whatever I need to do and then start working again, like I said its a new job, so trying to impress a bit here :D. So when I start working again from home I use my desktop PC. The only problem is, all the work I've done on my laptop, throughout the day, is now only on my laptop. So now I need to go get laptop, start it up, copy everything over to my PC and then only start working again. And the same the other way around.

 

So my idea is to build a little server where all my projects will be locally stored on to. It will have to be online, for if, and I will, I forget to transfer the new data from the server to my laptop on my local network, it still needs to be accessible to me.

 

Also this server will be a backup for both my machines, nightly backups, whether they are on the local network or online somewhere else. This is just a precaution, as we do backup all our laptops once a month onto external hard drives that are then kept in safe storage, just in case we need them.

 

I already have all the components needed to build the server. I was just wondering if someone else is doing something similar, and if so, how do you do it? Any special programs or tips will help a huge amount.

 

Thanks Guys

MarcoJEls

[Electronics Wizardy]

Id really just use something like one drive here, much less hassle, similar cost, more reliable. Thats what I setup at works, and it works well, and pretty painless.

 

What does the rest of the company use for data storage? id try to move everyone to something like office 365 for most files, and then something like github for code.

 

 

[MarcoJEls]

It did cross my mind to do more of an online solution, but the boss does not trust in it at all. He's a little old school when it comes to those type of things. But the main issue is that a lot of the programs we do work on have databases, with major amounts of very sensitive information in them. Therefore something like a dedicated server to store everything on, and be able to monitor it, might be a better solution.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Da_XPr3dat0r said:

It did cross my mind to do more of an online solution, but the boss does not trust in it at all. He's a little old school when it comes to those type of things. But the main issue is that a lot of the programs we do work on have databases, with major amounts of very sensitive information in them. Therefore something like a dedicated server to store everything on, and be able to monitor it, might be a better solution.

Id get in someone that knows IT well, you want someone that know what their doing here.

 

Really, cloud is the way to go here, more reliable, cheper normally, and more secure. 

 

Otherwise for on prem, how much storage do you need ? Do you need it rack mount? What oses are the clients running? do you want to run something like ad?

[MarcoJEls]

Please don't take this the wrong way, I appreciate the feedback, but I think you misunderstand. This server will be for me and my own personal use. I wont be hosting the business websites or programs from it. It is simply there to make my life more convenient. So I'm running two machines currently, both windows 10, both with the exact same software. Instead of me transferring whatever code, I'm working on, from one machine to the other, every time I change workstations, and most probably just creating bits and pieces of copies of updated program code across my 2 devices. I want to be able to save the file on my laptop, that I was working on, then go onto my pc and continue working on that exact same file, and vice versa. We do not work on our code live in our company. So if I add something wrong, the users wont see it. After I finish writing the code it then goes into quality control section and then only made live on the business servers if it is adequate. Storage will not be a problem. Like I said I already have enough of the hardware to build the server, that includes over 6TB of storage, that is really not being used. I can even backup the server drives and put them off premises for extra safety.

 

Once again thanks for the feedback

[1552980358]

I will use Gitea, an open sourced software, to store my code to my NAS at home and at the same time push to a private repo on Github, so that all my code can be accessed every where with security protection.

Added, my NAS is relatively small, that can be used for storing some important data and placed at home, and I have wrote some programs to back up them automatically.

Here is my post about my NAS: https://linustechtips.com/topic/1287038-an-itx-nas-server-at-home/

 

[Loki0111]

I have a setup for something similar but some of my work stuff is contained 1-10TB encrypted VHD wrappers.

 

So it really depends on the size of these projects.

 

If we are talking sizes under a gig you can get away with 1Gbe and a mirrored NAS setup. If we are talking larger file sizes then you may want to start looking at 10Gbe switch and a robust NAS solution that can support that.

 

For a dedicated NAS depending on your budget and comfort level I'd stick with either Windows Server 2019, TrueNAS/FreeNAS, OMV or Windows 10 Pro.

 

Do not use Unraid for a dedicated high speed NAS system. It has absolutely no RAID support of any kind and you'll definitely notice it above 1Gbe.

[Blue4130]

1 hour ago, 1552980358 said:

I will use Gitea, an open sourced software, to store my code to my NAS at home and at the same time push to a private repo on Github, so that all my code can be accessed every where with security protection.

Added, my NAS is relatively small, that can be used for storing some important data and placed at home, and I have wrote some programs to back up them automatically.

Here is my post about my NAS: https://linustechtips.com/topic/1287038-an-itx-nas-server-at-home/

 

If your boss is old-school and doesn't trust the cloud. You really need to talk to him about this before you implement it. Sure it's only for you, but end result is that you will have his company's IP on a server connected to the internet. This is a recipe for trouble.