File sharing over the local network, for. My eventual server project.

[nicholastank2]

To start off, I don’t actually need a server but I want to get a used server to play around with, but before I go for it I want to figure out the file sharing plus (i am also in a computer engineering program so it would be a good learning experience). So I was I wondering what would be the best way to share files around my families house, a lot of it would be tv shows and movies my father downloads, and also. Putting games on the server so I don’t have to use the internet to download. Would be great if media could be accessed outside of the house over the internet. I am currently running the tests on my gaming laptop I barely use so that is the testing hardware I am using before moving forward.

[camieabz]

Maybe an NAS or an FTP server for random files. Network printer maybe (are printers still a thing; haven't used for for a long time ). Or maybe a simple webpage for http and https testing. A simple mail server would be another thing to play with.

 

If I were doing it, I'd have a DMZ on a linux box or something along those lines. As to how, you're the student. Go find out.

[leadeater]

For media content you're best to use Plex or Emby as this will give you secure external web access and an interface very much like Netflix etc.

 

For network storage you can do this with Windows or use something like FreeNAS/TrueNAS or Xpenology (which is basically Synology software that you can run yourself). 

 

You'll be able to run all this on a single OS install or you could install a hypervisor and run each as a VM. Running a file servers as a VM using something like FreeNAS or Xpenology is a little more complicated as you need to purchase a PCIe HBA to pass through to the VM entirely with all the disks that are attached to it so you also need storage connected to the motherboard to run the hypervisor OS and host the base VM disk and OS as well.

 

You're still better off keeping all your game installs on locally though, you can however backup the files to the NAS easily, then when you need to restore them back. For Steam it's just a matter of completely closing it and then opening it again and it'll detect the game is now installed, or if for some reason it doesn't or using a different platform like Origin you just tell it to install and it'll detect all the files are there and skip downloading them.

[nicholastank2]

8 hours ago, camieabz said:

Maybe an NAS or an FTP server for random files. Network printer maybe (are printers still a thing; haven't used for for a long time ). Or maybe a simple webpage for http and https testing. A simple mail server would be another thing to play with.

 

If I were doing it, I'd have a DMZ on a linux box or something along those lines. As to how, you're the student. Go find out.

I did try setting up an FTP server in windows and actually getting it too work has been a complete pain. like its super intuitive.

[nicholastank2]

8 hours ago, leadeater said:

For media content you're best to use Plex or Emby as this will give you secure external web access and an interface very much like Netflix etc.

 

For network storage you can do this with Windows or use something like FreeNAS/TrueNAS or Xpenology (which is basically Synology software that you can run yourself). 

 

You'll be able to run all this on a single OS install or you could install a hypervisor and run each as a VM. Running a file servers as a VM using something like FreeNAS or Xpenology is a little more complicated as you need to purchase a PCIe HBA to pass through to the VM entirely with all the disks that are attached to it so you also need storage connected to the motherboard to run the hypervisor OS and host the base VM disk and OS as well.

 

You're still better off keeping all your game installs on locally though, you can however backup the files to the NAS easily, then when you need to restore them back. For Steam it's just a matter of completely closing it and then opening it again and it'll detect the game is now installed, or if for some reason it doesn't or using a different platform like Origin you just tell it to install and it'll detect all the files are there and skip downloading them.

Omg, the legendary Lead eater :o do you mind if i DM you with somemore questions ? 

[leadeater]

7 minutes ago, nicholastank2 said:

Omg, the legendary Lead eater do you mind if i DM you with somemore questions ? 

Um? Legendary? Not sure what you have been reading but I doubt they are any good legends, other than the tale of why you should not eat lead 

 

You might as well just ask here, there's other people that are on this forum that can give good advice too.

 

 

[nicholastank2]

Well i would like the server to be able to be a target download location aswell, since my dad does the downloading on his computer, i would want to be able to have the downloads go straight to the server instead of his computer ?

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

4 hours ago, nicholastank2 said:

Well i would like the server to be able to be a target download location aswell, since my dad does the downloading on his computer, i would want to be able to have the downloads go straight to the server instead of his computer ?

 

You can set the location of the downloads folder in windows under propterties, and set it to a network share

 

 

For windows systems use smb shares, they work the best, and works much better than ftp.

[nicholastank2]

Okay, so completely  dumb moment for me but i completely forgot smb exists and so i successfully set up my server on my gaming laptop for my testing