Home server from Laptop.

[brandonmufc06]

Hi, I have an old laptop with a broken screen (I just plug it into an external monitor) that I no longer use. I have been thinking of turning it into an home file server, but I have absolutely NO experience with servers of any kind. I would greatly appreciate some EXTREMELY BASIC instructions on how to turn an old laptop into a server.

 

Questions:

1) Do I need a wired connection or can I go wireless?

2) What is the best OS for the job (It MUST be lightweight and suitable for beginners!)

 

Thanks.

[Cieronph]

Anything in theory can be a server, a server is simply a computer which is connected to by clients. With regards to what you actually want to do with it, if you want something super simple that acts as a "file server" you could just set-up a shared network drive on windows within a home/work-group and use that to store files. I mean realistically it may be better as a backup (as it wouldn't be in raid 1 or anything like that) and would be super simple to do at no extra cost. Erm with regards to wireless or wired, while it could be done wirelessly it would make much more sense to plug a ethernet connection in to speed up the connection and make it more consistent. 

My final thought would be what your intentions are in doing this, if its simply to have some fun and learn some things then this is great, if you want something to be an actual file server it may be better to look at a linux box or something like that.

[jwworker201]

15 minutes ago, brandonmufc06 said:

1) Do I need a wired connection or can I go wireless?

2) What is the best OS for the job (It MUST be lightweight and suitable for beginners!)

1) you CAN go wireless but I would not recommend it, you get way better transfer speed over a wired connection
2) you could just install Windows and create an Share in your workgroup but Windows is not really lightweight. You could just install any version of linux and create an smb share there. I would go for Ubuntu server. for this you need to work with the command line (shell) but it is fairly easy to get used to it.

The specs of your Notebook would be helpful tho  

[brandonmufc06]

2 minutes ago, Cieronph said:

Anything in theory can be a server, a server is simply a computer which is connected to by clients. With regards to what you actually want to do with it, if you want something super simple that acts as a "file server" you could just set-up a shared network drive on windows within a home/work-group and use that to store files. I mean realistically it may be better as a backup (as it wouldn't be in raid 1 or anything like that) and would be super simple to do at no extra cost. Erm with regards to wireless or wired, while it could be done wirelessly it would make much more sense to plug a ethernet connection in to speed up the connection and make it more consistent. 

My final thought would be what your intentions are in doing this, if its simply to have some fun and learn some things then this is great, if you want something to be an actual file server it may be better to look at a linux box or something like that.

I currently have Ubuntu on the laptop, and I am doing it to learn, and also as a backup for films and photos.

[brandonmufc06]

1 minute ago, jwworker201 said:

1) you CAN go wireless but I would not recommend it, you get way better transfer speed over a wired connection
2) you could just install Windows and create an Share in your workgroup but Windows is not really lightweight. You could just install any version of linux and create an smb share there. I would go for Ubuntu server. for this you need to work with the command line (shell) but it is fairly easy to get used to it.

The specs of your Notebook would be helpful tho  

Intel core duo @ around 1.2 ghz, 1 gb of RAM. Bad specs I know.

[jwworker201]

1 minute ago, brandonmufc06 said:

Intel core duo @ around 1.2 ghz

So this is still 32 bit architecture?

If your specs are that low, I would go to something without GUI in every case because GUI can eat up a lot of resources. So I think Ubuntu Server 14.04.5 would be suitable for your PC. It is a bit older but more resource friendly. You can download it here. An alternative to Ubuntu would be an install of Debian 6 or so (which is more difficult to do in my opinion).

You control your machine via SSH or local shell then but you basically have to edit the config of samba (the tool used for creating smb shares) once for your share and then you don't need to touch the machine anymore if you don't want to
 

[Donut417]

10 minutes ago, brandonmufc06 said:

I currently have Ubuntu on the laptop, and I am doing it to learn, and also as a backup for films and photos.

Most Linux OS's have a server version and its generally free.  If you want to get in to more advanced features. Ive personally never used it. Windows Server OS is hell of expensive, so I wouldn't really bother going down that rabbit hole. 

 

9 minutes ago, brandonmufc06 said:

Intel core duo @ around 1.2 ghz, 1 gb of RAM. Bad specs I know.

Meh, those are kinda bad. Though It really depends on what your trying to do. There are many reason to make a server. Media, Games, File sharing and backup, etc. You just gotta figure out what you want to accomplish. I mean, you got a spare machine to learn on. If you decide you need more later, then you build a better machine. 

[brandonmufc06]

1 minute ago, jwworker201 said:

So this is still 32 bit architecture?

If your specs are that low, I would go to something without GUI in every case because GUI can eat up a lot of resources. So I think Ubuntu Server 14.04.5 would be suitable for your PC. It is a bit older but more resource friendly. You can download it here. An alternative to Ubuntu would be an install of Debian 6 or so (which is more difficult to do in my opinion).

You control your machine via SSH or local shell then but you basically have to edit the config of samba (the tool used for creating smb shares) once for your share and then you don't need to touch the machine anymore if you don't want to
 

I am going to sound VERY stupid but I have no clue what you were on about. Like I said, I am VERY inexperienced with servers and I have no experience WHATSOEVER.

[jwworker201]

4 minutes ago, brandonmufc06 said:

I have no clue what you were on about.

So an Server OS (like Ubuntu Server) is basically Ubuntu with the focus on performance in an Datacenter, So you don't have your GUI (Graphical User Interface) you are used to, you just have an Command line (Terminal or shell) where you can type commands (kinda like old 80's Computers). For only an file server some Server OS like Ubuntu server would be the best because it wouldn't eat too much of your already low resources but you have to get used to navigating on this PC with only the Command line.

[Cieronph]

If its already installed with ubuntu you could first just play with the current version and create a network drive (plenty of youtube videos on it), then when you feel comfortable using the gui to create it move onto doing it with command line (the terminal) and finally when your confident with the commands you need install a fresh server version of linux and try that. Do little steps, the best way to learn is to experiment and break things, at the end of the day the worst you can do is break something you cant fix using google and have to re-install the O/S. Just be sure not to load any real files onto it until you've finished tinkering

[brandonmufc06]

20 hours ago, Cieronph said:

If its already installed with ubuntu you could first just play with the current version and create a network drive (plenty of youtube videos on it), then when you feel comfortable using the gui to create it move onto doing it with command line (the terminal) and finally when your confident with the commands you need install a fresh server version of linux and try that. Do little steps, the best way to learn is to experiment and break things, at the end of the day the worst you can do is break something you cant fix using google and have to re-install the O/S. Just be sure not to load any real files onto it until you've finished tinkering

That is a good idea thanks ?