Quote:
Originally Posted by Zoot
That's a pretty overpowered HTPC, in CPU terms anyway. The one I put together recently for example was based around an AMD A4-5300 in comparison.  |
Yes it is indeed. That's because I will be running BOINC on it (or maybe
[email protected]), so the computing
power will not go to waste (it's also the main reason for the custom water loop, not really
needed for a "reasonable" HTPC or server setup
).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zoot
What OS are you planning on using?
|
Probably Arch Linux. I've had pretty good experiences with their VPN setup guide and suite.
And since I've been using the O/S for about two years now I'm pretty familiar and comfortable
with it. Interestingly, despite the constant warnings about cutting edge software and the
stability of rolling release distros (another thing I like about Arch, much more suited to my
preferences than fixed release styles, but that's really just a matter of personal taste for me),
I have in those two years only once had an update bork up a machine so that I had to
reinstall (or rather: reinstallation was the quickest way to solve the problem as opposed to
hours of trying to fix it other ways).
This machine will also serve as our VPN server for personal stuff and business for my dad's
and my own data (well, my backups and his main data repository). My dad is self-employed
and often works from clients' offices or his g/f's apartment, so having access to one
centralized data repository without having to constantly sync between his laptop and his
desktop(s) should make his life considerably easier.
And for me it will be mostly about having a backup repository of my data.
I will probably use SSHFS to mount the server's drives and partitions on my own machine.
It's really convenient and a lot easier to set up than NFS, for example. And since it's very
easy to use there's a lot fewer possibilities to make mistakes with regards to security,
which with me not being an expert is also a big plus.
If I get really adventurous, I might use FreeBSD, with which I've been experimenting since
last fall. The main advantage of that would be ZFS, which is absolutely awesome (especially
for a server). I'm nowhere near to being able to really utilize its potential, but even with the
little I've learnt about it so far it's already rather magnificent. Main drawback: SSHFS has
a bug which produces a segfault after a very short while (as of last month), so I could not
use that, and I haven't been able to get NFS to reliably work between my Linux machines
and FreeBSD yet, so that would be a major source of headaches.
I know that you can use ZFS with Linux, but those solutions just don't seem stable enough
yet, and I really don't feel like putting my dad's business data in the hands of beta software
(nor my own, to be hones).
I will probably first install FreeBSD and see if I can get the VPN stuff to work as easily as
with Arch, then check how SSHFS behaves. If all is good, I'll probably start converting my
ext4 Linux HDD's into a nice ZFS pool, because ZFS would be really nice for a server, with
it being able to take snapshots of your FS and stuff.
If it doesn't work, I'll install Arch. The only thing I'd really miss is ZFS, and it's not like ext4
hasn't been working for me (although ZFS would be
really nice
).
For those who are into this sort of thing, the software side of this build will probably turn
out more interesting than the hardware stuff tbh.
(when its done ofcourse)
))
on/off button, games , mail and facebook and I'm done
Linear Mode
