Basic Storage Question

[Jacob.xray]

ok planning a build which will be a temporary rig. i will originally be using for gaming everyday use, etc... But heir is the catch. i wont to also put 6 3T drives in it (raid 5/ maybe 6) so later i can just use it as a server

so i have some question:
Q1: what do i need to be able to access the data from anywhere over a network (for example the computer be at home and me accessing it at UNI)

Q2: what do i need to look for in raid cards (what makes a good one and a bad one)

Q3: is it worth investing in a network card (not looking for amazing speeds but just decent)

sorry for the "nooby" questions new to networking

 

[yassarikhan786]

I can answer the first question, but since I've never used a raid card and a dedicated network card I am unable to answer questions 2 and 3.

For the first question you would need to set up a VPN (Virtual Private Network) connection to your home network. This feature is provided by many Windows Server based OS' and even some routers have that functionality. Once you have setup a VPN connection you would need to connect to your home network using the public IP address your ISP assigned to you and a username/password combination for a local account on the machine (virtual or physical) hosting the VPN.

I have never used a router based VPN, but the login procedure would essentially be the same. You could even use an Active Directory account to login to the network, but you would need to have a Domain Controller within your home network.

At uni you would need to setup access to your VPN through the Network and Connection center. Enter your IP address, username and password to gain access to your home network. To access your files you would have to enable sharing, which can be done through the properties menu of any folder.

EDIT: On the server hosting the VPN you would also need to enable DHCP so that an IP address can be assigned to the external machine gaining access to your home network.

You should really do some reading up on this.

 

[Jacob.xray]

thanks mate. at this current moment i was most concerned if there was anything on a hardware/software level i would need to access the files for the simple reason that i personally start to understand things more once i can get my hands on them and start playing with the software. and also i like to ask question to people like you who actually know what they are talking about so that in narrows down what i actually need to purchase and do. and again thanks for the help much appreciated.

 

[yassarikhan786]

No problem

Another way you can share files is to setup an FTP server. I have FTP set up on my server at home and I can access my files from anywhere using FileZilla. VPN is more for things like remote access to computers. With FTP you just have to forward a port, or a range of ports to the local IP address of the computer serving the files.