I've got an HP Proliant N40L, with two 1TB HDD's (Samsung F3). Originally I was going to have this setup with Ubuntu 11.10 Server, which a good friend helped me setup (he did most of the work). Something broke though, my log-in credentials are bad, and not everything is even setup the way I wanted it yet, but I was just thinking, should I just lay down $50 for WHS 2011 and configure it myself and not be reliant on someone else?
Hardware specs:
CPU: AMD Turion II Neo N40L 1.5GHz 2-Core
RAM: 2GB DDR3
HDD: for the OS, my choice of 32GB SSD (OCZ Onyx), or use a partition of the (2) 1TB HDD's I intend on running in RAID 1
Here's what I want to do:
- Host pictures, video, documents, be able to access them via WinXP, Win7, Win8, iPad, Android phone (Android is the least important, could possibly do without)
- Auto backup two Windows computers (one is currently dual-booting XP with Win8 RP, likely ditching XP when Win8 Pro is released)
- Connect a printer that Windows 7/8 and iPad can access.
- Serve video streams to Windows and iPad (specifically want to record OTA TV on Win8, compress to *.mp4, watch via iPad)
- Run two 1TB HDD's in RAID 1 for all pics, vids, docs
- This network is currently not connected to the internet, but it probably will within a year or so, when that happens, I'd like it to serve as a firewall, provide parental controls for the whole house
So my questions are:
1. Is there any reason I should go with another OS for my needs (for under $100)?
2. Can I do all the above with WHS 2011 / is anything above fairly difficult? I've never configured a server before.
3. Will it be a problem to not have it actively connected to the internet (to recieve updates and such)?
4. I'm on the very bottom end of the "minimum system requirements", is that going to slow anything down?
5. Which HDD should I use? Is it any benefit to have the OS installed on a small SSD rather than mechanical?
Thanks!
jaydee
Hardware specs:
CPU: AMD Turion II Neo N40L 1.5GHz 2-Core
RAM: 2GB DDR3
HDD: for the OS, my choice of 32GB SSD (OCZ Onyx), or use a partition of the (2) 1TB HDD's I intend on running in RAID 1
Here's what I want to do:
- Host pictures, video, documents, be able to access them via WinXP, Win7, Win8, iPad, Android phone (Android is the least important, could possibly do without)
- Auto backup two Windows computers (one is currently dual-booting XP with Win8 RP, likely ditching XP when Win8 Pro is released)
- Connect a printer that Windows 7/8 and iPad can access.
- Serve video streams to Windows and iPad (specifically want to record OTA TV on Win8, compress to *.mp4, watch via iPad)
- Run two 1TB HDD's in RAID 1 for all pics, vids, docs
- This network is currently not connected to the internet, but it probably will within a year or so, when that happens, I'd like it to serve as a firewall, provide parental controls for the whole house
So my questions are:
1. Is there any reason I should go with another OS for my needs (for under $100)?
2. Can I do all the above with WHS 2011 / is anything above fairly difficult? I've never configured a server before.
3. Will it be a problem to not have it actively connected to the internet (to recieve updates and such)?
4. I'm on the very bottom end of the "minimum system requirements", is that going to slow anything down?
5. Which HDD should I use? Is it any benefit to have the OS installed on a small SSD rather than mechanical?
Thanks!
jaydee