Some Advice From You Networking Geniuses... Options

[IAmTheDude360]

Hey,

Saving up at the mo for a little server machine for the house and am looking for some help with the planning before I finally get it

Currently Ive got my Laptop (Win7), Bros Laptop (WinXP), Bros PS3, My 360, Dads 360 and my Xbox1 to get served up.

My dads not a Live player and havnt yet run a cable downstairs so I burn him DVDRWs of films/TV to save him using my XB1 to keep up (havnt got round to getting a USB HDD or stick yet which would be easier) With my Bro its a case of him ftp'ing to my XB1 to grab what he wants so having a nice fast network seems the way to go.

Now, on my Base unit what would you suggest I use OS wise, XP, 7 or Server 2008?
For XP/7 I could set up standard sharing folders (SMB) for XB1 and Lappys then use WMP/TVersity etc to share to the 360s. Reading a bit more, is WS2008 more cut out for this sort of job? Do the xboxes have any problems logging in to a Active Directory (is a AD needed or can you still do simple sharing with WS08?)

Hardware wise, I assume this is how the setup would go -

Modem > Router > Server NIC1
Router Wired to My lappy, my 360, my XB1.
Router Wireless to PS3, Bros lappy.

Now is it possible to have the cable from my dads 360 running into a separate NIC on the server with him still being able to access the network but NOT being able to sign into Live? Daft as it sounds, its too much for him, hes a 'put disc in and play' or 'press videos - pres play' sorta guy bless him

Thanks in advance, Im slowly getting my head round anything past simple networking

[Mikesshunk]

Well if you're just sharing files like you're suggesting, why not go with a NAS drive? Alot cheaper than a server too.

[Achtung]

Well if you're just sharing files like you're suggesting, why not go with a NAS drive? Alot cheaper than a server too.

Much less work to setup as well...

[IAmTheDude360]

My lappys probably got a years life left in it and was planning on moving over to a desktop when it died so thought Id kill two birds, get my DT setup and learn some networking skills while Im at it.

Lappys been my powerhorse for the last few years and having an unlimited usenet account probably hasnt helped! Missis is buying me a little netbook for xmas so thats the portable side taken care of so thought Id concentrate on the house/media side of things with my DT.

[throwingks]

You could setup an old laptop as a server for storage, printing, routing etc. They use less power, take up less space, and have a battery. Check out Webmin. Plus an external storage drive into the laptop and never turn the laptop off. Just close the screen, and save some power.

If you can, put Linux on your router. Dd-wrt is a good place to start with that. You can turn a router with linux into an access point. I have 2 xboxes and a pc wired into a Linksys WRT54G that is receiving the net from a Linksys WAP11. None of the devices know they are connected wirelessly. That will make life for your dad's Xbox1 a lot easier.

You can also block Live's IPs from your dad's boxes and you won't have to worry about anything.

[BlitheCassia]

On a media server you can RAID the drives so that you don't lose any data when a drive fails. Also, I believe the media server has a vpn connection, therefore you can access your data from the internet if needed.
All of this is possible because the media server has its own small OS installed on it.




Mod edit: Keep the spam out of your posts

This post has been edited by StrictPuppet: Aug 27 2009, 09:17 AM

[Trebz]

I use:

http://www.freenas.org/

Perfection.

It will run on any old piece of garbage PC, my first Freenas server was running on a 1.0ghz processor with 128MB RAM and it worked faultlessly.

My only outlay was for the 2 X 1TB HDD's which i mirrored.

My current server has been running non stop for at least 6 months without a re boot.

Go to the website, have a sniff around the forums and get Freenas installed.

Any problems, just PM me.

This post has been edited by Trebz: Nov 30 2009, 09:28 AM

[lordvader129]

Now, on my Base unit what would you suggest I use OS wise, XP, 7 or Server 2008?
For XP/7 I could set up standard sharing folders (SMB) for XB1 and Lappys then use WMP/TVersity etc to share to the 360s. Reading a bit more, is WS2008 more cut out for this sort of job? Do the xboxes have any problems logging in to a Active Directory (is a AD needed or can you still do simple sharing with WS08?)

you can do normal sharing from windows server (2003 or 2008) AD is only used if you set up a domain (and FWIW the xbox has no problem authenticating to a domain either)

Now is it possible to have the cable from my dads 360 running into a separate NIC on the server with him still being able to access the network but NOT being able to sign into Live?

yes, that would be possible, but it might be easier to wire him through the router and just dont configure a gateway on the 360s network settings