whats the best hardware for making a file/network sever

[Kai Preshaw]

Hey im looking to host my own LAN inside a house as i am about to get four computers.


The main sever is going to be in a small room probably in my room as its cold but i dont know what to get i know i need some hardware like routers but im new in networking and dont know what to get


many thanks

Kai

 

[molletts]

You'll need a switch to connect the computers together if you're using wired networking (best performance & reliability), otherwise you'll just need your existing wireless access-point/router. (I've always found Netgear ProSafe gigabit switches to be very good value - they're cheap, fast and reliable and the business-oriented ProSafe range has better technical support than the consumer-oriented range - locally-based call centres and a longer warranty period.)

For the server, the hardware you need depends on what you want to use it for. If it's purely for file storage, you could simply use a small NAS box rather than a full-blown PC.

Hope this helps,
Stephen

 

[Kai Preshaw]

Thanks Stephen

i wanted to share files and use it for networking in and about the house as i move about a lot and need my flies at home to be with me. Been thinking about a VPN but not sure if it will work or not for what i want it fo.


Many thanks

Kai

 

[molletts]

... Been thinking about a VPN but not sure if it will work or not for what i want it for.

You only really need a VPN if you want to connect to your home network securely from elsewhere over the internet. I'm not sure if any consumer-grade routers offer VPN server capabilities, although many have VPN clients of one sort or another built in. Some home NAS boxes may possibly offer it as a "value-added" feature but I can't vouch for how good they would be, having never used one.

For simply having access to your files from anywhere in the house (or within wifi range of it), basic NAS based on Windows Networking (SMB) should do the trick - you can just map a network drive on your PCs/laptop to point to the share on the NAS box and access the files that way. Android devices should have no problem accessing them either - most decent file manager apps have a Samba/SMB plugin; I imagine the same is probably true on iOS, WinPhone or BBOS. (It's also easy on Linux with a choice of different access methods, of course, but I'm guessing you don't use that.)

Stephen