I am planning to build myself a file vault as i use multipe computers over the house i want a low powered, fanless file server. So I done some digging at work and at home and assemblied the following components. (1x) Mini-itx 533MHz embedded board, (512ram) mini-itx.com - store (1x) SATA card with 4 inputs (4x) 4 SATA hard drive caddys (2x) IDE DVD roms (1x) Netgear 111GT, 108Mbps USB Wireless. (1x) 200w fanless power pack. Now i know it's going to work but i'm i going to give myself a massive bottleneck with only a 533MHz processor, and with only usb1.1's i see there maybe a bottleneck again with the thoughtput to the wireless card, which will be the main link. How much will the two bottlenecks effect thoughput and what OS should i use, (all my systems are windows and i would like to map the file vaults drives to my windows xp systems) Windows 2003 maybe be a bit heavy for the processor to cope with but it's the same problemw ith windows xp.
Welcome to hardwareforums Core8583 :beer: 533Mhz is going to be a nasty bottleneck... i would really consider ditching the fanless idea and buying one of the more powerful boards they offer (you may even be able to replace the heat sink with a larger fanless heat sink, you should really look further into this). wireless is quite a bottleneck in itself (wired is much better ) USB1 has a throughput of 12Mbit/s (1.5 Megabytes a second) so that will be quite a large bottleneck. As for an operating system, try Linux! It won't cost you anything so what have you got to lose? hardwareforums has quite a few Linux users who will be more than happy to help you set up your server (including myself) and you can still use windows file sharing to access all your files from other computers (your new machine could be setup as a windows domain controller if you really wanted to!). If you have never heard of Linux please don't hesitate to say and someone will explain what it is and answer any questions you have (probably me, I'm at college tomorrow and i take frequent brakes ) but simply put its an operating system.
no no no, Linux is more than just an OS[ot]Donkey slaps the back of Impy's legs[/ot]Linux is a complete replacement for M$ Windoze, but, it doesn't have the same security vulnerabilities as Windoze & is immune from all spyware & viruses (after tweaking /etc/fstab & making sure Wine is not installed) it is also much more stable than Windows (anyone who remembers the disaster that was Win9x will know) XP does a good job of restoring M$s reputation, but, personally i refuse to have Windoze on my single system (except in VMware, & i always disable net access to XP) i will have XP on a system when i can protect it with a *nix LAN (only allowing XP net access from my LANs DMZ sorry for moaning about XP, but, i personally don't like Windoze BTW: please ask any questions, i may not be able to answer some networking questions as i currently use a single system, AT is the god of *nix & networking ray: hope some of that info was helpful yeah, welcome Edit: in the words of AT: Source however, i've not used wireless, & may never Edit: however, if you scan your /home & Wine locations regularly for spyware & viruses you'll probably be ok to have Wine
Fileserver's aren't typically the most CPU intensive, so that EPIA board will be fine. I'd concentrate on faster drives and making sure you have at least a 100Mbps NIC connection.
I don't know if you may want to spend more money on this, but there is a third alternative (and I love it): "Powerline Ethernet"! Q. What is Powerline Ethernet? A. It is a system that routes your Ethernet connection through the power lines in your house! The PE units are generally sold in sets of 2. You plug the 1st unit into the wall near a router or switch. An Ethernet cable runs from the unit to the router or switch. Plug the 2nd unit anywhere in the house. An Ethernet cable runs from that unit to your any computer. Transmission speed is limited to the speed of your Ethernet cables and NICs (they will be the bottleneck). Benefits: Flexibility of wireless Security and speed of wired Ethernet Supports High Definition (some models) Netgear PE devices have encryption enabled by default (maybe others do, too) -- unlike wireless which often comes with encryption turned off You can even change the default network ID on Netgear for more security (someone can't just plug another PE device in and be part of your network...important if you have plugs on the outside of your house). They are ready to go simply by being plugged in! No setup! You can move your computer(s) around the house just by moving the PE device to a new outlet...it is automatically detected! Requirements: 2 or more Powerline Ethernet devices A router or switch for your LAN 1 extra Ethernet cable (in addition to # of computers) A "Windows" system on which to install the configuration software (only if want to change network ID or view status...otherwise they "just work" when plugged in). You can install the software on more than one system, it doesn't matter. My experience is with the Netgear Powerline HD Ethernet...some details about other brands could be different. # of PE devices needed depends which type. Netgear HD (high-definition-capable) ones only have a single port per device. So if there is somewhere in the house where 2 computers would be close together, they would still require a seperate PE device each. Netgear non-HD ones have 2 ports per device, so you could plug 2 computers into each device if you were so inclined. Don't forget the router must be attached to a PE device for this to work. Price: in US, about $60-100 depending if HD-capable or not.
I have seen them before and really liked the idea, but have never used it or known anyone who has. assuming the above is true then i think this could work for your file server, however, i would not put anything else on the powerline (get two units, one for the server and one to connect the powerline network to your switch/router). i _think_ the available bandwidth will be shared between everyone using it (everyone is using the same wire, this happens with wireless too as everyone has to use the same channel). Nice thinking btw, i always forget that this is an option [OT] i wouldn't be surprised if you could get them cheaper on ebay but here's the UK froogle search listed by price welcome to hardwareforums ShellyCat! :beer: [/OT]
