Home server
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the Microsoft operating system, see Windows Home Server
A home server is a device, typically a PC or other computer, connected to a home network that provides services to other devices in the household. Such services may include file and/or printer serving, media center serving, web serving, account authentication, and domain control (for faster network browsing). Because of the relatively low number of computers on a home network, a home server commonly does not contain the latest and greatest hardware. Often, users recycle older systems, and home servers with processors of 1GHz and 256mb of RAM are common and perform decently. Large, preferably fast hard drives (ATA-100 or Serial ATA) and a network interface card are usually all that are required for home file serving.
Home servers can run any operating system, but in order to maximize performance and minimize costs, Linux or some flavor of BSD UNIX can be used. Such servers can run without Graphical User Interfaces (which makes more resources available for other tasks), and can be administered remotely through a command shell, or graphically through programs such as VNC, Webmin, or many others.
Contents |
[edit] Home Server Scenarios
[edit] Centralized Storage
Home servers often act as network attached storage providing the major benefit that all users' files can be centrally and securely stored, with flexible permissions applied to them. Such files can be easily accessed 24/7 from any other system on the network, provided the correct credentials are supplied. This also applies to shared printers. An uninterruptible power supply is recommended in case of power outages that can possibly corrupt data.
[edit] Media Serving
Home servers are often used to serve multi-media content, including photos, music, and video to other devices in the household (and even to the Internet; see Place Shifting and Orb). Using standard protocols such as DNLA or proprietary systems such as iTunes users can access their media stored on the home server from any room in the house. Windows XP Media Center Edition and Windows Vista can act as a home server, supporting a particular type of media serving that streams the interactive user experience to Media Center Extenders including the XBox360.
On a Linux server, there are many open-source (free), fully-functional, all-in-one software solutions for media serving available. One such program is LinuxMCE, which allows other devices to boot off a hard drive image on the server, allowing them to become appliances such as set-top boxes. Asterisk, Xine, MythTV (another media serving solution), Firefox, VideoLAN, SlimServer, and many other open-source projects are fully integrated for a seamless home theater/automation/telephony experience. Such services, if offered in a proprietary package, would cost around $100,000 (including hardware and tailored household programming)[1].
On an Apple Macintosh server (or peer-to-peer node), Front Row may be used.
[edit] Remote Access
A home server can be used to provide remote access into the home from devices on the Internet. For example, Windows Home Server provides access to files stored on the home server via a web interface as well as access to Remote Desktop sessions on PCs in the house. Enthusiasts often use VPN technologies as well.
On a Linux server, two popular tools are (among many) Virtual Network Computing and Webmin. VNC allows clients to remotely view a server GUI desktop as if the user was physically sitting in front of the server. A GUI need not be running on the server console for this to occur; there can be multiple 'virtual' desktop environments open at the same time. Webmin allows users to control many aspects of server configuration and maintenance all from a simple web interface. Both can be configured to be accessed from anywhere on the internet.
[edit] Web Serving
Some users choose to run a web server in order to share files easily and publicly (or privately, on the home network). Others set up web pages and serve them straight from their home, although this may be in violation of some ISPs terms of service. The most widely used web server is Apache, which is open-source and runs on almost twice as many sites as its closest competitor[2]. It is easily configured, flexible, free, and runs on many platforms, including Windows and Apple's OS X. On Linux, it is part of the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) web solution stack.
[edit] Home Automation
Home automation requires a device in the home that is available 24/7. Often such home automation controllers are run on a home server. Examples of home server based home automation systems include HomeSeer.
[edit] Security Monitoring
Relatively low cost CCTV DVR solutions are available that allow recording of video cameras to a home server for security purposes. The video can then be viewed on PCs or other devices in the house.
[edit] Family Applications
Home servers can act as a host to family oriented applications such as a family calendar, to-do lists, and message boards. Enthusiasts often run email servers on their home servers.
