[geeks] Anybody can borrow me $10k? hehe....

[Joshua D Boyd]

On Tue, Nov 19, 2002 at 02:59:18PM -0600, Geek wrote:
> I wouldn't say 99%. Maybe 60%, as I do use a lot of processor, and find
> my current one is not good for much of it. Yeah, this is a list of
> higher end power users, but I thought it possible someone here would
> like to just use a computer to do what needs to be done without extra
> uses. I know others who install brand name servers in their homes,
> though I just cannot see the use.
> 
> It may be my low end bandwidth and constant harping by my ISP that I go
> too high in use, but I cannot find anything I would want a server for at
> home, where it is only one person, maybe two, using it. Oh well. Maybe I
> am not as much of a geek as I thought I was.

Here is the biggest reason I have a home file server that only I use (as
opposed the file server my parents use).  I store all my data on it, and
I don't mess with the machine.  The last time I did anything to my file
server was close to 90 days ago when I powered it down to go on
vacation.  Before that, it wasn't touched for months since I upgraded to
a 30gig harddrive and added a UPS early in the year.

Further, I rarely log into the machine as root, or log into the machine
at all, in an attempt to keep myself from doing something stupid and
destroying data.

When I have the time, I will be setting up a newer, safer file server
(RAID here I come), and the old one will probably become a dedicated
flac and other media server, a task that can easily saturate it's
bandwidth, but that doesn't really require great reliability.

After the file server is built, I will also be moving application server
type tasks to a new machine, so that the file server does absolutely
nothing other than run NFS and Samba, to prevent me from making changes
that could hurt my data that runs in code as who knows what user on the
file server.

So, after those changes, the house will have 5 servers.  3 files
servers, one application server, and one DHCP/DNS/boot server.  If I had
the money for all nice disks, I could combine two of the file servers,
and my parents still want to keep their own file server so that they can
run windows on it when I move out.

Sure, some people combine all these tasks into one machine, but I know
from past experience that I tend to screw things up royally when I do
that, so I rest safe in the knowledge that if I lose a disk from over
heating, or run a new video driver that ends up trashing the disk on my
workstation, that my data is still safe and sound.



-- 
Joshua D. Boyd