What do I need to run DVDs over a network?

Question

I am considering a dedicated back-up server to protect data for my small business, but I would like to have several DVDs in the server and want to be able to retrieve information off those DVDs. It would also be convenient to my business to have some programs on one central machine that several could run on their local machines so as to keep one central database. I have an old computer that I am considering turning into a server. Do I need server software to do these things, or will Windows XP work fine? If I need special software for the server, what should I use?

Answer 1

What are you using the DVDs for? Are you planning on writing the backups to the DVDs or are these the DVDs for software (or movies)? If you're planning on writing your backups to the DVDs then that's probably not the best route to go.



One way to share the DVDs might be to just copy the contents of the DVDs over to the hard drive. Another route might be to copy an ISO image of the DVDs to the hard drive and then mount them using something like DAEMON Tools. Either way the performance is probably not going to be too great for multiple computers accessing the files at once. Using an actual DVD drive will be even slower and as someone else said use up all of your drive bays in the case.



You wouldn't necessarily need to have the programs running off of the centeral server, just have everyone store their data files to the server where everyone else can get at them. This is really going to depend on the software you're using some software will support running off of a central server while other software won't.



I'd second the recommendation to try using a Linux backup server. There are a lot more (and free) methods to do space saving incremental backups with Linux. Check out a couple of these programs:

* BackupPC - http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/

* Rdiff-Backup - http://rdiff-backup.nongnu.org/

* Rsnapshot - http://www.rsnapshot.org/

They'll all let you save multiple versions of files so you can role back to a previous date without using a ton of drive space (they use a couple methods to save only the new/changed files or even only the changed parts of changed files). The only thing is no fancy GUIs, but this is generally something you're just going to setup and let do it's thing anyway, so not a big deal. I've got a Ubuntu server that uses the rsnapshot method and then also do periodic backups to an external HD with rsnapshot.



Will XP work - yes it can, you'll probably need additional software to help out with the incremental/differential backups if you're looking for more than just a mirror of whatever is currently on the main file server. Veritas is the only thing I can thing of now, but I'm sure there are more options. BTW, I'm assuming you're talking XP Pro and not Home - I would guess you could do it with Home, but it may not be the best choice.

Answer 2

For a start your backups are better kept on a hard drive on the server, multiple dvd's will use up all your drive slots and slow it down. All Windows software needs to be loaded locally to get correct registry entries and library file locations. Often loading to a server causes it to lock when one user opens it, preventing others from opening. For a central database, since you are considering a dedicated server, you could load Apache web server with php and the mysql database and use this as your database system, I have most of my clients set up this way and doing secure remote operations from all around the world. The cleanest option is a Linux server, Suse is a good option, this can handle Windows file serving along with centralised email, web server and anything else you care to name. Depending on your disk space requirements and access loads your old machine may cope, or you could just buy a cheap modern machine and fit extra disks before loading the OS. Linux is either free, or can be purchased cheaply.

Answer 3

XP Pro will be fine but isn't as good as it can be (server 2003 is obviously the ideal solution), for DVD data you need a fast NIC and connection, ideally 1gig each end. I've managed to stream DVD videos at this speed with minimal delays.



Just share the entire DVD as you would any other folder and it should come up like any other share on your client machines.

Answer 4

You can download the VLC media player or Window Media Classic( It is the best Media Player ever, imho). I prefer the Window Media Classic because it doesn't install any plugin for it to work. Download and run the Standard Klite Codec Pack and you'll be watching all kind of videos on WMP Classic.