I got four computers at home.Do I need a server?What is the importance of having one?

Question

What is the best step to install a server at home?

Answer 1

a Server provides the following:

1. a central point for administration policies.

2. a central point to manage network resources (printers, scanners, etc.)

3. advances file sharing and security options



you do not need a server in your home. and who ever put the idea in your head that you do is an idiot. You need a router to network the computers. to share the printers and what not simply go to control panel->printers-> add printer. then follow the on-screen instructions to intall a network printer on the other machines.

Answer 2

You, as stated, do not need server but it can be helpful. I have 13 desktops at the house for the family, and when the kids have friend over. I have two servers running NT 4 SP6a. I use one to allow the kids to host web pages over our cable modem and run a proxy server. It also allows me to make file available to me remotely over the internet via an FTP sever. The second one it a file server we keep picture and back up all the computer to. I use the Backup program to backup the computers automaticaly at night.

I have a used HP LC3 NetServer with dual P-II 550mhz and 1 Gb of RAM. It work great when it was a single P-III 550mhz and 128 MB of RAM but I found a deal on the upgrades. My first web server what an old HP P-I 200mhz with 64mb running Windows NT4 workstation, but have also used 98se and it PWS to host web pages.

I am not running a File Server per si on the second machine. I have Windows NT4 Server setup with file sharing. I justed mapped the drive of the 6 drive I had set aside for each computer. The server's drive just look like a addonal hard drive to the remote computer.

My network is strickly for fun and I can do without any of it.

The proxy server is the only thnk that really helps. The kids all go to the sme sites. When one finds a game the rest want to go to that same download. The proxy server caches the site reducing the load on the downloads. Example. If #1 download geewhizz game. The proxy caches the game, and when thenext computer want it the game is downloaded from the cache in the proxy server. It works muchlike your temp internet file for your URLs.In the corporate world it allows greater access with lower doadload rate. If the game was 5 megBytes, and 4 computer tries to download all at once you would divide you bandwidth by 4. So if you had 4 computeras on DSL Lite, 256kbps download the each would only be allow 64kbps of bandwidth. But with a proxy it would download one instance at 256kbps to the proxy and share it a the LAN speed which is 100Mbp, or 25Mbps, in creasing the download by a factor of 4 in this case. Make since?





I hope I helpped.

Answer 3

Well depend what you want to accomplish with the server! You can set up your system in way that one of your PC can play the role of server. The benefits: If your server is fast, regardless the speed clock of the other machines, you can communicate with the outside world pretty fast! Meaning that the server is the connection point.

Answer 4

If you want to store info so that all can access it, then I would suggest having one (although you really don't need one if you just do peer to peer networking). If you are sharing an application then you would definately need one. I have a Linux Server at the house since I host my own website and use various network tools for gathering internet data. If I was not doing that I would probably not have one since my main pc has a large Drive and I back up with a DVD burner.

Answer 5

If u simply want to connect, Server is not required. Otherwise, like file sharing, internet sharing and all its prefered

Answer 6

if u hav server..u can share the single resource lik printer for evcery system in networking. n u can get all the benifits of networking..even u can share the memory of all the pcs