Using existing Blue and White as a Mac server

vectra · Feb 22nd, 2005, 10:02 PM

We don't have a budget for a an Xserve, so we have to make do with what we have. We have a small studio and are presently using a Windows 2000 machine to serve the Mac. We are still working in System 9 but moving to X shortly. I have some G3 blue and whites around (300/350 mhz) which we can equip with 2 500 gig Lacies. I can then back up the files at the end of the day - 1 500 gig to the other, using Retrospect. This seems like a low cost solution. But I am concerned about transfer speed. The artist wouldn't work from the server but would copy the files to her desktop. Has anyone any experience with this approach. Is there a better way. Is there anything else I should be concerned about?

simon · Feb 23rd, 2005, 08:18 AM

A B/W makes a great server to those budget minded like us. I have a B/W (upgraded to a G4/500) with 1GB RAM running Panther OS X 10.3.x serving my websites and my small studio. It has been running 24/7 for about a year now with out issue. To deal with some of the hard drive transfer issues, I installed a ATA/66 to control the backup drives and left the main drive on original IDE bus. I haven't run into any transfer issues but again you will be limited to the bandwidth speed of the ethernet port (100mb theoretical top speed) which will limit transfer speed anyways.

Finch · Feb 23rd, 2005, 09:06 AM

Myself I also run a G3 B&W 350 as a file server in my home office. 2x 80GB IDE 1x 20GB SCSI 768MB RAM and Panther with a wireless linksys G card works like a charm!

Stephanie · Feb 23rd, 2005, 09:54 AM

Same here, I have a B&W G3/400 running Panther. It's got a 120GB and an 80GB hard drive, 640MB of ram, and runs great. It's got no monitor, keyboard or mouse (doesn't even have a graphics card in it), just power, a network cable and the usb cable to the UPS.

It's set up as my home file-server, a web-server with Apache 2.x, and an ftp server.

Works like a charm, and way cuter than the beige box servers at work.

-Stephanie

zigzagry · Feb 23rd, 2005, 09:11 PM

that sounds like a great idea. There is something my B/W can do for me still. Besides looking pretty that is.

So what software does one need (osx) to set it up as a web server?

Finch · Feb 23rd, 2005, 09:22 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by zigzagry
	that sounds like a great idea. There is something my B/W can do for me still. Besides looking pretty that is. So what software does one need (osx) to set it up as a web server?

A copy of Panther or Jaguar for that matter and just turn on Personal Web Sharing and your good to go!

Stephanie · Feb 24th, 2005, 02:30 PM

I actually don't use the Personal Web server that came with Panther, I installed Apache 2.x since that's what we use at work and I figured it would get me some more practice and experience.

It's a free download, if you go to the Apple / OS X / Downloads area, there's a very easy and painless installation package already put together specifically for the Mac.

Assuming you want to set up a web server of course. For file sharing / FTP I just use what came with Panther.

-Stephanie

zigzagry · Feb 24th, 2005, 05:51 PM

Now if I use apache, or personal file sharing, does this mean that I can host my own www. address just like a paid service would? Or will the address have to start with an IP or something like that?

Stephanie · Feb 24th, 2005, 06:53 PM

Unless you are specifically paying extra for a Static IP address, it's probably assigned dynamically by your ISP. Getting a hostname is only half the battle; once you have it, you have to associate it with your IP address. If your IP address keeps changing (i.e. a dynamic IP) then it can be difficult. Also, many residential type ISPs (Rogers, etc) don't permit you to associate a hostname to your IP, precisely because they don't want you to run a server on their 'residential' system. They'd much rather you pay $$$ to use their 'business' service instead.

Anyhow, there are lots of ways around this. There are lots of companies which offer solutions to track your dynamic IP address. I use one called DYNIP (www.dynip.com). It's pretty cheap, you install a wee little program on your computer, and as long as it's turned on and connected to the internet, people can find your server. You pick your own user name then stick their name on the end of it, like this: va3uxb.dynip.com

If you want to have your own domain name (without the dynip or whatever) you can do that too, but it costs more -- first you buy the domain name from somebody, then you go to a company like dynip and use their service, and they associate your domain name with their tracking software.

It works quite well. You can connect to my home web server and view the Apache test page here:
http://va3uxb.dynip.com:8080/test/

Of course, if you have a static IP address then you can skip right to the domain-name part. There are a zillion companies out there who will hook you up with a domain name - they're cheap enough, I have 3 or 4 of them myself.

There's a lot of other things to consider of course, like your router will have to be configured to allow access on whatever service port(s) you are using, and to direct that traffic to your web server. In my case I have web access enabled through my router and into my B&W serve on port 8080. (Usually it's on port 80).

Still, it's pretty easy to get up and running. It was easier to install and configure Apache to do what I wanted on my Macintosh than it was on the Linux servers at work.

-Stephanie