The Anatomy of a Server - Piece-by-Piece Close-up of the Server

It’s the new operating systems, business software updates, and interactive games, with their heightened sophistication and requirements, that drive a computer’s slow and miserable death. The workstations that are exclusively for word processing or basic accounting functions are still productive machines— but if you try to push their limitations and ignore minimum system requirements, the experience can be very frustrating, to say the least. Those invisible incompatibilities can become quite the nightmare (more on this in Chapter 2). They can force you to spend excessive time troubleshooting rather than doing something more productive. That’s when it may be time to buy a new computer, but the rate at which technology and power-hungry software continue to advance means buying a new computer every 18 to 36 months. Even if that’s economically possible for you, there’s no guarantee of compatibility with your current software applications. This is what drove me to a solution that I’ll share with you—how to build a modular, super server for under $400 (with monitor), which includes all the most compatible and upgradeable components. I’ve found this to be a more cost-effective alternative to spending a fortune on the latest name-brand system with a lifespan of about two years. Together, we’ll build a machine that will give you the flexibility to keep up with technology, and, most important, your business.

Technological innovations continue to drive the future of computing. However, computer-related technology, including processors, memory, and software, appears to become obsolete faster than the latest television sitcom. Someone, somewhere is working on building a better mouse-trap and not giving us enough time to get used to the one at hand. Usually, new software drives this obsolescence—new software engineered to handle designated tasks faster and easier. Very little in computer technology is “future-proof.” Fiber optics, with its seemingly unlimited supply of bandwidth, is “future-proof,” but it is hard to imagine what that really means in an industry moving to cut all wires and move into increasingly wireless solutions. It was Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, who once said 640K would be all the memory we would ever need in a desktop computer.

Building a server requires assembling a variety of components, similar to building a bicycle. Many of the server components may be foreign to you, and you may feel bewildered at the prospect of assembling all of them to build a working server, but I’ll break down the process into smaller, interconnected modules, with graphics and step-by-step instructions you can easily follow.

Keep in mind that my goal is not to train you for certification, but rather to show you how and why these components work, and how to put them together. When you purchase a bicycle, you’re not interested in how it works; only that it works after you put it together. I’ll give you tips on where to find some great prices on those components and make the idea of building a computer that nobody “uses” but everybody uses more attractive to management, who may only understand using a computer as a workstation, making employees more productive. What you’re building is not a workstation, and nobody should be using a server as a workstation; it’s just a server, a box that sits there and lets the software do its thing, without human intervention.

Locking the Server for Better Performance

Making a server accessible as a workstation for someone to come by and print a large document, because it’s directly connected to the best printer and their own system is down, will greatly degrade its performance for the multitude of other people trying to use it. This machine will run various server software applications that support many workstations, so the server should be locked away to “serve” the many and not the one.

For me, this hunt to build my own servers began at a supercomputer show and continued throughout the world (actually, the World Wide Web), in search of those exceptional new and used components. It was a matter of economics. It may be difficult to justify spending a few thousand dollars on a machine that literally just sits there. (Most entrepreneurs outside the field of information technology may not understand that “just sits there” doesn’t mean it isn’t being productive.) Most larger cities host a computer show at least once a month; and if you’re looking for a specific component, chances are that you can find it at such a show (see Chapter 2). These shows have become a haven for administrators, serious PC gamers, and hobbyists.

Table 1-1 lists the basic components that will make up our server. I’ll provide details regarding some of the places I’ve found these parts and more, with specific hints, tips, and deals that I’ve discovered that can keep you within the $400 budget. To reiterate, this is a server, not a workstation. I do not recommend having a server double as a workstation, for the following reasons:

• You don’t want anyone at the console of a server, and you want to access it remotely, because it contains sensitive data and should be under lock and key (more on this in Chapter 12).
  
• Using a server as a workstation will degrade its performance substantially by eating up resources the server needs to fulfill its obligations.
  
• If you use a server as a workstation, you run the risk of infection from viruses, since most workstations have Internet and e-mail clients that can download harmful viruses and Trojan horses that can take down the server and the entire network.

The costs listed in Table 1 are actually costs for parts purchased through various outlets, as described in Chapter 2. They may also include shipping and applicable taxes.

One way of keeping people away from the server console is to turn off the monitor and disconnect it from the server after installation, thus leaving it unusable. There is a monitor listed in Table 1; it should be temporary as you will access the server’s desktop through remote administration in Windows 2003 or Server 2003 Terminal Services (more on this in Chapter 11). You should just borrow a monitor for the installation and configuration process.