Suggestions for a little mail/print server box?
In an ideal world, what I'd be looking for is a little box I can plug into the end of a leased line which would be the following:
1. an IMAP mail server
2. remotely accessible over either TCP/IP or dial-up
3. a mail server (With an ethernet port to attach my laser printer)
4. an AirPort base station
5. a firewall
6. a low-volume web server
7. very low maintenance.
I'd like to be able to manage it from a computer attached to the network.
Are there any hardware and software solutions which cover at least some of these requirements?
1. an IMAP mail server
2. remotely accessible over either TCP/IP or dial-up
3. a mail server (With an ethernet port to attach my laser printer)
4. an AirPort base station
5. a firewall
6. a low-volume web server
7. very low maintenance.
I'd like to be able to manage it from a computer attached to the network.
Are there any hardware and software solutions which cover at least some of these requirements?
Comments
<strong>Must it use Airport? Can it use a PC compatible WAN card?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Oh, I really should have said 802.11b.
How about:
800MHz Duron: $44 + $7 Shipping at NewEgg.com
Shuttle AK31 Motherboard Rev 3.1: $81 + $7 Shipping at NewEgg.com
Inwin Q500 Server Tower Case with 300W PSU: $69 + $20 Shipping at NewEgg.com
Some RAM from Crucial.com...they have a free shipping promo right now and Crucial is just great stuff.
IBM 60GXP 20GB: $74 + $10 Shipping at NewEgg.com
Radeon VE 32MB: $47 + $7 Shipping at NewEgg.com
Sony OEM 52X CD: $28 + $6 Shipping
Mitsuko Black KBD and crap Mouse: $13 plus $10 shipping at Directron.com
hmmm I must be missing something. Oh yeah, WANs and LANs. I have no clue what cards to buy except maybe 3Com stuff...check out the Ars Networking Fora at ArsTechnica. It will probably come out as an extra $150 or so for the necessary stuff. Base station may be extra.
I am in the same boat and having a lot of fun tackling this problem.
For a pure router, I just replaced my FreeBSD PC (120mHz x86) with the Smoothwall linux distro, and man that thing is slick.
It forbids you, however, from doing anything else with your rinky dink pc. It makes a fantastic purpose built router/firewall, and it is administrated via a nice web interface (internal, of course). It really is a joke a set up. If you need to poke holes through it, access external services or setup a VPN, it can handle all that too. You can even reach the linux command line via a ssh java applet. Very very slick. Like a cobalt, but free and not as versitile. If you have a hard drive over 100 megs, it's going to waste. Perfect for dusty 486's and the like.
For all your tasks 1-7, you probably need a unix of some kind for reliability and low maintenance.
Now let's see. You need a little box. You didn't mention price.
This fits your needs perfectly, almost:
<a href="http://www.cobalt.com/products/qube/index.html"; target="_blank">http://www.cobalt.com/products/qube/index.html</a>;
No wireless.
The requirement that you have a router/firewall means you'll need two NICs, so it's either a PowerMac or a PC. Newer PowerMacs are airport ready, whereas you can get PCI 802.11 card for PC's. I would be tempted to lean towards the PC since you could get a small board and build your own silent case for it. (Silent fans, insulated case).
That's my main problem, getting this(these) pc(s) quiet. I have 4 towers in my bedroom and it sounds like an aircraft carrier in here. I'd like to build a box with a door and throw them all in. In the meantime I am toying with the idea of getting a quieter power supply for my router plus a small silent drive and quiet fans, and reincasing it in something slimmer and smaller.
Not counting the power supply and the 802.11 antenna, that's a 4" by 4" by 3" cube! :eek:
That's tiny!
PC104 modules and PCMCIA anything are expensive though.
Just a thought..
The Cobalt Qube was one of the first things I looked at, the only downside being that I need external solutions for the 802.11b and dial-up access. Unfortunately, most of these boxes are the same. I wanted to try and avoid having a computer + networking hardware solution, but I may have to go that way.
If only Apple would see it's way to adding a G3 and a hard disk to the AirPort Base Station...
I'm looking into the PC104 solution right now. Cost isn't really a concern. After a couple of nightmarish problems with ISPs, I've decided to take matters into my own hands, and just rely on a telecoms company for the leased line.
Just how many computers are you looking to serve, anyways?
I was thinking about taking all my components our of their cases and rackmounting them, but those rack mounts are a fortune, and not exactly space efficient if you have less than a dozen machines.
One thing I have not yet been able to figure out how to do is to cap throughput on certain computers within my network.
For example I want a video conferencing stream on machine A to override all packets from other machines..
Wouldn't it be nice if you could designate bandwidth? (e.g. 70% to machine A, 20% to machine B, 10% to all DHCP served machines)
Yes. An apple product for this would be sweet, but it's a server market and most consumers don't need their own mail servers... do they?
<strong>Holy moly, Belle. Are you getting a T1?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yeah, it's become a necessity. I'm not only shifting some huge video files for my little side project, but it's the easiest way to handle the vast volumes of data I deal with at work.
[quote]<strong>Just how many computers are you looking to serve, anyways?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Externally, it's going to be handling around 20 or 30 users accessing a website, a mailing list, a couple of mail accounts, and dealing with requests for some pretty large files.
[quote]<strong>Wouldn't it be nice if you could designate bandwidth? (e.g. 70% to machine A, 20% to machine B, 10% to all DHCP served machines)</strong><hr></blockquote>
Absolutely! It's something that would be incredibly useful. The large volumes of data that'll be coming in/going out need complete priority over everything else.
[quote]<strong>Yes. An apple product for this would be sweet, but it's a server market and most consumers don't need their own mail servers... do they?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Probably not. I just want someone to make the device I need.
Price is an issue. The following are quotes for single unit purchases:
1x 266 K6 low power/fanless CPU + 4MB VRAM:
$1169
1x Dual PCMCIA module:
$189
2x 10/100Mbps Ethernet modules:
$245 ea
1x PCMCIA 1 Gig IBM Microdrive:
$313
1x PCMCIA 802.11 (Orinoco) card:
$71
1x 4" Cantainer enclosure:
$174.38
2x Enclosure endcaps:
$26.25
1x 60W PSU with UPS built-in:
$616.88
1x Firewall/Router/Web Server/Mail Server/WAN Base Station in a 4" x 4" x 3" Cube:
Priceless
Actually, more accurately, it would come out to 3049.51 before taxes, etc.
And you thought the G4 Cube was overpriced!
<strong>No reason to get Mac OS X Server. The client version of OS X can already do all of that. Unless you need Mac Manager and Netboot, OS X Server is a wate of money. I especially hate how services are administered via the Server Admin app.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yeah, I agree. I'm trying to avoid having to deal with any of this stuff, which is why I'm looking at the "server-in-a-box" products.
I'm going to play with the Sun Cobalt products tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes. The combination of that, a router, and an external modem may just do the trick.
[quote]Price is an issue.<hr></blockquote>
Honestly, it's not.
[quote]'m going to play with the Sun Cobalt products tomorrow<hr></blockquote>
You have these just lying around?!
I'd recommend a cobalt + an airport base station. At least that way you can move your base station around to get the best reception and keep the Qube in the closet or near the line jack.
C'mon Belle, you know you want a badass PC104 solution!
<strong>I don't think you'd need an additional router if you have a Qube.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Unfortunately, you can't just plug the Qube into a T1 line.
[quote]<strong>You have these just lying around?!</strong><hr></blockquote>
Hehe, no, I'm going to a reseller. I heard one of the sections at work has a RaQ, though, so I'll need to track that down.
[quote]<strong>I'd recommend a cobalt + an airport base station. At least that way you can move your base station around to get the best reception and keep the Qube in the closet or near the line jack.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yeah, this seems to be the best solution. I'm going to let the guys try and sell this to me tomorrow, though I won't make a decision.
[quote]<strong>C'mon Belle, you know you want a badass PC104 solution!</strong><hr></blockquote>
I really am tempted, but it's a matter of time and practicality. I'd really just like to buy a box I can stick in a closet and forget. Or am I being too optimistic about the stability of these things?
Software wise, it's nothing special. Several Linux distrubutions offer that kind of service. It's a nice appliance though.
<strong>No reason to get Mac OS X Server. The client version of OS X can already do all of that. Unless you need Mac Manager and Netboot, OS X Server is a wate of money. I especially hate how services are administered via the Server Admin app.</strong><hr></blockquote>
How? I'm using my PowerBook G3 wallstreet as a server at my office. It is running AppleShare IP 6.x, I would really like to have OS X running it but I have no knowlege of UNIX to turn on the services.
I need a mail server, web server (that one is easy enough), file server and DNS. If anyone could help me accomplish this, I will gratefully become their kidney doner
<strong>In an ideal world, what I'd be looking for is a little box I can plug into the end of a leased line...
Are there any hardware and software solutions which cover some of these requirements? </strong><hr></blockquote>
Qube? Why not a Cube! This is precisely why I bought my Cube after MWSF 2001. Even though I craved the just released TiBook, my projected future needs called for a bit of planned obsolescence and I went with the Cube knowing that it would be put to file & web server / firewall service when I bought my TiBook (when it gets DP or < Gig G4).
My Cube has been my desktop system and I totally love it. It sits as Art on my desk, and has performed flawlessly for me. I bought APPL stock with the $2k I saved over going for a TiBook and when the right TiBook comes out I'll cash it (and some SGI stock I bought @ $.50) and get the Apple of my eye as a desktop replacement. I won't even have to move the Cube, it looks so good on my desk.
I've allready upgraded the Cube to 1024 MB RAM and an OEM 100GB Western Digital Caviar (w/ 8MB RAM cache) to get ready for it's second life as my desktop server. I'll pop the $499 for OSX Server because I want the tools as well as Quicktime streaming. Anybody care to comment on this plan?
A proper firewall/router needs two network interfaces.
<strong>Aphelion: Let me know when you get a second NIC in that thing.
A proper firewall/router needs two network interfaces.</strong><hr></blockquote>
justus, let me know what a second NIC would do for me. Could my TiBook (when I get it) support one, while the Cube supports the other? I plan to share my 19" MultiSync with both machines. Since my TiBook will be my "desktop" machine 95% of the time w/ Dual Display while the Cube will simply "Serve" the TiBook with a web & file network while acting as a firewall.
Do I need to think this out more, or am I on the right track here? Posters with more network savy are welcome to comment or even flame me, if I can learn something from you I'm OK with that.
edit: unlike belle, I don't have the luxury of a T1, but I have just added DSL to the current set-up.
[ 11-29-2001: Message edited by: Aphelion ]</p>
[quote]One thing I have not yet been able to figure out how to do is to cap throughput on certain computers within my network.
For example I want a video conferencing stream on machine A to override all packets from other machines..
Wouldn't it be nice if you could designate bandwidth? (e.g. 70% to machine A, 20% to machine B, 10% to all DHCP served machines)<hr></blockquote>
Well, it's gonna hurt your wallet, so only "Cost No Object" Belle might be interested, but check this out:
<a href="http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06595"; target="_blank">Sculpting Network Traffic article on TidBITS</a>.
That sounds like what you're looking for.
[ 11-29-2001: Message edited by: Amorph ]</p>