I'm assuming your server will have a light load and will not be used for parts of the year. I also assume you would like something that will last over 5 years.
You probably can get by with a single core CPU and 1 GIG of RAM.
You could buy a bare bones machine like this one
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1336887&Sku=B69-0454
Add another drive, load CentOS configure it and your off and running for under $400.00 and 2 or 3 hours of work depending on your configuration.
Another alternative is to move to using laptops. I home office and use a Windows desktop and a Linux development server. I have 2 mini towers that crank out the heat. During the winter it is ok for the most part. During the summer it is not. My office is about 2 degrees hotter than the rest of the house. My solution is two laptops. Less heat during those toasty summer days.
I know someone who actually uses inexpensive netbooks with an external monitor & drive. For a sever you would not need an external monitor and you could add a USB hard drive and auto mount it. My current Linux box is an old Dell Celeron which only using 376M RAM which is about a 3rd of what is available. And it is running X.
Several months ago I loaded CentOS 5.5 w/o X onto an old laptop that had a 1GIG celeron, 256M RAM, and a 14GIG hard drive. I was only using it for testing however it ran fine.
So I'm assuming you could get by with a netbook and might not need an external drive. A 250GIG hard drive is common with most netbooks and can be purchased for around $225.
------------------------
Keith Smith
--- On Sun, 10/16/11, Phillip Waclawski <
waclawski@mesacc.edu> wrote:
From: Phillip Waclawski <
waclawski@mesacc.edu>
Subject: suggestions for Buying a small server?
To: "Main PLUG discussion list" <
plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us>
Date: Sunday, October 16, 2011, 8:33 PM
#yiv306750599 p {margin:0;}I'm in the market for a small, cheap server machine to replace the aging Dell Workstations I'm using for my students (Pentium III Coppermine... really ;).
I don't need anything special in the way of graphics. Need 2-4 Gigs of Ram ( to be honest, haven't had issues with the 512Meg I have in the existing ones).
Just want something stable, able to take 2 or more SATA drives and not be much of a power hog. I'll be using CentOS 6 on them. And I'd like to keep it in the low range for the student server, under $500 if I can.
Dennis Kibbe has suggested some of the HP Proliant Micro Servers, and they do look interesting. I figured I'd just ask this group for some of their opinions,
Phil Waclawski
MCC CIS Faculty
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