Shared Server

How do I setup a shared server for users?
I have a 15 person(laptop) network that wants a shared drive to store information. How would I accomplish this? would I get a computer with a huge drive and how would I set the IP to never change so they can all access that server?

Ya, do what you just said. Use Windows, or Linux with Samba as a host. It can be any other computer or even an embedded Linux device like http://www.buffalotech.com/products/network-storage/linkstation/ It has an embedded Windows SMB share and is cheap (about $1 per GB or less) and requires little power and ideal for shares. You can make SMB share accounts/groups so certain people can access certain folders. This one is great - Windows SMB share server, iTunes server, LAMP server, Audio Playback, FTP... You need to buy your own internal drive for this one though. http://www.synology.com/enu/products/DS107+/index.php Use a wireless router with 802.11n for best performance, because newer laptops have 'n" cards, but it is still compatible with 802.11g found in older laptops. DIR-625 is good as is WRT160N. Uplink is slower than downlink though. For a symetrical link, DIR-655. You get about 60-80Mbps actual throughput, which is great for wireless. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127220 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124277&Tpk=wrt160n http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127215&Tpk=dir-655 Dual Band http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124262&Tpk=wrt600n http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127243&Tpk=dgl-4500 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833101500

Moving from shared server to dedicated server?
We are getting our webmaster to move our website from a shared server to a dedicated server and he is saying the process can take up to 2 days work because has to set several things up from scratch (database, etc). Is this true?

It depends on how much work he needs to do on it. What you've said he said makes sense though. When I moved my website from shared hosting to a dedicated server, it took two hours but they probably had a lot of stuff pre-set up. If he's got to set several things up from scratch, I can understand two days.

Run a server off an Ubuntu box connected to home network THROUGH a mac shared internet connection?
Home router > iMac > Server I have internet on the server, shared through an ethernet cable (automatically crossed over internally - thanks mac!), but im not sure how i would alter the setup to allow me to serve to BOTH the LAN outside of the mac and the internet. Any ideas? The imac has 2 network cards, a wireless card which is connected to my home network, and an ethernet port that is connected to the linux server via a regular Ethernet cable (again, its auto crossed over). I have no firewall on the mac because there is one on my router that i have set up the way i like it. i am just not sure how to route the traffic to the mac AND THEN to the server. I mean, i could open the ports obviously on the router, but how will i tell the mac to pass the requests on to the server on the macs own subLAN?

You have the setup totally wrong for this. You are better to connect the server to the router direct. Like any Linux box Ubuntu has excellent forwarding facilities, you best setup would have been a normal wired router, one card on the server to the internet and a second card to a wireless access point. Then you could use the masquerading features and firewall on the server to handle the routing and security. Then just by forwarding the required ports on the router to the server, the server could route the internal requests either to itself or any other machine. NEVER totally rely on the router firewall, especially when you are opening ports inward. This would permit ssh, web serving, ftp and file access.

What's the difference between a dedicated and a shared server?
What are the pros and cons?

Dedicated is for you and you alone. most large companies have dedicated servers. it is more secure. shared is what it says, other people have storage on the same server although it is not like you can see each others files.

How can I serve multiple URLs, with different domains, from the same shared server?


You need a shared host which supports hosting of multiple domains on a same account. I recommend Dreamhost http://www.dreamhost.com/hosting.html They're the best: 1. You get a free domain from them (actually 2 if you use the promo code, more about that later) 2. They have 500 GB of Disk Space and increasing weekly 3. 5TB (5000 GB) of Bandwidth and increasing weekly 4. You can use their huge Disk Space and host unlimited number of sites on a single account. 5. Their standard price is $119.40/year ($9.95/month if you pay yearly) but they currently have a promotion. You can use the Promo Code: PLUS (at sign up page) and get a $50 discount + 2 Free Domain Names 6. This way you get them for $69.40/year ($5.78/month)

How can I retrieve word files and an email account from my old University account that was on a shared server?
The account has been erased by my university but I still need to access some old information, such as friends' details, and old essays. Any help would be greatly appreciated- thanks

If you are an END USER all you need is your ADDRESS & PASSWORD.

How would i set up a access database on a shared server?
i am looking for ways or ideas to put an access database on a server so multiple people can access and enter data from different computers/different time/

You can install the free version of SQL Server 2005 on the server, then use ODBC to link an empty Access database on each PC to the SQL Server on the server. You create an ODBC DSN to the SQL Server via the Administrative Tools -> Data Sources control panel. You use it within Access via File -> Get External Data -> Link Tables.

Is it possible to add a shared address book on a server?
I wish to know if it is possible to add a shared address book on a windows 2003 server which will be used by all employees in a company. (users have outlook 2003 and 2007). I am thinking of this possibility because each time a new user is added, I need to manually update the address book of each and every users in the company.... Thnx for telling if you know a solution for this.

If you have Exchange installed then its easy, otherwise you will need extra software to do this. http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/share.asp

I lost connection to shared folders on win2k server. How do I fix it?
I recently had to reinstall MS server 2k on my server. Before doing so, my pc could connect to the shared folders on my server just fine. After the reinstall, I cant connect anymore. When I try, a login prompt appears, asking for an admin password. When I type in the admin password I use on my server, it keeps loading the login prompt, not recognizing the passowrd. How can I fix this so I can view the contents of those folders again?? Any help is greatly appreciated

Having re-loaded all the security sids etc will now be different. You need to start over, setting all the security up from scratch. This will possibly mean changing ownerships on shared facilities.

Is it possible to reformat the client PC using shared DVD-RAM from the server?
I planned to reformat a client PC , but there is no DVD-RAM in that client.I just want to know if it's possible to reformat the client without removing the DVD-RAM from the server . Anybody , please tell me.

It is possible, but removing the DVD is much simpler.