Old Hardware, New Tricks: Building A Linux File ServerOld Hardware, New Tricks: Building A Linux File Server

Want to bring some law and order to an unruly small-business IT setup? A Linux file server could be just the ticket -- and if you have an old, obsolete PC sitting around the office, you've got everything you need to get started.Over at Linux Journal, Paul Thane explains how he was getting tired of playing hide-and-go-seek with the files he needed on his home-office network:

"Peer-to-peer networking is fine when all the machines are on, but inevitably it happens that the file I want is on a PC that isn't running. Even worse, it be on my testbed machine that is currently in pieces or undergoing yet another upgrade. So, we need an always-on server that any of us can access any time, but if it is always on, it needs to be quiet, reliable and cheap to run. These requirements rule out Pentium 4 (too hot and power-hungry) and Windows (needs rebooting too often). Fortunately, I just happen to have a Pentium III of no great distinction that sports a massive passive cooler, and I'm a bit of a Linux enthusiast. Apart from stability, Linux has several other advantages. It's free. It is almost totally virus-resistant, and it comes with excellent fire-walling and security features. And, it is easy to administer remotely, so once it's set up, the server doesn't need its own keyboard, mouse or screen, which saves expense, space, power and heat."

One of the great things about this project is that it combines free software with hardware that might otherwise end up on the recycling heap. In this case, Thane uses Kubuntu (a variant of Ubuntu Linux that uses the KDE desktop rather than GNOME); like most other current Linux distros, it runs amazingly well on older hardware. And while you don't have to set up a "headless" file server, it's easy enough to do, using free (and generally cross-platform) remote-administration tools such as VNC.

Check out the howto article for details -- and put your old PC hardware back to work for your small business, rather than just putting it out on the curb.