The server enclosure

A server needs to be more than just storage. It must be constantly available, which generally means it has to occupy shared status on a network.

THE EASIEST OPTION by far is an off-theshelf solution from the likes of QNAP or Synology. These not only look fairly stylish and discreet, they also come more or less ready to roll straight out of the box. These have dedicated operating systems and software that feature user-friendly graphic interfaces and customised apps that make the business of managing and playing your media no more difficult than operating your smartphone. The price you pay for that, though, is... the price. And don’t forget you still have to install drives for storage. Expect to pay about R5 000 excluding drives.

At the other extreme price- wise, a server can be as simple as a PC with extra storage you’ve added. The beauty of this kind of arrangement is that you don’t need a very powerful PC because you won’t be doing CPUintensive procedures such as graphics or video. So an old PC should be good enough, even if you intend running a commercial server operating system such as Microsoft Home Server, which is likely to be quite resourceintensive. If your plan is to run a Linuxbased operating system, a less powerful machine should be able to cope comfortably.

Somewhere in the middle is the Microserver, a genre created by HP. The relatively cheap originals have been supplanted by more powerful, more capable (and hence more expensive) modern equivalents, sadly. Fortunately, we were able to acquire a “new old stock” HP Microserver N36L online at R1 200. The Microserver’s engine is not particularly powerful – it’s basically the equivalent of a netbook’s – but the overall package makes up for it. There are caddies for four hard drives, plus a DVD writer bay and plenty of expansion slots including USB ports. The Microserver has the clever feature of an extra internal USB socket on the main board, hidden behind the lockable front door. That’s where the operating system flash drive now lives.