Setting up a Home Server (not just for files)

[darkside]

Hi, sorry if this is a bit stupid, im trying to figure out if this is even possible.
Basically my problem is: I have 2 laptops, a ps3 and a desktop machine. All the lap/PC's run linux, the ps3 is just standard. At the minute, all my computers are 'on their own' so they all have their own files, they all have thire own updates to be done, they all need to be looked after individually. Accsessing files on the desktop from a laptop means turning it on obviously, and they mounting drives and its just a hassle.

What i want is this: Turn the desktop (which is rarley used) into a server. So when i boot my laptops I can logon, do whatever (borwse, download, install programs), then logoff and go on the other laptop, and have it be essentially the same machine so i dont notice any difference.

That way, I only have to update the server, all my files are there and will be ready to go as soon as im logged on etc. I dont have to remember what files are on what pc and my PS3 can also accsess all my music.

Is this possible. Ive been looking at the Ubuntu server (thats th flavour of linux im using currently) and I can only really see info for using it as a file server/web server. Im not sure what kind of server I even need, or if i would need more than one.

Thanks for any replies
Nathan

[jdeb]

I think Ubuntu Server or FreeNAS is a great choice. You are basically describing a File server or Home server as I read it. Here is a guide that is fairly straight forward and will answer your questions.

https://help.ubuntu.com/10.04/serverguide/C/index.html
To share files, you will want to look at #13 File Servers (NFS)


Another option might be FreeNAS, It may be easier.
FreeNAS 8.0 | Storage For Open Source

[Tin]

Since youre using Linux, it only makes sense to use NFS instead of SMB to share folders on the server. NFS is nice, and the shares are mounted on the remote machines as if they were a local folder. NFS is also faster than SMB, but you probably wont notice any differences in speed over wifi as opposed to ethernet. With NFS, you can run rsync as a cron job on the clients and have them sync up certain files and folders to the server to help keep your data secure. Another thing you can do is set up a DLNA server to share media with your PS3. Mediatomb works very nice for this, and has a rather intuitive web GUI you can use to set it up and manage your media. You can also set up a DHCP server and run dnsmasq to have a local DNS cache, which will speed up your web browsing. Theres quite a bit you can do with a Linux server, Ive only scratched the surface here.

[Preston]

So, if I understand correctly, you want a main server computer and your laptops to act as 'thin clients' ?

Basically, all your software installed on your server?

[darkside]

I think so preston yes. Kinda like when i was back in school/college.

All the workstations hooked into the main server and whatever machine i was logged in on i always had the same settings/files applications available etc. I dont THINK there was ever anything installed on the workstations, they were just blank terminals as far as i know.

I basically dont want to have to mess with my laptops anymore, if everything was on a server id only have to maintain that. Make sense?

Maybe its not practical (id loose the portability right?) but i was more looking for a project to play with over a weekend or something, figured this could be pretty interesting. When i got bored i could just stick plain old ubuntu back on them

Thanks
Nathan

[Tin]

It sounds like Ubuntu Jeos fits exactly what you want to do. The problem in this area is the clients do none of the processing, its all done on the server. The clients PXE boot from commands sent by the server. AFAIK, you cant PXE boot over wifi.