[mdlug] Where's the "Linux Home Server"

[Ron Blanchett]

----- Original Message ----
From: Robert Adkins <radkins at impelind.com>

    Neither of those fit the bill. Those are "Out of the Box" 
replacements for a "Media Center Edition" of Windows. This "Windows Home 
Server" product would be an extra separate box that acts as the central 
hub for the entire home network.

    Printing, file sharing, outside of the home file streaming for media 
and straight out sharing for non-media files, automatic backups of all 
desktop systems entire file systems every night, automatic backups of 
all data stored on the "Home Server", simple expansion setup for adding 
additional hard drive space to the "Home Server", network security in 
the form of "pushing" AV updates and scanning all files on the server.

   I know most of the above is possible with Linux. Does anyone have 
something ready to go, that does all of this already?

    -Rob
__________________________________________________________

My MythTV box does all of this already.
It is my home print server for my laserjet printer w/ Cups, I can also print
to this printer from outside my house, i.e. at work.
It is my home file server.
MythWeb allows outside of the house streaming of media based content.
And since it is my house file server everyone in my home has access to
all of the shared files located on the it.
I don't have the automated backup of all desktop systems thing but my wife
and myself only store our data files on the myth server so there is no need for
a nightly backup of our systems, but I could do one with amanda, backuppc, or
any of the other networkable backup software available to linux. Nightly backups
of the server are stored to an external hard drive for easy restores and when the
backup file is over a week old it gets auto deleted via a script I setup to save on
space on the external drive. I don't call it simple but with LVM I am able to expand
my drive space with however much additional space I can afford or think I need ATM.
I don't need automated AV updates as all of the computers in my house run Linux
but I do perform weekly virus scans of the files on the server just for my own piece
of mind, I have not had a virus to date but I still run the scans.

So what is this new Windows home server doing that I can not do with a linux box in
my home, nothing. Yes it did take me a little time to get everything on by linux server
setup the way it needed to be for it to work for me but in the end I saved a lot of cash.
And updates to my setup are free till the end of time, can you say that about the M$
solution.

-Ron