Should I use an old computer as a home server?

Question

Iron

Hi all.
I took out my old computer, here I sit and think what to do with it.
So what is the computer.
Intel Pen 4
1GB RAM,
128MB vidyuha
and all the little things, in general old :)
I think to put debian on it.
I would like some kind of home server, a file cleaner. Maybe someone else will advise what to put on it? And is it even worth the bother?

Answer 1

You need to understand what you want from your server.
For example, if you want to use it as a NAS (which automatically makes hosting irrelevant), a whole host of questions immediately arise. What is the amount of data? Do you need redundancy?
If, for example, you want a large amount of data, and normal redundancy, then this automatically means something like ZFS RAID-Z2. And this, in turn, means a bunch of disks, a normal HBA in IT mode, a normal case for all this goodness, and, ideally, hardware from HCL to ESXI 5.x, including a server mother, a normal fifth xeon, and 64 gigs of ECC memory, to with a whistle. The total will be about $1.5k excluding HDD, the more the better. Roll on this ESXI, on it - some napp-it, and then finish off with other virtual machines to your taste and needs.
And then you painfully think where to make a remote backup from this in order to save the information if the server, God forbid, burns down with the apartment.
But this is the maximum program. If all this is not needed, take some kind of atom, ordinary memory, and everything is simpler. Then the electricity bills will be small, and there will be less noise. Only when your HDD dies there will you become unbearably sad. Well, you don’t drive a lot of virtual machines on it (unless, of course, you really need them).

Answer 2

Of course you can, but you get tired of paying for electricity.

Answer 3

Electricity + static IP. Hosting will be cheaper. Even VDS.

Answer 4

It will rumble, take up space, accumulate dust and interfere with washing floors. Do you need it?
With a consumption of 200 watts per hour and a price of 5 rubles per kW in 24/7 operating mode for a year, you will pay 8,760 rubles, the cheapest virtual machine in Azure will cost 9,000 rubles.

Answer 5

If you want, then of course it's worth it)
But yes, hosting is cheaper.

Answer 6

Listen to all of the above. Old computers as a server should not be used.
It's time to let them go.

Answer 7

In general, home hosting is a profitable thing, one real unlimited traffic is usually worth a lot. And commercial hosting can be a big hit if you get a good deal, for hundreds of dollars in minuses, for hours. And ddosit will be required.
A mirrored raid is enough for a disk system. A fire is such a situation where you can burn yourself, let alone lose data, so it makes no sense to take into account such an extreme case. Of the disks, just do not take seagate in any case, the last large ones showed themselves poorly.
The motherboard, of course, is minimally consuming. Meanwhile, now there are microcomputers the size of a flash drive, which are many times more productive than author's hardware and much more economical.
At home, I use boards on Intel Atom, cheap and economical, on average. I maintain more than one home server (dacha too). All of the above is purely subjective.

Answer 8

Yes, there is hosting.
So, in terms of electricity, I didn’t even think that there was a lot of consumption there?