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Type of Server???

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by lucky_ray

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Can anyone help?I am seriously thinking of starting an Internet cafe business using ADSL Broadband 1.5.I will have 20 clients running Windows ME...(Any suggestions other than ME?)My dilema is what size server to build or would it be better to build two, One for the Internet Access and one for Network Gaming?
What software/Hardware specs do you think I will require to provide a fast Internet/Game server

5 replies

by joseph moore

I take it you want to do this correctly, am I right? Then let's start with some basics.

First off, your client machines should be (to stick with Windows products), either Win2K Professional or WinXP Professional. WinME has no real security functionality, hotfix management, or stability. My preference would be to use Win2K, but if these machines will also be doing some gaming, then you will need the power that XP provided. Basically, XP has the stability of the NT kernel with the gaming powerof Win98. Win2K is not a good gaming platform. It is stable, yes; it is secure, yes; but there can be gaming problems.

So, XP would probably be the best bet for the client workstations. YOu can set up each client machine to auto-login with the same domain user name that has limited rights, while many system features are locked down. There are many articles out there detailing how to set this up.

Now, as for the server question, I suggest you run 2 servers, for one simple reason: if a server dies, you still have the other one up! If you run your Internet gateway and central game server on the same machine, and if the NIC on this server goes out, then your entire buisness is offline! And downtimes like that are not usually acceptablefor any business owner! This is called "distributed computing", and it is easy to grow from this method also.

Hence the name of my comment. It is easier to scale up to more machines and more content provided with distributed computing. And the more content you can provide in a secure and stable environment, then the more business you can create. And the more revenue coming in.

Good luck

by lucky_ray

Thank You Joseph for the advice. Someone else also suggested XP so I think it is the way to go for the client machines. Could you recommend what Hardware configuration would be suffice to run my Internet Cafe.

Ray

by joseph moore

First off, go here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/evaluation/default.asp
(please remove any spaces)
This is the home page for XP Pro. From here, you can get minimum System Specifications to run XP. That is important. You need to make sure your hardward is adequate to run XP.
Now, it won't take that much money to do this. YOu can get machines from CDW that are more than powerful enough for just $500 nowadays!
Good luck!

by areets

I can see that several elements have either been disregarded or forgotten; yet these are important factors. If the server is the gateway, unless if you have some form of clustering or redundancy built-in, you are embedding a "weak point" that will remain and issues will follow.

If you have not, separate your application environmnt from the networking and security infrastructure for Internet access.

Internet Cafes have made these classical mistakes. Yes scalibility is important, but whatgood is your invironment if it is not stable (SBS).

TSP

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