(Amazing how often I think of this forum as a tech resource...)
I need to set up an internet-connected server at home so that I can make some files available. Now, when I think "server," I think "2U rack-mounted box connected to the SAN and backup tape library, with firewalls between it and the Internet." That's overkill for what I want here.
I'll need to set this up so that only people with a password to be able to download files. A web server, or something that's equally as easy for a non-technical person to use, appears to be indicated here. I assume a firewall of some sort is also necessary - the firewall in most DSL "modems" is designed for incoming traffic, not outgoing traffic. While a FTP server, a wiki back-end (preferably the same one that FenWiki uses), and a VPN host (I have a static IP address, but nobody else in the possible VPN does) would be nice, they're future projects, not essentials at the moment.
I don't yet know what OS is going to be on this box - recommendations there would also be appreciated, but no OS-wars, please. The hardware will be a PC out of my spare-parts box, so definitely not cutting-edge. Or even "trailing-edge," probably.
While a turnkey solution would be considered - time is tight and I'm busy - "free" trumps "easy" here, and I do have security concerns about turnkey solutions in general.
What do I need, and where do I get it?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
I need to set up an internet-connected server at home so that I can make some files available. Now, when I think "server," I think "2U rack-mounted box connected to the SAN and backup tape library, with firewalls between it and the Internet." That's overkill for what I want here.
I'll need to set this up so that only people with a password to be able to download files. A web server, or something that's equally as easy for a non-technical person to use, appears to be indicated here. I assume a firewall of some sort is also necessary - the firewall in most DSL "modems" is designed for incoming traffic, not outgoing traffic. While a FTP server, a wiki back-end (preferably the same one that FenWiki uses), and a VPN host (I have a static IP address, but nobody else in the possible VPN does) would be nice, they're future projects, not essentials at the moment.
I don't yet know what OS is going to be on this box - recommendations there would also be appreciated, but no OS-wars, please. The hardware will be a PC out of my spare-parts box, so definitely not cutting-edge. Or even "trailing-edge," probably.
While a turnkey solution would be considered - time is tight and I'm busy - "free" trumps "easy" here, and I do have security concerns about turnkey solutions in general.
What do I need, and where do I get it?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012