This was a white-box system that I built myself in my I.T. Hardware and System Software class. In order to meet the requirements for the class we had to custom build a machine and install an OS of our choice. I went above and beyond the normal project and decided to build a server that I could use for my own needs.  This system was built in order to perform as a redundant NAS for the purpose of serving personal files or backups. It was also built in order to serve as a web server if needed.

It was a great experience to see the ease yet some of the difficulties in building custom computers and compatibility issues between hardware and software. Usually as a consumer you experience very few issues with hardware and software that you install with newer systems from computer manufacturers. However using custom hardware and installing a special virtual machine manager such as Hypervisor, it was clear that hardware and software don’t always inter-operate perfectly. Through this project I was able to build a working system, install a virtual machine manager, and install several operating systems such as Cent OS and Windows Server 2008. For the web server to work I had to utilize a dynamic dns service in order to update my dynamic IP address due to the lack of a static IP address.

Specs:

  • 2 2TB WD Hardrives
  • 4 2GB Dimms Ram
  • CD/DVD Combo Drive
  • Gigabyte Motherboard
  • Intel 1Gbps PCI Card
  • Intel i5 Core Processor
  • Thermaltake 600Watt Power Supply
 

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