This is all about security for the data. First I list everything that I think is really essential. Everything else should be and add-in except for file and printer sharing.

RAID-1

Whether it is soft or hardware based (I really prefer hardware based, so I like support for Highpoint, 3ware and Promise drivers at least…), a home server needs to have a solid system for securing files. Why RAID-1? Well, a single point of failure will always be the RAID control mechanism, either as software or hardware. If you use RAID-1, you can just take one drive out of the server and mount it on a different PC and you have access to all your data. If you use RAID-5 or RAID-6, you are not sure to be able to recover your raid if the controller goes… RAID-1 is not as efficient as RAID-5 or RAID-6 in terms of storage space, but in my opinion, the security is higher.

The system drive should also be on a RAID-1 setup so it is not lost because of harddrive failure. The whole OS including programs, not any user data or backup data, should fit on a relatively small drive so there is no cost excuse to skip running a RAID-1 for it.

File system

Based on maksimum security, there should go a lot of thought into what filesystem that should be used for the data drives. FAT32 would be a good candidate if it had been a bit more robust and allowed for bigger filesizes. But with a maximum of 2GB files, it is totally out of the question since many people would like to store backups of DVD’s on a server like this. A good solution might be to to use ext-2 or ext-3 and provide Windows and OSX drivers to be able to read the drives if there should be a major crisis.

Backup

Even if we have a secure way of storing data on the server, we still need a good backup system. And I really prefer a centrally managed system. There should only be a small agent installed on each PC (Windows, OSX or Linux/BSD) and then the rest should be done from the server – setting up what to backup, when and how often. There system MUST be able to backup files that are in use and to control bandwith use so it can run in the background even if you are working on the system.

There should be a wide range of options on where to store the backups. The backups of the pc’s in the network could be stored or cached on the server. But there must also be a way to wite to an different medium e.g. DVD+R or tape. Or some other kind of attached storage. Because of this it would be smart to have the backup program divide all backup files into chunks of 2GB or less.

Health monitoring of critical components in the network.

There are protocols to monitor hardware today. Especially harddrives that are S.M.A.R.T. enabled. So why not do this centrally? Use the same agent that do the backup control to continually monitor the harddrive, fans, CPU of the pc it is running on and send any critical messages immediately to the server. There you can have a program that send alerts by e-mail, sms, make a call through an IP-Phone and play a recorded message etc. This should not be complicated to set up. And it would be a good thing to send status for each PC on a regular basis so the server builds a statistics that can be reviewed.

File sharing

This is a given. Each user needs to have their own home folder where they can store documents and folders where more people have access so pictures and other things can be shared.

IMPORTANT: Actually, there should also be some sort of version control on this. I have no idea if this is possible in any of the filesystems out there, but pictures, music and video all share one thing – you do not want to destroy the original. So a way to mark files as originals and then block all modifications would be ok. I can see one reason to modify the originals – add metadata. So this part is a bit of a challenge and I have not seen anything about this on the internet at all.

Printer sharing

This is also a given. Most people can not afford to have one or more printers for each computer in the house. There should be an easy way to get the driver for the printer from the server when you install it on a local pc.

One function that I use a lot is printing to PDF. This could be a central function as well. Yes, I know there are good, local alternatives, but it would be nice to collect all "printer" functions at a central point.

User control

This add one more to the given list. I would like to set up both users and groups and have an easy way of adding users to groups. I like using groups instead of user to control access to functions. The server need to be able to run really headless. No monitor, no keyboard and no mouse.

Communication with a UPS

A UPS is essential in a setup like this and it is equally important that the server communicates with the UPS so it knows when the power goes down and can shut down the server in a controlled manner.

Anti-virus

There should definitely be some software for this running on the server as well as malware detection. It is important to go for a software that is updated very often and that have a live scanner that do not bog down the server.

Firewall

Yes, the server need to be protected as in beeing hardened so it can withstand an attack. BUT – I do not think the server itself should be a firewall for any other component in the network. This is a task better done by a separate box as I think it is too dangerous to attach the box with the data you are trying to protect directly to the internet.

Caching DNS and DHCP server

It should be possible, but all internet routers today have DNS and DHCP built in. Still, a caching DNS might be useful and it should come with Open DNS as a predefined choice as the main DNS. The server need to be able to switch to IPv6 as soon as it is available without any reconfiguration.

Dynamic DNS client

Also present in a lot of routers, but can be a good idea to add.

Network Time Server

To make sure all things are timestamped correctly in the network, the server should have a network time server. This one should have two different ways of keeping time. One is the internet time servers and the other should be the possibility to connect a GPS and read the time from the GPS system. The last one is often used in bigger networks.

Server-to-server communication through firewalls and NAT

I absolutely see the need to have and additional server in another house and have the possibility to let the two servers communicate. This could be done through VPN, but the setup has to be very easy AND extremely secure. So using certificates that are at least 2048 bit or preferrably more with strong encryption on the traffic is a must.

VPN

Yes, it would be nice to have a way to use VPN to access the box from the outside of the home network. But it has to be real easy, and it should not be based on passwords. Use a certificate based system as this should be much less vulnerable to attack. Locally, access is best done through a HTML interface. And that brings me to:

Control of the server

As already said, the main functionality should be through an HTML interface. But for admin purposes, it might be necessary to have SSH and FTP as well. As I guess mySQL will run on the box, myPHPAdmin should also be available.

Automatic updates

There are no ways around this one. It is extremely important that the whole system is built to allow automatic updates from day one. All add-ins should also allow for this so there need to be some kind of guidelines on how to package them. The only alternative would be a kind of one-click updates. The server send the admin an e-mail about a new update. You log on and click the update button.

Add-in: Mail

This one is almost a part of the base system for me, but I realise that a lot of people are very satisfied using their normal mail client.

POP3, IMAP and SMTP server with webmail system. It should also have the possibility to act as a POP3 and IMAP client for the users that do not have their own domain. This is a part of the server that would be nice to access from the outside of the house when you are travelling.

Add-in: Calendar

This also comes close to the base system list. Having a shared calendar system with calendars for all the people in the house can be a major advantage. Especially if the calendars can use Google calendar or another internet based calendar to display busy/free times. Scheduling time in a busy family can be a good reason to install this add-in. It should also be possible to subscribe to calendars on the internet so things like football schedules, school holidays and other things can be easily added.

Add-in: Address book

The third of the "almost base system" add-ins. Beeing able to share important addresses would also be a major advantage. It is a must for me that any addressbook as a minimum can sync completely with Outlook and that I will not loose ANY of the information I have stored there when I sync.

I love any system that can take some of the work of keeping addresses updated away from me. I use Plaxo and as long as you do not pester your friends with invites and upload your whole addressbook there, I think it is a good service. I would love to see a serverbased sync with Plaxo so I don’t have to run the client on my PC. This would also mean that I would have correct addresses even when I use programs that do not sync with Plaxo as long as that program sync with the home server.

It is of course extremely important that you are able to control what addresses that are shared and what part of the info in an address that is shared. I use the comments on addresses in Outlook a lot and the info there is not always something that should be shared in a network although it would be a good thing to have it on the server so only I can see it.

Add-in: To-do list

This goes well together with the previous things and I am pretty sure there are programs developed that already cover this. But it is important that there also exist free sync systems for all major software packages (Outlook, Thunderbird, Opera etc.)

Add-in: Fax

Another type of printer function might be sending of faxes. The use of fax is diminishing by the day, but there are still companies that would like to have it. So why not add this as a printerservice?

Reception of faxes should also be an easy one with central management. It should be possible to add the e-mail addresses of each person in the house and then log on to the server, pick the right recipient for a fax and click the deliver button. It should then be sent as an attachment to the right persons e-mail.

Add-in: VOIP central

There is a beautiful box out there called Fritzbox. It is a ADSL2 modem, router, WiFi AP and VOIP router at the same time. I would love to have Asterisk added to the server and be able to do some of the things you can do with the Fritzbox. I have no idea if it is possible to use a standard modem or ISDN card as an interface to the normal phone system, but there should be a way to route the normal phone into this and use that line for local calls and emergency calls.

Then it should be possible to use something like VOIPDiscount to call international. There are now good IP handsets out there from Grandstream etc. so with a home PBX, you could have phones all over the house. Just plug them into the switch. And make sure you buy a switch with enough ports As the use of a server like this grows, it would be nice to be able connect to friends and family and set up your own small telephone network where you can call for free using this.

Add-in: Squeeze server

A server to serv all your MP3′s. I love the Squeeze box idea and the fact that you can stream audio without having to use a PC to play it back.

Add-in: *AMP server

I guess all of these will be running anyway, so it might be an idea to have a way to add php scripts. I develop websites and would really love to have a Joomla and WordPress system running locally. BUT – the directories for these things need to be on the data drives so they are backed up regularly. Maybe there should even be an automated setup where I only need to place the latest distribution of each system in a special folder and then I could go to the web interface and click on "Add new Joomla site" or "Add new WordPress site" and the server took care of setting up the database, user and install the script. Could be a cool thing. A little like Fantastico, but using the standard distributed packages so whenever there is an update from the developers, you can just replace the package.

Add-in: Web site backup server

As I work with web sites, I would love to have an efficient way to use the home server to regularly make backups of each domain so I do not have to think about it or run a separate PC to do it. But only as an add-in. Most people do not want this functionality.

Add-in: Wiki server

Making an in-house manual for different things can be a good idea. Just wish there were a way to just scan the manual of the new TV and say "Make Wiki"…

Add-in: Podcast client "server"

The people in our family have different taste. And we all love music. I like podcasts, but the others find it too difficult to mess with. But all of us use MP3 players. So my thoughts go like this: What if I had a system where they could subscribe to the podcasts on the server, then the server downloaded the podcasts automatically and put it in a folder where the Squeeze server could stream them locally? Also, there should be a way to just plug in the MP3 players, the server recognize them and load the right podcasts on them. The big feature here would be a function that would allow me to tell the server to make sure tha at any time, only the last 2 or 4 podcasts or whatever I decide are on my MP3 player. This way I will be sure it do not fill up. So I just need to set up a USB hub where we plug in the players whenever we want to update them. MP3 player central

Add-in: BitTorrent client

More and more things are distributed as BitTorrents. So it only makes sense to have a BitTorrent client available as an add-in. Not all people will care about this, but I know a lot will. I think many TV series in the future will be distributed this way. Also podcasts/vidcasts are being distributed through the BitTorrent protocol.

Keep the base system clean

There are things that I absolutely would like to keep away from this server. Home-automation, weather station, anonymous ftp server, Media Center are all examples of this. It should not be the everything-in-one box. It should be a server with the focus on security for files. Get all the basic stuff covered before any thought is given to the add-in stuff. If anyone want to tinker with the system and ad the possibility to make coffe, it is fine by me But do not add this into the base functions. Let people post it on the internet so anyone can add it if they want. But keep the base system clean.

What do you think? What is important for you in a server like this? I will add to this post as I get new input and ideas.

The picture is used under Creative Commons – Some Rights Reserved , Photographer: Zack Williams.

-Svein

I promised my students in Norway to find someone that can supply labels like this, so here it is:

-Svein