Linux Server at Home

An Overview

Have you ever wondered if you entire home would ever be on the "net" and if it was, what would you do with it?

Our family runs a computer shop and given our current situation, I would use that sort of service a lot.  Currently we use a VPN to access the server at home (ipcop) to collect the work I did the night before, or other resources.  I can access the entire network at home including file shares on computers that we left on, web cams, etc. and visa versa.

In the future, appliances might (and some do) have web features.  Your refrigerator might have web access just so you can get your favorite recipe.  Or, the same appliance may have an extended warranty, and it would be completely automated.  Your repair person could call you to schedule an appointment before you knew anything was wrong.

Where we are, a guy comes around every month for water and electric to read the meter.  Now I care for his job, but what if you could subscribe to a service to read your meter over the Internet?  Greener isn't it?  And besides, you need people to administer all this stuff, which means there are new careers being born in the process.

That's just an example of where it might go.  Not quite getting with the Jetson's just yet, but it is progress.

Goals of this site?

I decided that since I have used Linux (Centos in particular) for a while. A person could outfit their home with a server to do a lot of things like:

• help share a non-wireless printer
• share files
• do site security (webcams)
• iTunes (via FireFly I have not tested this)
• on-site backup
• firewall (and web access control for the kids)
• VPN
• Personal/Family web server
• Email -- lots of possibilities
• Calendar -- ics -- Thunderbird addin

Probably a lot of others.

Agenda

Since we are just getting started, my plan is to start with a walk through of obtaining and installing the Centos operating system.

Well, that's cool, but then now what?

ok, applications,.... Centos comes with a a lot of possibilities as a server and can run on a computer you might think you were going to throw away.  (Just make sure your data is not at risk due to hard drive failure)

Lets initially use port forwarding in your router to access your server while away from home.

What about muti-media like iTunes?  There may be an answer.

Remote control your home computer from your office.

I may have missed a few, but I hope you get the idea.

Let's Get Started

By now, you've probably recognized that this might just be up your ally.  Well, all I can say for now is stay tuned.  All you need is a computer that meets minimum hardware requirements and a few articles from this site.