A few years ago it was unthinkable to have a server running on a network in a home. Back then servers were usually using within a corporation’s local area network. A server was expensive to purchase and maintain, required a good amount of cooling, and was very loud.
Over the years, things have changed. A good server can be found for about the same price as a good desktop, don’t require a large amount of cooling, and some can be so quiet that you wouldn’t even know one was running. In terms of maintenance, operating systems have evolved to the point where maintenance is fairly easy – with the right knowledge.
Today, with the increase in broadband Internet connections, there are more local area networks being created in homes. If a home uses a router to connect to the Internet, then it has a local area network. This also means that multiple computers can be connected together to share data files easily over the network instead of using removable media.
The one issue that can arouse is the ability to backup all the data on all the computers on the network. While a backup job can be executed on all computers to copy the data to another location, it may be easier to implement a server to manage the data files for all computers.
A centrally located file storage server is a great solution for storing and backing up files for all computers on the network.
First, with a file server, only one backup job will need to be executed. If all data files are copied to one central file server, then a backup job can be executed to backup all files for all computers. This reduces maintenance as only one backup job will need to be troubleshooted and maintained.
Next, by using a file server shares and permissions can be created to manage access to specific folders and directories. All operating systems that have been released in the past 10 years provide this ability. By restricting access to specific files, it helps to secure those files and prevent unauthorized access.
With one location for copying files, it also becomes easier to share data files across multiple computers on the network. This also has the added benefit of creating redundant backup files in case the files on the server were to accidentally get deleted or corrupted. Creating multiple copies of data files is one of the golden rules of backing up data because if one backup set is lost, there is still another backup set for restoring data.
Of course, if the server were to crash and all data was lost, then restoring data from the backups can make restoring the server easier. The same can be said for any computer on the network. If one were to crash, the data on that computer can easily be restored from the server as soon as the computer came back online.
While file servers were once only found in large organizations, recently they are being found in more homes. By utilizing one on a home network, it can help make data backup easier, and provide security for sensitive data.
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