Server

Tyan Transport GT20 B5350G20S2H-LC - Server - rack-mountable - 1U - 2-way - no CPU - RAM 0 MB - SATA - hot-swap 3.5" - no HDD - CD - RAGE XL - Gigabit Ethernet - Monitor : none
$189.99
The Transport GT20 (B5350) offers support for Dual Intel Xeon processors in a 22.4" depth, 1U rackmount server for performance and entry server applications. In addition the B5350 can use up to 16GB of DDR memory, dual Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports, expansion port for PCI-X cards, and also includes (4) hot-swap SATA drive bays with RAID 0 and 1. Add a tool-less enclosure design and auto fan speed functionality, and customers will find that the Transport GT20 (B5350) becomes a compelling solution to fit a full range of server requirements.

Build Your Own Server
$32.95
As a PC Assembly book, this is modestly useful, but there are a lot of PC assembly books out there. (Incidentally, I have not found a current title as concise and well written as "PC Hardware Configuration Guide : For DOS and Solaris" by Ledesma, which is ten years old and therefore of historical interest only.) It's expensive and there is very little difference between building a commodity Wintel PC for server, workstation, home PC or Gaming use other than which specific components to choose.)

Where it falls apart is its complete dependence on, and unsupportable and flatly wrong statements urging the user to use, Microsoft Server software. Usually, a legal copy of Windows Server and associated software client licenses and applications will exceed the cost of the hardware in a low end server installation, and it will usually use those resources far less efficiently and securely than will a Unix-based operating system. I suspect this is simply because he is lazy or because he wishes to curry favor with Microsoft-aligned organizations, although he well may believe that the average reader is just too dumb to learn Unix.

In this era, no one without basic Unix skills can consider themselves legitimately fit for any type of IT professional status. While I do not believe that Unix operating systems are always the best choice for server service-AS/400, VMS, and several others in addition to Microsoft Windows have legitimate places in many business environments-if one is seeking to minimize total costs and use low-cost commodity hardware efficiently with "Sweat equity" over expensive consultants or spending a large amount of time learning arcane skills-Unix-based Open Source operating systems and applications (such as Apache) are the legitimate default, not Windows Server. The only advantage of Windows Server over Unix-based NOSes,in fact, is in its ability to provide certain services to Windows clients: it is never easier to _correctly_ and _securely_ deploy. And it almost always requires substantially greater hardware resources.

In short, there are better PC hardware books and, if you really do need Microsoft NOS, better Microsoft books. And there's probably a better than even chance, if you are inclined to read this book, that in fact you don't need Microsoft.

Elite Platinum Stainless Steel Buffet Server
$59.99
We have tested twice since purchase 1 month ago. Functions well, no hot or cold spots. Heat setting is rather course so don't expect fine tuning. If you want to heat more gently (e.g. with a water bath) you will need to seal the riser with heat resistant silicone otherwise it would leak. Overall this is a good buy.

HP EX487 MediaSmart Home Server
$885.00
There has been lot of info from other good reviews so wanted to provide some info that I didn't see.

I have a 8TB system (4 x 2TB) with no modifications and almost no add-ons.

1) first backup on a Mac with ~1TB of data over ethernet took about 18 hours! Initial backups via ethernet only seems like a good idea.
2) noise isn't too bad even in the living room.
3) remote access via Windows Live works fine and is NOT a trial version. Works great.
4) unit is a LOT smaller than I expected.
5) nice feature to be able to turn down the LED's to different levels.
6) replacing the system default drive with the 2TB HDD was very easy. High recommended to do it before starting backups.
7) share folders work well for Macs and PC's.
8) the sleep and wakeup features works well.

The only real negative I have is that there isn't enough help documentation about the right strategies on going about using this system. I got two different books and still trying to understand how to use it as the help files are very rudimentary.

The other caveat is that for a Mac, the TOTAL backup size for ALL your Macs is limited to ONE hard drive size - for my system, it's limited to 2TB. This isn't an issue for me as my Macs total about 1.3TB of data, but can be limiting moving forward. I understand that the newer Mediasmart servers running the newer software (3.0) may resolve this sometime this fall.