What to do with my server?
 

Specs:

-S478 Celeron D @ 3.06GHz
-1GB DDR-400 RAM
-Intel motherboard w/ 865 chipset
-120GB HDD for OS
-2x 250GB HDDs for RAID1 storage
-Server 2003

this will be upgraded in the future to:

-Pentium D 805 @ 2.66GHz
-1GB (or more) DDR2-533 RAM
-Intel motherboard w/ 965 chipset
-more RAID1 setups for storage

The only thing it's setup to do is share files from the RAID array to my gaming rig via [firewire] networking. The machine doesn't have a display, and is never accessed via desktop. I just turn it on and that's that. I'm not too keen on connecting it to the internet. It's a personal backup of things that I can't afford to lose.

Kind of a spammy thread, but I just need a project to do. :D

I use my own server as a VPN gateway, allowing me to tunnel in securely and access all of the resources on my own network.

Internally, it also runs as a database server, web server, file server (NFS, FTP, SMB/CIFS, and AFP), email server, CalDAV server, DNS Cache ...

As soon as I get it wired up to my router, I'll set it up as an 802.1x authentication server.

Wow, that's a very nice setup! What are the hardware specs?

I have a setup similar to that only the box is located in Kansas City. Two other friends and I started up a small-time game/web hosting business. I've got my own ton of webspace there to do with as I please, along with actual customers.

I've been looking into SETI and Folding @ home... They could make use of my spare CPU cycles. :/

Its just an old piece of crap offloaded to me by a friend. 900 Mhz processor, 384 megs of ram, 40 gigs of hard disk space at the moment.

The overhead of running as a VPN gateway is nil, and the other server functions are for private use--testing mostly. The load avereages are fairly low. For the most part, I use to it expand my knowledge of networking, client-server, and authentication technologies.

As a VPN Gateway, it also manages my VPN tunnels to remote offices where I offer freelance support. So my home LAN becomes a sort of 'central station' where I can access remote clients with a RDC and troubleshoot basic issues.