What would you use these servers for?

Question

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/servers?c=uk&cs=ukbsdt1&l=en&s=bsd&~ck=mn

I'm confused. You know when you have your website hosted by a hosting company, is this what they would use. So instead of having a company host my website could i buy one of these and host it myself, and also host other peoples websites?

Does this just connect up to your computer?

Non taken Gavin. This is why i asked on here, as i want to learn how. Surely it can't be that hard. I've run dedicated servers in the past, and have had experience with apaches, etc. I wanted to know what these servers are for.

Answer 1

No. No offense to you but you don't seem to know much about servers so I'm going to assume you don't know much about server configuration. While it is possible (If you have the required bandwidth on your own home internet connection and the knowledge to setup all the web services, like Apache etc) to do this, but you need to be pretty knowledgeable. If you're not, I wouldn't bother.

Answer 2

Well these can be used for anything you need a server to do!
Some hosting companies may indeed use these, or they may use IBM, HP, Compaq or even built there own.

To host websites you need a lot more than just a server.
You need at the least.
1. Mulitple high bandwidth (outboud) connections
2. Secure location to house servers.
3. Power backup (both battery and generator)
4. Administrative monitoring (24x7)
These are just the start.

If you want to learn how to setup hosting.. just start with your own computer or any computer and load server software.
like LAMP (linux, apache, mysql,php) or
WAMP (windows, apache, mysql.php) or
IIS etc.

The server is just a very heavy duty comupter with reduntant items to keep it online. The software is what determines what function is accomplishes. (like hosting websites, file server, email server, etc)