Is a server what i need

Question

i am not really sure what servers are or what they do.
i know they have huge amounts of power & memory, but cost a load too.
i want to setup a device of some sorts which will allow me to store files which i can access from the internet.
for example, i have a picture on the hard drive of above mentioned device and i want my sister to be able to download this file from her pc at her house, by going to a certain address and browsing for the file?
is a server what i want or can i get sofware for a mac pro or mini to do this job ?

Answer 1

>i am not really sure what servers are or what they do.
Servers serve, that's basically it. The basic difference between servers and workstations is that they usually run unattended (e.g. no one sitting at a monitor using a keyboard and mouse).
>i know they have huge amounts of power & memory, but cost a load too.
They don't need to. Any computer that's serving data can be called a server. The reason they tend to cost more is that they use higher-class components (larger, faster hard drives, redundant power supplies, etc.) and often have a smaller form factor that's optimized for stacking lots of them in a rack.
>i want to setup a device of some sorts which will allow me to store files which i can access from the internet.
Chances are you can so this with the equipment you have. In that case your machine is acting as both workstation and server, which blurs the definition somewhat.
>for example, i have a picture on the hard drive of above mentioned device and i want my sister to be able to download this file from her pc at her house, by going to a certain address and browsing for the file?
There are several ways of doing this depending on what you want to do. For example you can start up a web server and then use http URLs to access the files, or you could fire up a traditional file server such as AFP and then your sister should be able to mount your drive on her desktop to transfer files.
>is a server what i want or can i get sofware for a mac pro or mini to do this job ?
Any Mac can act as a web server and a file server. Check System Preferences -> Sharing and turn on whichever server type you want.
Depending on your network you will probably need to configure your router to permit incoming traffic - most routers prevent incoming traffic so you have to change them in order to have remote users connect to your machine.
Without knowing your network setup (including router model) it's impossible to advise you on the specifics of how to do this.