At the beginning of the summer, I had the idea of setting up my own server at home. I’m getting tired of paying for hosting, even though Godaddy.com has served me well. Moreover, I’m getting tired of having my photos and other media files that I embed into my blog scattered across various hosts like Flickr and Picasa. One consolidated place would be much easier. Then there are also other perks that come with one’s own server such as remote storage.

I tried to revive an 10-year-old Compaq desktop I dug out of the basement. 50 blue screens of death later, I gave up and decided to buy a server online. I could’ve just purchased a PC, but I went for an actual server. Ooo, an IBM HS20 Dual Xeon 2.8Ghz Blade Server? Dual Xeon 2.8Ghz, 4GB RAM with 2 x 36GB hot swappable SCSI 10K Hard Drives? I have no idea what that is but I’m getting one. $80 $25 for shipping later and I’m already counting down the days until UPS arrives at my house.

The day arrives, I tear open the package, marvel at my new toy, and realize something’s wrong. How the hell do I plug this in? There are no recognizable holes anywhere for ethernet or power. An hour of searching online tells me these “blade servers” are stripped-down servers with no independent power or networking abilities. Instead, they must be slid into huge blade chassis, big containers that house dozens of the blades and provide them with power, cooling, and network connections. The cost of these chassis? At least $3000.

So I packed up the server to ship back via UPS. What I get in return for my troubles:

• $50 in shipping down the drain
• weeks of unfulfilled anticipation
• store credit

Note to self: don’t be a noob next time.