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Portable Server for On-the-Road Development?
DurnikBob asks: "I do a tremendous amount of development work sitting in hotel rooms while I'm on the road. While I've used Xen and VMware on my laptop, they come with limitations (memory usage, not 'real-life', interfere with my day job, and so on) that I'd like to move away from. I've looked at short depth 1U servers (the 19" wide makes it almost impossible to carry in the laptop bag), carrying a separate laptop (hate the weight penalty and cost of the not used keyboard and screen), the Mini-ITX field (each one I've looked at has the 1 DIMM, 1GB max limitation) and even the Mac-Mini (2" tall is a killer). Does anyone know if someone makes something along the lines of the following: small footprint (laptop size case 1" tall); Intel/AMD dual core capable; 2GB memory; space for 2.5" drives; on-board video (no need to fake it for headless operation); and on-board wireless?"
If you're working in a hotel room, I assumed it will be paid for by the company and most likely comes with internet connection.
So is it not possible to use VNC/RDP to access your servers? Apparently it won't work if you need physical access to the server.
I too, am having a similar problem. I'll be working in up to 4 locations soon, and I'm leaning towards setting up a server in one location, and remotely log on and do all my works via the internet. This is aided by the fact that all locations have reasonable broadband connection.
This way I can just bring a lightweight PIII laptop with me, and use whatever keyboard, mouse and monitor that are available in each location.
Obviously this arrangement will be rendered useless in case of a WAN outage, but if I ever lost/dropped/forgot-to-bring my laptop, my data will be intact and I still have other means to access them.
Please stop entering code 2,2,7,6,6,4
You need to know *exactly* what your server needs to serve.
A Mac Mini sure seems like the coolest possible "suitcase server" imaginable, but if you want or might want commercial "enterprise" products like DB2, Oracle, Sybase, WebLogic or WebSphere, your list of options gets quickly shortened for you. Neither OS X or Linux PPC are going to do the job, because you rely on closed-source software whose 'Linux support' is implicitly x86 only (plus *maybe* x86-64). Wait for the Intel-based mini I suppose, and make sure first that the packages you need will run on it.
But as I imagine others will point out, a 1U server for development work would be huge overkill; a remote server or simply running everything on your development machine (through VMWare if necessary) makes way, WAY more sense here, for a myriad of reasons. On the other hand, if your "server" world is 100% open source, you may well be able to craft the ultimate travel server exactly to your specifications with a geek-cool factor that is off the scale. But you don't *need* to; I've written AS/400 WebSphere apps with only Tomcat on Windows (sadly)... but hey, if that's the kind of work you're doing, good luck fitting an AS/400 into your briefcase...
$1099, buy now! http://www.apple.com/macbook/macbook.html
you are describing the macbook pro. dual core 2GHz Intel Core Duo; 2G ram; 120G hd. quit your bitchin, and get a good machine.
also, they have made this great utility that allows you to connect to another (possibly more powerful) machine. its called 'ssh'.
You are aware that 1U is 1.75 inches, right?
If the Mac mini w/ Core Duo and 2GB is not good enough, maybe you should look for a 1U half-width server. However, it will almost certainly cost you a lot more money.
My other first post is car post.
I have FC5 running on my laptop and use it as my development server for almost all of my work. All developers at my $job do something similar. We use SVN to manage the code and QA servers to test it on "real" hardware.
If you can't run you're server's OS as your primary OS, what's wrong with dual booting?
Take a look at the Thinkpad t60p series. Dual core, 4G of RAM, SATA drives... The bloody machine was a substantial jump forward from just about any workstation (or gaming rig) I've ever had. Doing development on my main box while running the application server stack on a VMWare image. Make sure you run Linux or Win64, or you might as well config it with 3G of RAM however.
+++ UGUCAUCGUAUUUCU
4 GB dual core laptops are starting to appear. I would think that a pair of HP nc1440's could be set up to give all the power you need and still be about 10 lbs.
This is about the best I could find.
http://www.cappuccinopc.com/slimpro-sp350.asp
With options it should cover most of your requirements. CPU might be a bit weak.
uhhh.... how about another laptop?
I used to carry a laptop with a copy of all my development tools and code base around so that I could work wherever I was, but these days pretty much every hotel or relative's house that I stay at when away from home has high-speed internet access of some kind. So I can do all my development by SSHing into my home server, editing my files with vi, and testing my code via the web. That is exactly what I'd do if I was at home anyway ..
What are you on about?? Get a laptop and use that. If you need to run VMWare (why??), then get some more RAM in order to be able to run it. I do development on a low-end Dell Inspiron 510M with 1/2 GB RAM and develop in a Apache+mod_perl+Mysql+Emacs+Firefox environment and it runs fine, running Xorg, KDE, Thunderbird to boot. Any model laptop better than the one I have should do you proud. If weight's a problem, then Dells aren't maybe for you, get an iBook or a PowerBook or a Sony Vaio or something like that. Mac MINI's are pretty cool, but you'd need to buy a very small flat screen and mini keyboard and mouse. In short, I can't really see much point in your posting I'm afraid, the short answer is get a/another laptop my friend.
Maybe not what you're looking for, but something to keep in mind:
http://www.projectblackdog.com/
The BlackDog, by Realm systems isn't that bad of an option. It's a portable embedded Linux server with an integrated PPC processor, 64MB RAM, and thumbprint scanner. They should have some new units in a couple of months.
I use it to VPN from any box. There's no install necessary from XP. Plug it in, and your server's running. X11 starts automatically. It's not powerful enough to compile on the device (and flash-based), but it's a great for scripted development.
I use it to show off PHP code running off of local PostgreSQL instances. For me, it's a better alternative than punching a hole in my VPN... and I can text-edit develop. Great for Perl too.
Take a look a the XPC line from Shuttle. They support the current tech found in any desktop pc. You can have an Athlon64 X2 in there with a loads of RAM. They are as big as a lunchbox! Here's the URL: http://global.shuttle.com/Product/Barebone/brb_def ault.asp
Iwills Zmaxdp Small Form Factor SMB servers would probably suit you if you require mobility plus a lot of grunt
Inside a miniPC they have packed a board which can take dual opteron's and has space for 2 hard drives, runs on low power and is fairly silent.
If you are willing to pay for it, its a portable solution with a lot of grunt.7 88/
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/article/1
You don't want on board video thats memory comes out of the system ram. There are systems with on board cards that use there own ram.
Xen I can understand being problematic, as it requires a "special" kernel that might not be compatible with your production environment, but I don't really see why you can't use VMWare. A laptop with a dual-core CPU and 4G of RAM should be more than sufficient to run a development environment (if not several) in VMs.
its easy, get a second laptop.
Well I'm currently working in a hotel room with a crappy P4 Compaq laptop that overheats all the time and a nice custom built desktop PC and a 20" widescreen LCD monitor. It all depends just _how_ portable you have to be. Like other people have posted, in most hotel rooms you can get VPN access back to your main development servers. Personally I run VS 2005, Pocket PC emulators and SQL Server 2005 off my 1Gb laptop and I don't have too many problems. OK, performance ain't what it could be, but it gets me by and gets me seeing the world... and this is my own business, so if I'm cutting anybody short by slowing development down, I'm cutting my own throat.
It sounds like the sort of 'servers' you are looking for are just laptops. Buy a Mac Book Pro and use bootcamp to turn it into an incredibly lightweight but powerful server, buy a Dell Inspiron E1705 with a T2500/2600, 2Gb of RAM, VT technology and a 17" screen.
Heck, if you really need a separate server and development PC to do your work, then you will have to expect to carry at least two devices. Two laptops and a hub must be a pretty portable way of working.
You're developing. You're not doing graphics work, or anything that necessarily requires a local workhorse. The most intense part of the work that you might be required to run locally would be the IDE. In all the dev work I've done, none of it needed to be done locally on the system I was actually typing on, and in most cases, I avoided such situations because my remote system was more ingrained in the environment, and was bigger anyway.
Spend the money on a monster remote server with a massive disk. Go big...quad-core, 4G RAM, a gig or two of disk space. Set up the remote desktop of your choice (XCDMP, VNC, whatever). Set up a CVS system on the box. Set up your IDE on the box. Run it all over ssh tunnels or a secure VPN system or whatever. Your compile times will be better, the system specs will be bigger and better, and all you need is some sort fo large-screen notebook running whatever you want, as long as it supports your remote display method.
This space for rent. Call 1-800-STEAK4U
Really, it seems like there must be something special about your dev environment to need all that. Why not just use an internet connection and connect back into your dev box at work? Check in and out code remotely using CVS, SVN, VSS, or a number of other products. Use your local solid laptop to compile, or use a virtual session back at the office.
o ra_m9700/aurora-m_specs.aspx?SysCode=PC-LT-AURORA- M-9700&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT#pdp-nav
There are a number of high speed options available to you almost everywhere now. Simply telling your travel person (secretary or other dedicated staff) that you require high speed internet access in your hotel arrangements. Normally this doesn't really change the cost of the hotel.
Your specs mention 2.5" drives.. multiple. That's going to be almost impossible to find. all the rest of your specs are a laptop (even on board video).
Here's one...
http://www.alienware.com/product_detail_pages/Aur
-- Who is the bigger fool? The fool or the fool who follows him? --
Code Duo laptops are becoming more common, and you can get one with 100 GB+ Hard Disk and 2+ GB ram. I would definetly say a High End laptop would fit in a laptop bag, wireless, pretty much everything you demand. I don't really think carrying around a server as opposed to a laptop really matters for devlopment work, unless for some reason you need the real thing all the time. I don't think I'd go the mac mini route, as if something breaks in the networking you'll need to hunt down a monitor or always carry a spare hard drive. With a laptop, you can just jump on it when you have to fro troubleshooting.
SAILING MISHAP
Certainly companies like Targus, Kensington, Pacific Design, etc, have a knapsack that can carry a minitower, to sell to such people?
However, desktop PC engineering presumes a relatively stable environment, whereas laptops designers presume that you'll be moving it around a lot, occasionally dropping an edge a few inches, etc.
So, I'd look for a beefy laptop and a "notebook backpack".
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
I think the poster is just looking for a reason to buy a new toy.
There are plenty of no brainer solutions out there: 1) SSH whatever to a grown up machine (this is what I do), 2) Get a Mac86 Mini, 3) Get another laptop, 4) Carve out some space on your primary laptop.
I've used remote SSH + Xnest + scheduled synchronizations from my laptop to my server for quite a while. If the link dies - I can still keep working locally as well as on planes & trains.
Or, how about http.gumstix.com/
how about using a developer tool that runs in the same environment your server runs then simply develop from there.
If not possible how about dual booting with a common partition for your finished files to live on?
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
I think you're just lost as to what you need. For development work, you only need little hardware. Unless you need something that will compile in an instant. What you seem to be looking for is total over-kill.
"I do a tremendous amount of development work sitting in hotel rooms while I'm on the road."
I didn't know there were any hotel rooms that had roads passing through them.
1. Buy suitable laptop
2. Disconnect and remove display
3. Disconnect keyboard and mouse pad
You can get very powerful laptops now, put lots of memory in them, and be set. There are laptops that have the option of a second hard drive (raid or normal), and there are those that allow a second hard drive in one of the drive bays.
Removing the screen will make the laptop thinner. Disconnecting the keyboard will prevent accidental keypresses. The external monitor port and USB ports can be used when you need a head. The battery is useful for power outages. The wireless network is useful for internet access or wireless development (why create a wired network for development?).
If you don't need the battery backup, then remove the batteries for a significant weight savings.
A laptop is about the least expensive solution in the form factor you need. A rack mount is more expensive, larger, and heavier. Even the mac mini is large and heavy. Other computers aren't going to be as light and small, even though they may be cheaper.
If you don't need a powerful server, a good used laptop is very inexpensive.
-Adam
You're unlikely to find anything much smaller than thishttp://www.cappuccinopc.com/mochae7042b.asp. It doesn't support the new dual-core chips though. Cooling would likely be a problem.
Most of the responses seem to assume that you either need the power or the privacy. Or is there some other reason you need a separate system from your regular laptop?
Is the development you're doing for your work or for yourself?
Why is a laptop a bad option if it's powerful enough and small enough? (You said you hate the waste of space, but it's still smaller than a 1U system. And you weren't complaining that a MacMini was slow-- you said it was the wrong size.)
If you're doing a web app, why not run the server on the same system? (It's easy enough to set up Apache/MySQL/P*/J*)
You can get a MacBook with 2GB RAM, dual-core, fast, small. If you need extra disk space or a non-work environment, you can easily attach and/or boot to an external firewall drive. Or setup a second user to segregate your personal stuff.
Please, let us know.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinions, but not his own facts.
I have two of these little boxen - an SK41G (Athlon XP 2100+), and a new SN21G5 (Athlon 64 X2 3800+) - they rock! They pack a lot of power into a breadbox... and the G5 case, especially, has lots of style.
If you prefer Intel chips, Shuttle makes Intel-based XPCs as well.
About the only downside of the SN21G5 is that it has 10/100 Ethernet, not Gigabit. Since my home network is 10/100+802.11g, the lack of Gigabit isn't really a problem, though.
Oh, no! You have walked into the slavering fangs of a lurking grue!
If you don't care how warm it gets, you can build a server-class laptop pretty easily. Go to alienware.com and configure an:
* Athlon 64 X2 4800
* 2G of ram
* 2x 100G SATA 7200 drives
Sounds like a server to me.
It's funny, as I'm reading this I'm packing my two Kurobox-en (http://www.kurobox.com/) into my suitcase to take with me on the road for some development. Two systems, each about the size of a Mac Mini, one has my web server and Subversion, one has the MySQL database.
Works fine for me. Granted, I'm not doing J2EE development on the boxes (these are my Rails development boxes), but honestly, they both seem to pack a ton of horsepower for the teeny CPU and power requirements (17 Watts each). Total cost for both units plus a 300 GB disk for each -- about $550.
I use these boxes because I happen to have them (when they're not development boxes, they are my home disk servers -- bringing them along has the side benefit of me having access to my MP3 collection on the road too). If I were buying something just for this purpose, I'd get a Mac Mini (~$1000 tricked out) or a second laptop (a Dell laptop with decent horsepower but low on the bells and whistels would be under $1000, I just speced one out today).
Most of the time, I do development *entirely* on my laptop. With 1GB RAM and a mid-range Pentium M, it keeps up just fine with an IDE up, a web server, and a J2EE servlet container (it's when I add a database on top of all that that it starts to slow down too much). Two laptops would handle my needs just fine. Most demos I see when vendors come in these days are run off the Sales Engineers laptop, so I'd say it's becoming a ubiquitous solution.
I guess since I'm one of many asking the "why" questions, maybe we need a better statement of the reasons you think you need so much horsepower. Certainly, for $2000 or so (still less than a 1U server, I'm sure) you could have *two* small boxes which would fit in any decent sized laptop bag (my laptop bag fits both my Kuros side by side, and they are comparable in size to a Mac Mini).
It's a strange world -- let's keep it that way
Is it even feseable to get a very strong, well configured laptop, and dual boot the machine? You could have a install of 1 operating system to do "office work" on. Then you could have the other operating system that you could developement work on. This way you could develope on the road, and still keep the same functionality as a regular Pc. I'm not a developer so I'm not sure if this configuration would benifit you or not. It's a thought.
...but make sure to configure it with two 265HEs and you will be IN BUSINESS. 4-way 1.8GHz that will keep the temps low and the fan noise to a dull roar.
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
I know it doesn't meet your RAM requirements, but have you looked at the OQO?
I'd use a Mac mini myself.
A 2" height restriction is going to be almost impossible in a non-laptop form factor, and almost all laptops are bigger than the 1" you're talking about.
What Mini-ITX boxes have you looked at?
Check out Mini-ITX.com. You'll find stuff like Hoojum for lunchbox-sized computers, or you can find something like the Albatrons Viiv Nano-PC that will accomodate almost all the specs you're talking about (when it goes into production).
If nothing else, buy a laptop, then take off the keyboard and screen. I've worked on Dell laptops and it's pretty simple, I don't imagine that other models would be too difficult.