[tyledogg]

Rite, where do i start? Well am gona try and explain this as best as i can so if you dont understand anything, please do say!

Well what am looking to do is create a home server. I want the server to be my gateway to the internet and also my hardware firewall. All of my computers will connect to this server and will be able to access the internet off it.

I also want my server to be the place where all my files are kept off all computers so that when i type my username and password on any of my computer my files, settings etc will "download" for the server.

I will also be using this server as a webserver to share files with friends e.g. graphics, game maps etc etc

I know its alot to ask (well i think it is) but please if you can help or even point me in the right direction i will be more than happy!

Thanks in advance, and i hope someone was is able to help me!

[office politics]

sounds like fun. I would prolly setup a win2k or win2k3 server with active directory deployed. I personnally never deployed nor administrered an active directory environment, however i think you will need this to implement roaming profiles, which will retain your user's settings when you hop from workstation to workstation.

For this machine to be the gateway to the inet, you'll prolly want a second nic which will connect to your modem. I think a proxy would prolly be a better choice over any ICS.

Setting up the webserver shouldn't be too out of the ordinary since this machine will have a global ip address. You may wanna check out www.no-ip.com for free dynamic dns.