This might sound crazy to many, but if you have a fast broadband connection, and a low-use website, have you ever considered running and managing your own server from your office or even your home? It’s easier than you think. One option would be to use something lightweight and quiet such as a Mac Mini and Leopard Server, the other option would be to turn your old PC in to a server using Microsoft Windows Server. As long as it has a reasonable CPU, it’s the memory and hard drive that matter. The faster the better, as you’ll be serving data all day long.

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 is the forthcoming revision of the long-running technology that enables you to turn a PC in to a fully-fledged server. If you buy a VPS or a server through a web host, it will either ship with Linux or Windows installed. This isn’t the standard Windows you can buy through any retailer, it’s a special version designed for hosting your server services (web, ftp, email) and handling multiple users.

The latest Windows Server 2008 has virtualisation built right in to the operating system. This means you could run multiple servers from one computer. In theory, you could use Windows Server to manage other servers, sitting on your server. This means you could setup your own VPS and flog this service to other users. Mind you, remember that this is all bandwidth permitting. Even a very fast broadband connection limits you to slow uploads (which means slow downloads for your web users).

The download here is for the release candidate 1 of Microsoft Windows Server 2008. It will work for 30-days from installation. However, you can register through Microsoft and extend your installation through to June 2008.