GuruPlug-Server Plus – Highly Compact Low Power PC

The GuruPlug-Server Plus is a small server designed to be plugged directly into a standard mains plug socket. This server allows you to do everything you usually would with a standard-sized server while using far less electricity.

The GuruPlug-Server Plus is a full server with a 1.2GHz processor, 512MB of DDR2 RAM, and comes with Linux Kernel 2.6.32 embedded on its internal memory. This allows it to function as a regular server while taking up a fraction of the space. More importantly, it draws only a fraction of the power. The server is thought to draw only 5 watts in normal operation, this compares to a regular computer drawing roughly 175 watts when operated similarly.

Because the server is so small it lacks many features we take as standards, such as hard drive space or a video card. Luckily the server comes with an eSATA2 port, which allows you to connect a high speed external SATA2 hard drive to it. The server also features two Gigabit Ethernet ports to allow wired network connections at a high speed.  It also has both Wi-Fi (802.11 b and g) and blue tooth capabilities to provide wireless network connections. The server also comes with two USB 2.0 ports and a MicroSD port, this allows you to add on more peripherals and expand the internal storage capacity of the server.

The Guru Plug-Server Plus provides you with all the basic requirements you could need in a server for home use while allowing you to expand it as required. As with most Linux servers, you access it remotely, but this then limits it to command-line operation. It would be suitable for applications such as a file server for a household, a dedicated firewall to improve network security, or you could even use it as the control center for a Smart House. The server can perform these functions while drawing very little electrical power, thus enabling you to have a server running permanently without the same concerns regarding electrical usage that you would have for a regular computer.